Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, etc., and, The righteous shall go into eternal life;

signifies that they are in the Lord's righteousness. All who are in the good of charity are called the "righteous"-not that they are righteous from themselves, but from the Lord, whose righteousness is appropriated to them. They who believe themselves righteous from themselves, or made so righteous that there is no longer anything of evil in them, are not among the righteous, but among the unrighteous; for they attribute good to themselves, and also feel self-merit on account of it, and such can never adore the Lord from true humiliation; so that those who in the Word are called the "righteous," and the "saints," are those who know and acknowledge that all good is from the Lord, and that all evil is from themselves, that is, is theirs from hell.