I would like to know how your soul is doing – whether it has become satiated with its own righteousness and has found intimate rest in the righteousness of Christ. Nowadays, the temptation to rely on one's own deeds is very widespread, especially among those who strive with all their might to be righteous and good, but do not know God's righteousness, which He has so generously and completely bestowed upon us in Christ. Therefore, they try to do good by their own strength until they become convinced that they can stand before God as people adorned with virtues and merits, which, in reality, is impossible. You yourself shared this opinion, or rather delusion, with us – and I too was caught in it, and although I still struggle against that error, I have not yet overcome it. Therefore, my dear brother, know Christ, namely Christ crucified.
(Martin Luther, letter to Georg Spenlein, April 8, 1516)
