# G1343 - dikaiosyne **Strong's:** [G1343](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1343/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** dik-ah-yos-oo'-nay **Part of speech:** feminine noun **Root:** from [G1342 - dikaios](/codex/g1342-dikaios/), δίκαιος, "righteous, just" **Hebrew equivalent (LXX):** [H6664 - tzedeq](/codex/h6664-tzedeq/), צֶדֶק, "righteousness", and *tzedakah*; the standard renderings. **NT occurrences:** ~92 ## Semantic range (Thayer / BDAG) 1. **Righteousness, justice (broad ethical sense)**, the state / virtue of being morally upright, doing what is right. 2. **Justice as social-relational virtue**, giving each what is due (the classical Greek philosophical sense). 3. **(Pauline technical sense) Justifying righteousness**, the imputed-or-credited righteousness of God received by faith. The technical Pauline soteriological term. 4. **Right covenant standing**, the covenantal-relational sense (NT Wright et al.) emphasizing God's covenant faithfulness manifested in Christ. 5. **God's character as just**, God's own righteousness, His being-rightly-related-to-everything ([Romans 3:21-26](/codex/romans-3-21-26/)). ## Theological force, the Reformation crux The word's most theologically loaded use is in **Pauline soteriology**, especially [Romans 3:21-26](/codex/romans-3-21-26/) and [Romans 4](/codex/romans-4/). The crux of the Reformation: > *Dikaiosynē theou*, "the righteousness of God" Two main readings: **1. Imputed righteousness (Reformation).** *Dikaiosynē theou* names a *gift*, the righteousness *from God* given to believers. God credits Christ's righteousness to those who believe. The believer is *forensically* declared righteous before God; the *status* of righteousness is gifted. **2. God's covenant faithfulness (New Perspective on Paul).** *Dikaiosynē theou* names *God's own attribute* of being faithful to His covenant. Justification is God's vindication of His covenant people; faith is the marker of those who belong. (N. T. Wright, James Dunn.) **3. Transformative righteousness (Catholic / Eastern Orthodox).** *Dikaiosynē* names actual character-righteousness produced in the believer by infused grace. Justification is *making* righteous, not just *declaring* righteous. The Reformed and most evangelical traditions hold (1), the *forensic* / *imputed* reading. *Sola fide* depends on it: faith is the *instrument* by which the believer receives the *imputed* righteousness of Christ. [Romans 4:3](/codex/romans-4-3/) (Abraham believed God; *elogisthē*, "it was credited / reckoned" to him as righteousness) is the lexical anchor. ## The "righteousness from God" / "righteousness of God" distinction Greek genitive *dikaiosynē theou* is grammatically ambiguous between: - **Subjective genitive**: "*God's own* righteousness" (His attribute) - **Objective genitive**: "righteousness *from* God" (His gift to believers) [Romans 1:17](/codex/romans-1-17/), [3](/codex/romans-1-3/):21-22 contain the most disputed instances. The Reformed reading prefers the objective sense (gift); the New Perspective prefers the subjective (God's covenant attribute manifest). Some scholars (Schreiner, Carson) read both senses operating simultaneously: God's *own* righteousness is *gifted* in Christ. ## Notable verses ### Pauline justifying-righteousness - **[Romans 1:17](/codex/romans-1-17/)**, "in [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith" - **[Romans 3:21-22](/codex/romans-3-21-22/)**, "the righteousness of God has been manifested… through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe" - **[Romans 3:25-26](/codex/romans-3-25-26/)**, "to demonstrate His righteousness… to be just and the justifier" - **[Romans 4:3](/codex/romans-4-3/)**, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness" - **[Romans 4:5](/codex/romans-4-5/)**, "God justifies the ungodly… his faith is credited as righteousness" - **[Romans 5:17](/codex/romans-5-17/)**, "those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness" - **[Romans 9:30-32](/codex/romans-9-30-32/)**, Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness attained it; Israel pursued by works and stumbled - **[Romans 10:3](/codex/romans-10-3/)**, Israel "did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God" - **[Romans 10:10](/codex/romans-10-10/)**, "with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness" - **[2 Corinthians 5:21](/codex/2-corinthians-5-21/)**, "He made Him… to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" - **[Galatians 2:21](/codex/galatians-2-21/)**, "if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly" - **[Philippians 3:9](/codex/philippians-3-9/)**, "not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but… the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith" ### Sermon on the Mount, kingdom-righteousness - **[Matthew 5:6](/codex/matthew-5-6/)**, "blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness" - **[Matthew 5:20](/codex/matthew-5-20/)**, "unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees" - **[Matthew 6:33](/codex/matthew-6-33/)**, "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness" - **[Matthew 5:10](/codex/matthew-5-10/)**, "blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness" ### James, works-righteousness debate - **[James 1:20](/codex/james-1-20/)**, "the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God" - **[James 2:23](/codex/james-2-23/)**, citing [Genesis 15:6](/codex/genesis-15-6/): "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness" - **[James 3:18](/codex/james-3-18/)**, "the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace" ## OT background, *tzedeq* / *tzedakah* The Hebrew background is critical. *Tzedeq* and *tzedakah* (cognate Hebrew nouns) cover: - **Forensic righteousness**, right standing in court ([Deuteronomy 25:1](/codex/deuteronomy-25-1/)) - **God's covenant faithfulness**, His own attribute ([Isaiah 51:5-8](/codex/isaiah-51-5-8/); [Psalm 33:5](/codex/psalms-33-5/)) - **Saving righteousness**, God's deliverance of His people ([Isaiah 46:13](/codex/isaiah-46-13/); 51:5; 56:1) - **Right action**, moral conduct ([Genesis 18:19](/codex/genesis-18-19/)) The semantic richness of the OT *tzedeq* underlies the Pauline range of *dikaiosynē*. The Hebrew background gives the LXX-rendering its theological depth. ## Patristic / scholarly note Augustine (*On the Spirit and the Letter*, c. AD 412) develops the Reformed reading: God's righteousness is imputed-and-imparted; the believer is both *declared* righteous (forensic) and *progressively made* righteous (transformative). The medieval Catholic tradition (Aquinas, Trent) emphasized the transformative dimension, *justification* and *sanctification* as essentially one process. The Reformation (Luther, *The Freedom of the Christian*, 1520; Calvin, *Institutes* III.11) sharply distinguished forensic justification from progressive sanctification, with *dikaiosynē* in justification language strictly imputed. Modern: N. T. Wright (*Justification*, 2009) develops the New Perspective covenant-faithfulness reading. John Piper (*The Future of Justification*, 2007) defends the Reformed imputation. Thomas Schreiner (*Faith Alone*, 2015), Michael Horton (*Justification*, 2018) sustain the historic Reformed position with careful engagement of the New Perspective. ## Verses in this codex _See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here._ ## See also - [G1342 - dikaios](/codex/g1342-dikaios/), root adjective "righteous" - [G1344 - dikaioo](/codex/g1344-dikaioo/), cognate verb "to justify" - [H6664 - tzedeq](/codex/h6664-tzedeq/), Hebrew equivalent - [G4102 - pistis](/codex/g4102-pistis/), paired with *dikaiosynē* throughout Pauline - [G5485 - charis](/codex/g5485-charis/), paired in [Romans 4](/codex/romans-4/) / [Galatians 2](/codex/galatians-2/)-3 - [Romans 3.23](/codex/romans-3-23/), universal sin against the standard - [Ephesians 2.8-9](/codex/ephesians-2-8-9/), by grace through faith