* On the Greek conception of righteousness, see Nagelsbach, ‘‘ Homerische Theologie,” 139-207; Schmidt, ‘‘Synonymik der Griechischen Sprache,” i., 18 ; Gladstone, ‘‘ Homer and the Homeric Age,” ii., 423 sqq. ; Grote, ‘‘ History of Greece,” i., ch. xx.
Cu. LJ THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 13
sense than any other to Matt. i. 19: “Joseph, being a kindly (Sicasos, A. V., just) man.” *
1. In the New Testament Siavos is used both of God and of Christ. Of God, 1 John i. 9; John xvii. 25; Apoc. xvi. 5; Rom. iii. 26. Of Christ, 1 John ii. 1; iii. 7; Acts iii. 14; vii. 52; xxii. 14. In these passages the word characterizes God and Christ either in their essential quality or in their ac- tion; either as righteous according to the eternal norm of di- vine holiness (John xvii. 25; 1 John iii. 7; Rom. iii. 26), or as holiness passes into righteous dealing with men (1 John i. 9).
2. Aikacos is used of men, denoting their normal relation to the will and judgment of God. Hence it means wirtuous, up- right, pure in life, correct in thinking and feeling. It stands opposed to avoula lawlessness ; dpaptia sin; axadapola im- purity, a contrast wanting in classical usage, where the concep- tion of sin is vague. See Rom. vi. 13, 16, 18, 20; viii. 10; 2 Cor. vi. 7,145; Eph. v. 9; vi. 14; Philip. i.11; Jas. iii. 18.
Where dcxatoctvn righteousness, is joined with oowrns holi- ness (Luke i. 75; Eph. iv. 24), it denotes right conduct toward men, as holiness denotes piety toward God. It appears in the wider sense of answering to the demands of God in general, Mat aie ti. x. 41> xxii. 29; Acts x. 22, 35; and in the narrower sense of perfectly answering the diwine demands, guiltless. So of Christ, Acts iii. 14; 1 Pet. iii. 18; 1 John iia 1.
3. It is found in the classical sense of ¢¢ 2s right, Philip. i. 7, or that which is right, Col. iv. 1. This, however, is included within the Christian conception.
Atxavocivn righteousness, is therefore that which fulfils the claims of dikn right. “It is the state commanded by God and
*Dr. Bushnell, though evidently not aware of this usage, has seized the connection between the ideas of kindness and righteousness. ‘‘ Righteous- ness, translated into a word of the affections, is love; and love, translated back into a word of the conscience, is righteousness. We associate a more fixed exactness, it may be, and a stronger thunder of majesty, but there is no repugnance between it and the very love itself of Christ. . . . Nowhere do we feel such a sense of the righteousness of God as we do in the dying scene of Christ-—‘ Certainly this was a righteous man’—and we only feel the more powerfully that God is a forgiving God” (‘‘ Vicarious Sacrifice’’).
14 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. L
standing the test of His judgment; the character and acts of a man approved of Him, in virtue of which the man corresponds with Him and His will as His ideal and standard ” (Cremer).
The medium of this righteousness is faith. Faith is said to be counted or reckoned for righteousness ; @.¢., righteousness is ascribed to it or recognized in it. Rom. iv. 3, 6, 9, 22; Gal. iii. 6; Jas. ii. 23.
In this verse the righteousness revealed in the Gospel is de- scribed as a righteousness of God. This does not mean right- eousness as an attribute of God, as in ch. iii. 5; but righteous- ness as bestowed on man by God. The state of the justified man is due to God. The righteousness which becomes his is that which God declares to be righteousness and ascribes to him. Righteousness thus expresses the relation of being right into which God puts the man who believes. See further, on justified, ch. ii. 18.