Word of the Week
February 8, 2025
Dikaios: The Righteous God
Righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.
John 17:25 NASB2020
“That’s not fair!
It doesn’t take long for kids to develop an acute sense of what’s right and wrong – especially when it applies to the big sister who gets a larger piece of birthday cake! In fact, the best way to divide something into precisely equal parts is to let one kid cut the cake, then let the other one choose his piece.
Adults carry on their own hot debates about this issue. We label an action as right or wrong. We identify a person as righteous or unrighteous. And we are convinced that our description is accurate.
But how do we differentiate between right and wrong?
As usual, the Bible provides the best answers. Scripture speaks constantly about moral issues. It lays out the guidelines for right and wrong in so much detail that we could never cover its teachings in a single article. Instead, let’s take a first step by examining the Greek word for “righteous.”
The usual word for “righteous” is dikaios [DEE-ky-ahss] which occurs 79 times, paired with the Greek noun dikaiosunē [[dih-ky-aw-SOO-nay] which shows up 92 times in the New Testament.
What do these words mean?
In ancient Greek societies, you were dikaios if you adhered to the rules of society. If you obeyed the laws of the city, fulfilled your social obligations, and conformed to the local customs, you were doing what was right. You possessed the virtues that people valued.
If you asked these old Greeks, they would deny that their expectations were arbitrary. No, they believed these practices were built into the realities of life. You had to live this way if you wanted life to work as it should. There was even a goddess of justice named Dike [di-kay] to enforce these standards.
The idea of dikaios took on a much deeper meaning in the Old Testament. Right and wrong were no longer linked to the laws and customs of a particular society; they were based on God and His laws. The character of God became the ultimate standard, and His laws helped you understand what righteousness looked like.
When you come to the New Testament, the concept of righteousness builds on the Old Testament foundation.
Occasionally, you find dikaios used in the secular sense, as a general description of good moral behavior. Pilate’s wife called Jesus “a righteous man” (Matthew 27:19). The centurion at the cross described Jesus as a dikaios man (Luke 23;47). Even Herod recognized that John the Baptist was a righteous and holy man (Mark 6:20). None of these non-Jews had a deep understanding of theology, but they knew a morally upright person when they saw him.
Here are some key concepts based on the word dikaios:
- God Himself is righteous.
- Jesus spoke to His “righteous Father” (John 17:25).
- God is righteous when He judges sin (2 Thessalonians 1:5-6; Revelation 16:5, 7; 19:2). Indeed, Paul calls Him “the Lord, the righteous judge.”
- All of God’s ways are “righteous and true” (Revelation 15:3).
In summary, everything about God is right. It’s not that He conforms to some abstract idea of right and wrong. He IS the standard.
His commandments are right because they proceed from Him (Romans 7:12).
Because Jesus Christ is God, He too is perfectly righteous. Peter called Him “the Holy and Righteous One” (Acts 3:14) and 1 John 2:1 announces Him as “Jesus Christ the righteous.”
- We are not righteous. We may live up to human standards, but the New Testament makes it clear that we do not match the demands of God’s righteousness. Romans 3:10 ,makes it clear: “There is no righteous person, not even one.” Jesus explained that he did not come to save righteous people, but to call sinful people to repentance (Luke 5:23).
- The righteous God can declare unrighteous people to be officially righteous because of what Christ did on the cross.
Jesus died to pay the penalty for our unrighteousness, satisfying God’s justice. He traded His righteousness for our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) so that the divine Judge could declare us innocent. He broke the stalemate that left us in a seemingly hopeless position, enabling the Father to be “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). As a result, God is both merciful and righteous when He forgives our sins (1 John 1:9).
- Once God issues the verdict of “not guilty,” we will begin to live a life dedicated to increasing conformity to His righteous character. 2 Timothy 3:16 reminds us that the Scriptures are intended to provide “instruction in righteousness”. And Romans 6:11-13 reminds us to present ourselves to God, not sin.
How do we know what’s right? We look at the character of God. If we want more detail, we look at the commands contained in Scripture.
How do we cope with our failure to do what’s right? We come to God in faith, accepting the gift of eternal life which He won on the cross.
How do we live each day with increasing righteousness? Look to Scripture for direction and count on God for strength.
Study Hint:
This article was based almost exclusively on verses that used the adjective dikaios. If you want to dig deeper, you can look up some of the references that use the matching noun dikaiosunē. If you aren’t sure how to find the verses, you can stick to English and look up “righteousness.”
To go even further, you can pursue this topic in the Old Testament. The corresponding Hebrew word for righteousness is tsadiq. You can follow this trail for a long time!
Coming Up
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” – that’s my favorite hymn, and it points to one of the most encouraging characteristics of God. Next week, let’s look more closely at God’s faithfulness.
Ezra Project 2025
7 Responses
Your friend, Suzanne Bias, gave me the link to your website as she knows I like to study the names of God. She and I taught a class at our church on prayer and I pointed out to our students all the different names which tell us about His character and His worthiness.
There is a worldly righteousness and a Godly righteousness. Society as a whole today wants to confirm to the world. But God desires us to live a life that’s holy and pleasing to Him. This, His Word declares.
This is very much what the world needs now, more righteousness. Thank you again!
I get much knowledge by reading these articles. Let’s understand the proper context of righteousness. Within in me there is nothing righteous but in Christ I grow into His righteousness.
Dr. Bechtle,
Some 23 years ago the pastor at St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church in Oklahoma City had an interesting understand on this topic and explained how The Greek Church sees the Greek NT term, dikaios, as being right and correct. However, they believe that this word was influenced in the Latin Church by the Latin word, iustus, with a superimposed semantic significance of fair and equitable, when the Greek Church understood it to have only the semantic field of right and correct and conforming to a measure or norm. The Greek Church sees God, as being right and correct and conforming to His character, but not necessarily fair and equitable, as the Latin Church imposes such on dikaios with its iustus.
I noted this in 1 John 1:9 and mused how God is always right but not necessarily always fair and just. In fact, if God were totally fair, he would not have man anywhere but in eternal Gehenna which is what he deserves.
What do you think?
Larry N. Baker, http://www.OurBibleMinistries.com
This is an interesting question, and I think a lot of it rests on our definitions for the English words involved. I’m not an expert on the Catholic understanding of “righteous,” but it sounds as if they believe that “fairness” requires God to give each person exactly what he deserves. He would have to treat everyone in an identical way. Biblically, God doesn’t work in the same way in each person’s life. He destroys Sodom but He spares Capernaum, even though Capernaum sinned against greater light. It’s safer to say that God is always consistent with His own character, but there are many reasons why we may look at His handling of humans and find it hard to explain all the details. As you say, perfect consistency and fairness alone would send us all to perdition. Grace complicates the equation and offers us a way to spend eternity in His presence.
I’m blessed to have come across the article..and I hope to read more
God bless you