In a previous post, I addressed the “hot new theology” (That’s never a good thing) of Two Kinds of Righteousness (2KR, because everything in Lutheranism needs a cool acronym). There are a couple of sermons, and Luther’s Galatians commentary where he talks about it. Without the Galatians commentary (Written in 1535, which is the mature Luther, and where he says “This is our theology”), this latest fad would have a hard time getting any more followers in Lutheranism than the New Samosatenes (Augustana Article one rejects both the old and “new” Samosatenes. To this day, no one has figured out what Melanchthon was talking about).
Well, Pr. Gillespie over at Outer Rim Territories read further in the Galatians Commentary, and found this excellent quote, which he labelled “Pure Passive.” Go and read the whole quote which is not long, but here is a taste:
I do not seek active righteousness….I embrace only that passive righteousness which is the righteousness of grace, mercy, and the forgiveness of sins…
Game, set, match. Thank you Pr. Gillespie. Can we get back to Law and Gospel now?
Musings of a Circuit Riding Parson 
This hardly knocks out the teaching of the distinction between Two Kinds of Righteousness. Rather it reaffirms it.
I will concede that it reaffirms it, if you will concede that active righteousness is something we should not seek, that makes no difference, and which we must totally avoid looking to in any description of our spiritual state. Or do I misunderstand what Luther means when he says, “I embrace only that passive righteousness which is the righteousness of grace, mercy, and the forgiveness of sins.”?
Pingback: One of These Things Is Not Like the Other | Musings of a Country Parson
Pingback: Issues Etc: The Aftermath | Musings of a Country Parson