Romans 1.17 Analysis

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Luther
What is Luther’s understanding of the “righteousness of/from God?”
Luther believes when we believe in God and are baptized, we receive the righteousness of God. God makes us justified when we believe in Him and His word. He says we can’t just do good things and that will give us God’s righteousness. We have to believe and have faith. He says the believing comes first then we do things like spreading God’s word then makes us more justified.

2. For Luther, what is the relationship between righteousness and works in Rom. 1.17? Taking into account Luther’s background in the Catholic church (Protestant Reformation and such), do you think that his views are skewed by background or are they justifiable? Explain your answer.

Luther believes that everything starts with faith. Romans 1.17 says from faith unto faith. The first faith is when we first start believing and declare Jesus as our savior. That starts everything for us with God’s righteousness. Then as we believe and learn and take in God and His word more and more, our faith grows stronger into the second faith. So we get more faith as time goes from the first time we experienced faith. So the faiths are the same it is just that it grows from the start of believing into something that is a part of everything you do in your life. I think Luther’s background in the Catholic church made him think through this and come up with his understanding because the Catholic church claimed it could give people righteousness if they gave money or did certain things. Luther didn’t see that as right, because people could give money if they were rich, but not believe or even …show more content…

What role does God have in Luther’s view of the righteousness of/from God?

To Luther, God’s role is really simple. People don’t have to pay money or do certain things, they just have to believe He exists and then God hands us his righteousness. If we believe in Him, that is all it takes to get His gift of righteousness.

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