
Just and Sinner Podcast A Defense of the Two Kinds of Righteousness
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Jul 15, 2014 A clear run-through of the controversy around the doctrine of two (and three) kinds of righteousness. A tour of how the idea appears across Lutheran sources and seminaries. A breakdown of passive/imputed, active/vocational, and civil righteousness. Warnings about conflating kinds and why the distinctions matter for preaching and conscience.
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Two Relationships Create Two Righteousnesses
- Justin Center defines two kinds of righteousness as our vertical relationship to God (passive, received by faith) and our horizontal relationship to others (active, served through vocation).
- He links passive righteousness to Christ's imputed righteousness and active righteousness to everyday vocations like parenting and work as Luther taught.
Civil Righteousness Is Not Justification
- Justin distinguishes civil righteousness (works by believer and unbeliever) from the believer's incipient sanctification (new obedience) to avoid conflating worldly good deeds with justification.
- He uses Thessalonians and vocation examples to show active work matters civically but doesn't justify before God.
Threefold Model Resolves Confusion
- Justin argues some proponents treat 'two kinds' as only civil vs imputed, which erases sanctification; others include sanctification as distinct active righteousness.
- He says the confessions support a threefold reading (civil, passive, incipient) to clarify both concerns.



