No. 54 This is by far the most helpful conversation about the work of the Holy Spirit I have ever listened to. I cannot tell you how thankful I am to be a part of this class and this entire program. And I have another question, too. I seem to recall that Luther writes about two kinds of righteousness, civil and spiritual. How does Luther�s distinction between these two kinds of righteousness help us to distinguish properly between our standing before God and our standing before our neighbor? >>DR. LEOPALDO SANCHEZ M.: Joshua, let me answer your question by defining first what righteousness is. To be righteous is to be in a right relationship with another. Now, there are two kinds of righteousness. One speaks of our relationship to God. This is called spiritual or vertical righteousness before God. And the term in Latin for that is righteousness ***korem vayo, before God. The other type of righteousness has to do with our relationship with God's creatures. This is called civil or horizontal righteousness. And the term in Latin for that is usually ***quohuminbus righteousness, before man. At times also known as righteousness ***kora mundo or righteousness before the world. This kind of civil or horizontal righteousness concerns for example our responsibilities towards the government, our families, our teachers, the poor, and even towards the environment. There are two terms in Spanish I like to use to distinguish between these two kinds of righteousness. When it comes to our relationship before God I think of the word nada, nothing. In other words, we contribute nothing, nada, to our standing before God. For he alone declares us righteous on account of Christ without any merit or cooperation on our part. This is why we often can speak of vertical righteousness as passive righteousness. And this is the righteousness by which we are saved and justified. Now, when it comes to our relationship before humans and the rest of God's creation, I think of the Spanish word mucho, a lot. In other words, we are called to actively work and do everything we can towards being in a right relationship with God's creatures. We're called to promote our neighbor's well being and to take care of creation. This is why we can also refer to horizontal righteousness as active righteousness. This righteousness for sure does not save us. And it doesn't make us right before God. It is meant to be directed to the way we live in relationship to others. And it is also important for God that we do so.