Words · Greek Words · Lesson 3, word 1 of 5
δικαιοσύνηdikaiosyne
Righteousness: conformity to God's will, gift and demand.
Why this word is here. The word of Romans 1:17 and Matthew 6:33; the Septuagint's standard translation of tsedeq/tsedaqah, so the whole Hebrew range stands behind it.
What it means
Abbott-Smith: 'the character of the righteous one', in the broad sense, righteousness, conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought and action. It covers doing righteousness as the active duties of the religious life (Matthew 6:1), righteousness as God's own attribute and gift revealed in the gospel (Romans 1:17; 3:21-22), and righteousness as vindication and deliverance in the tsedaqah tradition it translates.
Matthew leans to righteousness lived; Paul leans to righteousness given and then lived. The lexicon holds both because the texts do.
Where you meet it
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Matthew 5:6 (BSB)
'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (dikaiosyne).' Righteousness as something craved like food.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
Matthew 6:33 (BSB)
Anchor verse 'Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (dikaiosyne).' In the Sermon on the Mount it is God's, and it is to be sought.
For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God that comes by faith from start to finish, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Romans 1:17 (BSB)
'The righteousness (dikaiosyne) of God is revealed in the gospel, from faith to faith.' The phrase over which the Reformation was fought.
Why it matters
Dikaiosyne is the New Testament's justice-and-righteousness word, and it refuses to split into 'religious' and 'ethical' halves. Getting its range right is the difference between a gospel that only declares and a gospel that only demands; Paul's letters, read whole, do both, and this word is where they meet.
Watch out
Present this fairly: traditions argue, from whole letters, whether the righteousness of God in Romans is chiefly his saving gift, his own attribute, or both, and whether dikaiosyne in a given verse is a status, a power, or a practice. A lexicon entry gives the range (it is genuinely all of these across the New Testament) and stops there. Preachers who announce 'the Greek word really means X, so the debate is over' are asking one lexeme to do the work of exegesis, and it cannot.
In this lesson
- hamartia (ἁμαρτία): Sin: wrongdoing and the power that produces it.
- soteria (σωτηρία): Salvation: deliverance, preservation, safety, rescue.
- basileia (βασιλεία): A king's reign first, then his realm: the kingdom of God.
- koinonia (κοινωνία): Fellowship: sharing in common, partnership, a real contribution.
Sources
- Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon (1889)
- STEP Bible lexicon data (Abbott-Smith)
- SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
Review status: in-theological-review. Every Contend page passes a human theological review against the Statement of Faith before it is published as approved teaching. This section is in that queue.