All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags

Isa. lxiv. 6. 4. Rightfulne ; justice. [Rare.] "Catching bargains," as they are called, throw on the persons claiming the benefit of them the burden of proving their substantial righteousne . Encyc . Brit ., XIII. 2. Active righteousne , pa ive righteousne . Luther ("Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians," Introd.) and other Protestant theologians following him distinguish righteousne between active and pa ive righteousne , the former consisting in what is right because it is right, the latter in accepting for Christ's sake by faith the free gift of righteousne as defined in the second definition above. Original righteousne , in scholastic theol ., the condition of man as made in the image of God before the fall. Proselytes of righteousne . See proselyte. The righteousne of God (Rom. i. 17), a phrase defined antagonistically by Biblical interpreters as "Righteousne which proceeds from God, the relation of being right into which man is put by God - that is, by an act of God declaring him righteous" ( Meyer ), and as "The attribute of God, embodied in Christ, manifested in the world, revealed in the Gospel, communicated to the individual soul, the righteousne not of the law, but of faith" ( Jowett ). The former is the general Protestant view; the latter comes near the view of the Roman Catholic Church, Greek Church, etc. The one regards righteousne as indicating as something bestowed by God and imputed to man, the the descriptive of character; the one other as something inherent in God and spiritually communicated to man. =Syn. 1. See righteous . righter (ri'ter), n . [AS. rihtere , a ruler, director, = OFries. riuchtere , riuchter = D. regter = MLG . richter = OHG. rihtari , MHG. rihtære , G. richter , ruler, judge, = Icel. réttari , a justiciary; as right , v ., + -er1.] One who sets right; one who adjusts or redre es that which is wrong. I will pay thee what I owe thee, as that righter of wrongs hath left me commanded.