Understanding the Doctrine of Justification/We are Justified
Righteousness
editWhat does the word righteous mean to you? Think of ways that we use the word righteous in everyday speech today, or of people that you might call righteous. | |
honesty, self-righteous, righteous indignation, righteous as a slang term similar to “cool” or “awesome”, often used to indicate moral uprightness or perfection, used as a term in Jewish parlance for a non-Jew who aided Jews during the holocaust |
Actually, the word righteous was first used by William Tyndale in his translation of the bible in the early 16th century.1 He employed it to translate the Hebrew word tsadiq as well as the Greek dikaios. These words are closely related to the concept of justice. Thus, to say someone is righteous is to say that they are just, or that they live rightly, according to God’s justice. The Old Testament concept of justice is closely related to the Law. Adherence to the Law of Moses was what made someone righteous. Christians today are not too concerned with the majority of Mosaic Law, but we do talk quite a bit about the Ten Commandments.
Law: The Ten Commandments
edit“ | In the scriptures...righteousness includes not only the second table of the Decalogue, but also the first, which requires fear of God, faith, and love of God. —Philip Melanchthon[1] | ” |
Activity: Let’s take a look at the Ten Commandments.[2] How well do you feel you follow them? Where are your strengths? Where are your weaknesses? Rate yourself:
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The Ten Commandments—specifically the first—are accompanied by a blessing and a curse:
I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.[3]
When we fail to live up to the commandments, we fall under a curse from God! Yet how can we possibly live up to the standards that God has set?
Activity: Perhaps others have fared better. Let us take a look at the great heroes of scripture. Look up the following passages in your bible, and see which commandment they failed to keep:
Abraham - Genesis 12:10-20
Moses - Exodus 2:11-15
Ruth - Ruth 1:8-18
David - 2 Samuel 11:2-5, 14-17
Peter - Mark 14:66-72
Paul (Saul) - Acts 7:55-8:1
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