Basic HTML Version
(
&
, 1349), primarily “custom, usage,” came to denote “what is right”; then, “a
judicial hearing”; hence, “the execution of a sentence,” “punishment,” 2 Thess. 1:9,
RV
;
Jude 7, “punishment,”
RV
(
KJV
, “vengeance”). In Acts 28:4 (
KJV
, “vengeance”) it is
personified and denotes the goddess Justice or Nemesis (Lat.,
1$
), who the Melita
folk supposed was about to inflict the punishment of death upon Paul by means of the
viper. See
PUNISHMENT
,
VENGEANCE
.¶
JUSTIFICATION, JUSTIFIER, JUSTIFY
A. Nouns.
1.
(
&
, 1347) denotes “the act of pronouncing righteous,
justification, acquittal”; its precise meaning is determined by that of the verb
, “to
justify” (see B); it is used twice in the Ep. to the Romans, and there alone in the NT,
signifying the establishment of a person as just by acquittal from guilt. In Rom. 4:25 the
phrase “for our justification,” is, lit., “because of our justification” (parallel to the
preceding clause “for our trespasses,” i.e., because of trespasses committed), and means,
not with a view to our “justification,” but because all that was necessary on God’s part
for our “justification” had been effected in the death of Christ. On this account He was
raised from the dead. The propitiation being perfect and complete, His resurrection was
the confirmatory counterpart. In 5:18, “justification of life” means “justification which
results in life” (cf. v. 21). That God “justifies” the believing sinner on the ground of
Christ’s death, involves His free gift of life. On the distinction between
and
, see below.¶ In the Sept., Lev. 24:22.¶
2.
(
&
, 1345) has three distinct meanings, and seems best described
comprehensively as “a concrete expression of righteousness”; it is a declaration that a
person or thing is righteous, and hence, broadly speaking, it represents the expression and
effect of
(No. 1). It signifies (a) “an ordinance,” Luke 1:6; Rom. 1:32,
RV
,
“ordinance,” i.e., what God has declared to be right, referring to His decree of retribution
(
KJV
, “judgment”); Rom. 2:26,
RV
, “ordinances of the Law” (i.e., righteous requirements
enjoined by the Law); so 8:4, “ordinance of the Law,” i.e., collectively, the precepts of
the Law, all that it demands as right; in Heb. 9:1, 10, ordinances connected with the
tabernacle ritual; (b) “a sentence of acquittal,” by which God acquits men of their guilt,
on the conditions (1) of His grace in Christ, through His expiatory sacrifice, (2) the
acceptance of Christ by faith, Rom. 5:16; (c) “a righteous act,” Rom. 5:18, “(through one)
act of righteousness,”
RV
, not the act of “justification,” nor the righteous character of
Christ (as suggested by the
KJV
:
does not signify character, as does
$
,
righteousness), but the death of Christ, as an act accomplished consistently with God’s
character and counsels; this is clear as being in antithesis to the “one trespass” in the
preceding statement. Some take the word here as meaning a decree of righteousness, as in
v. 16; the death of Christ could indeed be regarded as fulfilling such a decree, but as the
apostle’s argument proceeds, the word, as is frequently the case, passes from one shade
of meaning to another, and here stands not for a decree, but an act; so in Rev. 15:4,
RV
,
“righteous acts” (
KJV
, “judgments”), and 19:8, “righteous acts (of the saints)” (
KJV
,
“righteousness”).¶