DIKAIOS (Righteous)
WRITTEN BY DREW MATZ
What is the Word?
What does it mean to be holy? As Christians, we often speak of the holiness of God. Nothing unholy or corrupt can stand before him. Only perfection can stand before God and live. Yet, the Bible teaches us that all men are sinful. In our sinful state, we cannot come into the presence of God. We need to be righteous – but with a righteousness apart from ourselves. The word the New Testament uses for righteousness is dikaios.
How does the Bible use this word?
The writers of the New Testament present the main problem for humanity as death – death on account of sin. The law of God always accuses us. It condemns us as being unrighteous and therefore unable to stand in the perfect presence of God. The law therefore cannot save us, for it only brings about more sin. What we need is a righteousness that is apart from the law – the righteousness of God himself. In the scriptures, the writers use this adjective to speak of the righteousness in relation to God. In other words, to be righteous is to be correlated with the character of God himself.
Where in the Bible?
Jesus demonstrates the unique quality of this word by making a distinction between true righteousness and self-righteousness:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous (δίκαιοι) to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
God’s righteousness makes no compromises and cuts no corners. His eye peers into our hearts and can see it for the façade that is our own sense of worthiness. Jesus reminds us that righteousness begins in the heart. It is not gained through our “good” deeds.
Rather, as 1 John teaches us, our righteousness come from Christ alone:
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (δίκαιον). He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
Christ serves as our great high priest. He is constantly making intercession for us as the one mediator between God and man. It is through his righteousness alone that we are made right with God – and because of this, we can make things right with one another.
The Righteousness of One
When we understand that we are justified by the righteousness of Christ, we are freed from the demands and the penalties of the law. Thus, we are now set free to serve God and neighbor without the fear of death and without the burden of relying on our own merits. This changes our hearts that the love of Christ might flow through our hands as we work to become a servant of all.