20th Annual Student Research Conference
Social Science
The Righteousness of God in Paul
Julie A. Laub
Dr. Jennifer Jesse , Faculty Mentor
Often in a Christian community when one says that God is righteous, one means that righteousness is a moral characteristic that describes God as good and virtuous. This, however, does not take into account the complexity of the Greek word from which it is translated, dikiosune. In this paper, I examine Paul’s use of the phase dikaiosune theou in order to understand what Paul meant in calling God righteous. The verb that relates to the noun dikaiosune, dikaioo, is most often translated “to justify.” These two related words are translated very differently. Though the root “just” is attached to dikaiosune, this is not reflected in our translation and has led to the inaccurate idea that the righteousness of God is merely a virtue when it also holds the idea of justice and justifying. God’s righteousness is God’s right-making power within relationship as well as God’s faithfulness to God’s covenants.
Keywords: Christianity, Paul, Righteousness, God
Topic(s):Philosophy & Religion
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 64-4
Location: OP 2111
Time: 3:30 pm