[B-Greek] Would "legitimate" be a better translation of DIKAIOS?

Bryant J. Williams III bjwvmw at com-pair.net
Thu May 4 01:40:49 EDT 2006


Dear jam,

Please use FULL NAME AT END OF EMAIL.

With regards to DIKAIOS. The word itself coming from ancient Greek through
classical (Plato, Aristotle, etc.) had the idea of "conforming to a norm." This
norm would be cultural, legal, religious, ethical, etc. The primary use is
legal/forensic with the meaning, "to declare righteous/just/not guilty." The LXX
uses DIKAIWTAI of Tamar in Genesis 38:26, "Judah recognized them and said, 'She
is more righteous than I, since I would not give her to my son Selah.'" Now,
Tamar was NOT innocent in the sense of "purity", but was "declared righteous/not
guilty' by reason of the fact that she conformed to the cultural norm of the
levirate marriage law (later proscribed in the Leviticus and Deuteronomy). It
also does not mean "innocent" which would imply "purity." No one is "innocent."
TDNT and NIDNTT have very good articles dealing with the use of DIKAIOS +
cognates and with the corresponding Hebrew word, TSADDIQ + cognates.

Matthew 6:1, PROS [DE] DIKAIOSUNHN hUMWN MH POIEIN EMPROSQEN TWN ANQRWPWN PROS
TO QEAQHNAI AUTOIS...
Here Matthew corresponds with the same usage found in James 2 regarding the
Semitic idea of DIKAIOSUNH referring to "deeds/works of righteousness."

Romans 3:20-26 and Galatians 2:15-3:14 uses DIKAIOS + cognates in their legal
sense of "to declare righteous/just."

En Xristwi,

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <jam at surfing.net>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 02:27 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] Would "legitimate" be a better translation of DIKAIOS?


Is "LEGITIMATE" an optional translation of "DIKAIOS" instead of just and
righteous?  Why?  Because both "legitimate" and "DIKAIOS" have origins
that relate to legality.  Second, the modern use of "legitimate" more
strongly communicates the idea of "status," which is important in the
biblical use of "DIKAIOS."  And finally "legitimate" is one word in
English which carries a range of meaning analogous to the one word in
Greek.  By not breaking the one word "DIKAIOS" up into several English
words it might be easier to see the subtleties taught about "the
righteous" or "the just", as well as the over all importance of "the
legitimate,"  as a central theme in God's great work.


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