"I labored diligently and anxiously as to how to understand Paul's word in Romans 1:17, where he says that the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. I took it to mean that righteousness whereby God punishes the unrighteous, and I had no confidence that my merit would assuage him.
Then I grasped that the righteousness of God is that righteousness which through grace and sheer mercy God gives us by faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the "justice of God" had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven... When I saw the difference, that law is one thing and gospel is another, I broke through..."
— Martin Luther (on his conversion)
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