Comments on The Rebel God: Justification means "made righteous"

This has been so helpful for my assignment on Just...

2011-11-24T11:07:45.557-08:00

This has been so helpful for my assignment on Justification by Faith - thank you so much for writing it!

Hi Jai Hare, Yes, I know. I was just using צָדַק ...

2011-10-15T23:26:26.114-07:00

Hi Jai Hare,

Yes, I know. I was just using צָדַק because it is the lemma of הִצְדִּיק.

I would translate Gal 5:4 as "you who are trying to be made righteous through law" or "you who are trying to be sanctified by observing the law." Since the verb is passive, it is "the law" that would be "making righteous/holy" not the people.

James Dunn would say that what Paul is objecting to here is not the idea that we are made holy by doing good works (contra Luther, Dunn thinks Paul would agree with that idea!), rather Paul is objecting to the idea that we are "made righteous" through ritual purity observances like circumcision proscribed by the law.

That makes a lot of sense if you keep reading. In verse 6 Paul writes "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."

The Hebrew term you should use here is הִצְדִּיק i...

2011-10-15T22:03:07.239-07:00

The Hebrew term you should use here is הִצְדִּיק in the hiphil binyan. צָדַק (in the pa'al/qal) is "he was right," but הִצְדִּיק (in the hiphil) is "he showed X right, justified, declared X to be right." You've used the wrong binyan above.

As for Greek, what do you make of Galatians 5:4, where the mid/pass is used? κατηργήθητε ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ οἵτινες ἐν νόμῳ δικαιοῦσθε, τῆς χάριτος ἐξεπέσατε. Do you take this as people who were "making themselves righteous in the law"? How would you render it with your understanding of δικαιόω for imputing rather than demonstrating righteousness?

Thanks!

Jmac, Yes, Paul clearly was working from the passa...

2011-01-18T10:50:49.483-08:00

Jmac,
Yes, Paul clearly was working from the passage of Abraham in Genesis which he quotes in the following chapter (Ro 4:3). Nice observations.

A couple of observations... 1) The first mention o...

2011-01-18T06:54:18.845-08:00

A couple of observations... 1) The first mention of righteousness in the Old Testament is Gen 15:6 where God imputes righteousness to Abraham based upon his belief. 2) the scripture verses you mention warn against justifying the ungodly for a bribe. God imputing righteousness on the basis of faith is not God doing it for a bribe.

I like the fact that you use the definition of good. God declares the ungodly good based upon Jesus reconciliation which happens to coinside his original declaration about man Gen 1:32.

I'd like to add that one can see clearly from ...

2010-03-08T11:31:04.182-08:00

I'd like to add that one can see clearly from Rom 4:5 itself that "declare righteous" doesn't work for the simple reason Paul explains his comment immediately in verse 6, "just as David says Blessed is the man who's sins are forgiven." Thus, for Paul, in this context, to 'justify the ungodly' means to forgive the sinner, removing his sin/unrighteousness, thus rendering him Blessed (Acts 15:9; 1 Jn 1:9).

To force "declare righteous" in this case means "God declares righteous the unrighteous," which Lutherans and Calvinists don't even believe in. Lutherans and Calvinists believe God only justifies the righteous, even if the righteousness is an alien righteousness. This is why they deny the Catholic "legal fiction" charge. But their 'solution' (separating justification from sanctification) hardly helps them, for they now must read it as "God justifies the unsanctified," which is a category mistake (if true) on Paul's part!

Regarding your analysis of 'justify', you might want to have a look at these links:
http://sites.google.com/site/catholicdefense/article.htm

http://catholicnick.blogspot.com/2009/12/protestantism-refuted-outline.html

Once again with great clarity and ability to divid...

2010-03-01T16:45:05.774-08:00

Once again with great clarity and ability to divide the word you have shown that God is not looking for pretending we are righteous. The old nature circumcised and cut away will never be able to be declared righteous. Every person that puts their faith in the work of Christ receives His Spirit and are made righteous as children of God. First we believe it, then we live it. God imputing righteousness fails to change us where we need it the most. We need a new nature, a new start, a new hope that we can live righteousness every day because that is our new normal. This is the gospel: that we can live Christ life in us and through us.

Thanks Derek. Keep up the good work.

Thanks Derek for this helpful and clear explanatio...

2010-02-23T02:00:39.976-08:00

Thanks Derek for this helpful and clear explanation. God is not interested in participating in a legal fiction but in real transformation and reconciliation. This is what Paul believed and wrote. When we mistranslate dikaion we introduce inconsistencies into Paul which are not really there.