What practical meaning do these two dimensions have for a Christian in the workplace? Your righteous status before God is not based even in part on your doing and achievements in the workplace. Your eternity does not depend on your own accomplishments. The pressure and onus are removed from off your shoulders. You do not have to live with a constant guilt trip or with an inferiority or superiority complex. You are right before the Lord God Almighty, the maker of the heavens and earth. You are already lords and kings and free indeed in Jesus the Son of God.
You are free to serve others in the workplace, to expend yourselves to the benefit of others, your fellow workers, those who supervise you and those who work under your supervision, those who are clients and customers. You are free to be honest workers who give your best efforts and devote them to the betterment and flourishing of others (Ephesians 4:28). In Christ you have been freed from self-preoccupation to be other-oriented servants. When facing God, leave your good works at home. When facing others, give them your good works. The Christian in the workplace is “Freed before God” but a “servant toward others.”
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Retrieved From:
1 Martin Luther, “The Freedom of a Christian” (1520), translated by W. A. Lambert and revised by Harold J. Grimm, Luther’s Works, American Edition 31 (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1957), 343-377.
Approved by Faculty for the College of Theology on Nov. 14, 2022.