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Justification: Scripture and term exegesis

Justification: Scripture and term exegesis

Greek is NA28/SBLGNT, Hebrew BHS, LXX Rahlfs, all quoted from memory of the standard texts. The Greek should be checked against a printed edition (to verify). The English (LSB) wording is not quoted here and must be added from a licensed copy (to verify). References are given exactly.

Back to justification · reasoning

E1: δικαιόω

  • LXX forensic use. Deut 25:1 describes judges: δικαιώσωσιν τὸν δίκαιον καὶ καταγνῶσιν τοῦ ἀσεβοῦς. The judge declares the righteous party in the right; he does not make him righteous. Isa 5:23 condemns those who “justify the wicked for a bribe”, and Prov 17:15 likewise. The Hebrew behind these is hiṣdîq (hiphil of צדק).
  • NT. Luke 7:29 (the people “justified God”) and Luke 10:29 (the lawyer wanting “to justify himself”) are declarative. The opposite term in Rom 8:33–34 is κατακρίνω (condemn). Rom 4:5 reads πιστεύοντι δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν δικαιοῦντα τὸν ἀσεβῆ. If δικαιόω meant “make righteous” here, the participle would describe the outcome rather than the paradox Paul stresses, but in LXX usage, justifying the ungodly is exactly what a corrupt judge does (Prov 17:15).
  • Finding. In Paul the core sense is a verdict: to declare or acquit. The verdict is not a legal fiction cut off from new life, though. Rom 6:7 (ὁ γὰρ ἀποθανὼν δεδικαίωται ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας) and 1 Cor 6:11 (ἀπελούσασθε, ἡγιάσθητε, ἐδικαιώθητε) place it inside union with Christ and washing.

E2: δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ

  • Rom 1:17; 3:21–22, 26; 10:3; Phil 3:9 (τὴν ἐκ θεοῦ δικαιοσύνην ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει).
  • Phil 3:9 contrasts “my own righteousness that is from the law” with “the righteousness from God”. On that pairing, at least there, it is a righteousness given by God as a gift, not God’s own attribute. Rom 3:25–26 also uses it as God’s attribute or saving action (“that He might be just and the justifier”).
  • Finding. Both senses are present. The question is open between the genitive of origin (a gift from God) and the subjective genitive (God’s own saving righteousness) (literature to verify).

E3: λογίζομαι (Gen 15:6; Ps 32:1–2; Rom 4)

  • Gen 15:6 LXX: καὶ ἐπίστευσεν Αβραμ τῷ θεῷ, καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην. The Hebrew is וַיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ (ḥāšab, “reckon”).
  • Ps 31:2 LXX: μακάριος ἀνήρ, οὗ οὐ μὴ λογίσηται κύριος ἁμαρτίαν. Paul joins this to Gen 15:6 in Rom 4:6–8 under the rule of gezerah shavah, the same verb in both texts.
  • Rom 4:4–5 sets λογίζεται κατὰ χάριν against κατὰ ὀφείλημα, crediting as grace against crediting as a debt owed. This is accounting language.
  • Finding. In Rom 4, “reckoning righteousness” is defined by “not reckoning sin” (vv. 6–8). That establishes a forensic reckoning. Paul never says in so many words that Christ’s righteousness is reckoned. That formulation is an inference, drawn from Rom 5:18–19 (δι᾽ ἑνὸς δικαιώματος … διὰ τῆς ὑπακοῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς … δίκαιοι κατασταθήσονται), 2 Cor 5:21 and Phil 3:9.

E4: ἔργα νόμου; πίστις; χάρις

  • Rom 3:28: λογιζόμεθα γὰρ δικαιοῦσθαι πίστει ἄνθρωπον χωρὶς ἔργων νόμου. Gal 2:16 uses the phrase three times.
  • Is ἔργα νόμου narrow (Torah boundary markers) or broad? Rom 4:4–5 generalizes it to “the one who works” (ὁ ἐργαζόμενος), and Rom 9:11–12 and 11:6 set grace against works without qualification. Paul’s polemic arises from the dispute over circumcision, but his argument reaches to works as such.
  • πίστις Χριστοῦ (Rom 3:22; Gal 2:16): objective genitive (“faith in Christ”) or subjective (“Christ’s faithfulness”)? Gal 2:16 also has καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐπιστεύσαμεν, which secures faith in Christ in that verse whichever way the genitive goes.
  • χάρις: Rom 3:24 has δωρεὰν τῇ αὐτοῦ χάριτι; Titus 3:5–7 has οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων … ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ αὐτοῦ ἔλεος … διὰ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας … ἵνα δικαιωθέντες τῇ ἐκείνου χάριτι. Note that Titus 3 joins justification to the washing of regeneration.

E5: James 2:14–26

  • 2:24: ὁρᾶτε ὅτι ἐξ ἔργων δικαιοῦται ἄνθρωπος καὶ οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως μόνον. 2:22: ἐκ τῶν ἔργων ἡ πίστις ἐτελειώθη. 2:23 says the Scripture (Gen 15:6) “was fulfilled” (ἐπληρώθη) by Gen 22.
  • James’s target is a “faith” without works that demons also have (2:19), a faith that is dead (2:17, 26). Paul’s target is works offered as the basis for acceptance (Rom 4:4).
  • Finding. The two use δικαιόω in related but distinct ways. In James it is used of Abraham in Gen 22, decades after Gen 15:6, so it is best read as vindication or demonstration. James does not deny Rom 3:28. He denies that bare assent counts as the faith that justifies.

E6: Latin: iustificare, reputare, imputare

  • Vulgate (Clementine, via thelatinlibrary.com, verified). The Vulgate renders λογίζομαι with several verbs. Rom 4:3 reputatum est illi ad iustitiam; 4:4 merces non imputatur secundum gratiam, sed secundum debitum; 4:5 reputatur fides eius ad iustitiam secundum propositum gratiae Dei (a Clementine addition, absent from the Greek); 4:6 cui Deus accepto fert iustitiam sine operibus; 4:8 cui non imputavit Dominus peccatum. So the Latin tradition read the Greek through reputare, imputare and accepto ferre, all of which are accounting terms.
  • Iustificare is a late Latin coinage (from iustus + facere), and its form invites the gloss “make just”. Augustine in Spirit and Letter 26.45 notes both senses. See augustine-s1 and augustine-s2.
  • Finding. The Vulgate keeps the accounting sense in Rom 4, yet iustificare itself pulls toward “make just”. The Latin form partly explains why the West read δικαιόω as “make righteous”. The Greek fathers did not have this etymological pull, yet still blend the forensic and transformative senses (Chrysostom, chrysostom-s3).