This is the first of a series of posts on the concept of righteousness and justification in the scriptures. I’ve worked through most (here they are) references to right, righteous, righteousness and just, justified and justification in the scriptures to do my own study on what the scriptures say about the concept. See my post on word Searches for some information on the issues involved in performing word searches.
In this post I will give an some examples of the actual Hebrew and Greek words used. I provide a brief introduction into the whole series and an overview of each post.
- Part 01 – Introduction (Current)
- Part 02 – Kingdom of God
- Part 03 – Covenant
- Part 04 – Relationships
- Part 05 – Ethical Standard
- Part 06 – Lawcourt
- Part 07 – Sinless Perfection
- Part 08 – Justification
- Part 09 – Justification in Paul
- Part 10 – Dictionary Articles
Righteous, Righteousness and Justified in Hebrew
The most common Hebrew nouns I looked at were;
- Hebrew צַדִּיק Trans. tsaddîq (e.g. Gen 6.9) rendered as ‘righteous’.
- Hebrew צָדֵק Trans. tsadeq (e.g. Ps 143.2; Job 32.2) rendered as ‘righteous’ or ‘justified’
- Hebrew צֶדֶק Trans. tsedeq (e.g. Dt 16.18) rendered as ‘righteousness’.
- Hebrew צְדָקָה Trans, tsedaqah (e.g. Dt 6.25) rendered as ‘righteousness’.
The Hebrew word used in these passages is tsedeq, correctly translated as “rightness” or “righteousness.” A verb was formed from the root of this noun, tsadeq (or tsadoq), meaning “to be just, righteous.” Other similar verbs using the basic root were used: tsadiq meant “righteous or just” and tsedaqh meant “righteousness.” (Carpenter, E. E., & Comfort, P. W. (2000). In Holman treasury of key Bible words: 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew words defined and explained. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
Righteous, Righteousness and Justified in Greek
- Greek δικαίου Trans. dikaiou (e.g. Rom 5.7) rendered as ‘righteous person’.
- Greek δίκαιοι Trans. dikaioi (e.g. 1 Pet 3.12) rendered as ‘the righteous’.
- Greek δικαιοσύνη Trans. dikaiosynē (e.g. Rom 3.21) rendered as ‘righteousness’.
- Greek Δικαιωθέντες Trans. dikaiōthentes (e.g. Rom 5.9) rendered as ‘justified’.
- Greek δικαιοῦται Trans. dikaioutai (e.g. Jas 2.24; Gal 2.16) rendered as ‘justified’.
- Greek ἐδικαιώθη Trans. edikaiōthē (e.g. Jas 2.21,25; Rom 4.2) rendered as ‘justified’.
There are a large number of cognates. Generally dictionaries list two or three of these.
System of interrelated concepts
The concepts associated with righteous, righteousness and justification in the scriptures are interwoven in the Hebrew worldview, understanding of God and his relationships with his creation. To be properly understood they need be seen within the Hebrew worldview. We can’t just rip them out of context and impose other frameworks on them.
If one looks at all the passages which use the words ‘righteous’ and ‘righteousness’ what is clear is that they have been applied to God, individuals and people for at least one thousand four hundred years by the authors of scripture and the communities they were writing for.
The following study will help us to understand what the words mean in the scriptures and why they were applied to people so often.
Overviews
Part 01 – Introduction
In this post I will give an some examples of the actual Hebrew and Greek words used. I provide a brief introduction into the whole series and an overview of each post.
Part 02 – Kingdom of God
In this post we look at the how righteousness language is applied to the kingdom of God. Today’s post especially applies to God himself. He is the righteous king over all creation.
Part 03 – Covenant
In this post we consider the covenantal connotations with righteousness in the scriptures. God as King makes covenants with his people. Covenants involve members, promises, commands, inheritance, blessings and curses. Covenants describe the relationships between God and his people.
Part 04 – Relationships
In this post I consider the references to individual righteous people and the group of people called ‘the righteous’. This post will go into a fair degree of detail describing the relational nature of righteousness in the scriptures. The relationships between God, the righteous and creation.
Part 05 – Ethical Standard
In this post we consider the ethical nature of righteousness and what it means over various stages in salvation history. The post also looks at rewards for righteous behaviour and if or not the righteous sin.
Part 06 – Law Court
In this post we look at the law court theme associated with righteousness and justification. Most of this has already been covered in the Kingdom of God. Here we cover some more specific passages to do with the divine law court.
Part 07 – Sinless Perfection
In this post we consider a few passages which state no one can be righteous. These are quite rare, but very commonly quoted to support the reformed doctrines of justification.
Part 08 – Justification
In this post I look at justification outside of Paul’s writings. What everyone else says about justification. I use this in part to give an understanding of Paul’s contemporaries. How everyone else used and employed justification language. And then fit Paul within this context.
Part 09 – Paul
In this post we consider Paul’s usage of righteous, righteousness and justification. Sinners become righteous. There are people who are righteous and live righteous lives. The righteous are identified as righteous by some means. What righteousness and blameless before God entails.
Part 10 – Dictionary Articles
In this post I quote some relevant articles from a few dictionaries showing what scholars are saying about righteousness and justification. You can evaluate my findings in their light.
Copyright © Joshua Washington and thescripturesays, 2017. All Rights Reserved.
