speak about it, the ways of the corrupted flesh should already be familiar to us. Because its ways are lewd and shameless, the ways of the flesh are obvious. They are seeking pleasure, ease, promotion, liberties, and vengeance, crookedness, evasiveness, disregard for goodness, lying down in laziness, pouring oneself into worthless things, caring and laboring for food, evil fear and shame, love of gain, incessant unrest because of the world, comparison with the world, great faithlessness toward God, and that which can be called hateful and loveless. Therefore, understanding that, we ought to put them to death in ourselves through the grace of God so that we do not corrupt God’s work with the multifaceted death within us, disgracing Him in this way. We should give ourselves to Him from our whole hearts in obedience with all of our lives and works.
It is also righteousness when we profess that God’s Son gave His life up in a cruel death for the love of our souls so that we are also bound by that debt to lay our lives down for him in all difficulties and distresses–and, if it is His will, that we lay our lives down in death for Him. It is also righteousness that we do not accept the gifts we have received from God in vain but that we tend them, seeking His praise and the multiplication of good works through them. Then, nothing in us is in vain–the strength of our lives, the abilities we have, and our vocations–and all is sacrificed in truth and in actuality. We should likewise always show gratitude to Him that He condescended to do such great good for us, who are so undeserving. Returning to Him again with what we have taken from Him will be righteousness. When we are created by Him and are His redeemed, it is righteous that we keep ourselves for Him and are alive to Him in everything as He commands us. We should give ourselves to Him as much as our strength is sufficient, being subject to Him, hoping in Him, and requesting help from Him so that we are His people and He our God. It is also righteous, when we fall into something unrighteous, that we make ourselves righteous again in the blood of His Son, making repentance and humbling ourselves before Him for that evil. He makes righteousness from the sinful in His Son’s blood.
When people have such righteousness towards God, giving Him that which belongs to Him according to that which is spoken in the discourses, such people have the entire and sufficiently strong breastplate, shielding the entire body so that the devil will not be able to strike a mortal blow. It is not only the righteousness of man but it is God’s righteousness when He makes the sinful man righteous in His Son’s blood and He keeps him with His power and grace so that the devil does not reach him and touch him with his cruel wickedness.
Then the Savior showed us the righteousness that is toward our neighbors and with which we are debtors to them in that discourse where he says, “Therefore whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 7: 12) Here the Lord Christ clearly shows us righteousness that we can perceive and judge in ourselves–if it is great or small or what it consists of. We always want good for ourselves from people without ever considering it, wanting no evil from others. Therefore, the Lord Jesus serves us with this law and wants us to behave towards other people in the same way that we want good for ourselves. I am saying that according to the truth, as mundane good things matter to the most insignificant person. But evil, avaricious, and unloving people behave differently. When they grieve and hurt others, they also say they want the same from others, but they are liars in that. It cannot be that people would fulfill those words the other way around, doing despicable things to others and saying that they also want that for themselves from others. A person will hardly find even enough goodness within them such that, when they do evil, they allow themselves to be punished for it. Instead, they do not stand for being punished themselves or tolerate unpleasantness from
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