Basic HTML Version
494
b. The word dikaios.
This word, connected with the verb just discussed, is peculiar in that it
never expresses what a thing is in itself, but always what it is in relation to something else, to
some standard outside of it, to which it ought to correspond. In that respect it differs from
agathos. In classical Greek, for instance, dikaios is applied to a wagon, a horse, or something
else to indicate that it is fit for its intended use. Agathos expresses the idea that a thing in itself
answers to the ideal. In Scripture a man is called dikaios when, in the judgment of God, his
relation to the law is what it ought to be, or when his life is such as is required by his judicial
relation to God. This may include the idea that he is good, but only from a certain point of view,
namely, that of his judicial relation to God.
c. The noun dikaiosis, justification.
This is found in only two places in the New Testament,
namely, Rom. 4:25; 5:18. It denotes the act of God’s declaring men free from guilt and
acceptable to Him. The resulting state is denoted by the word dikaiosune.
3. The resulting idea of justification.
Our word justification (from the Latin justificare,
composed of justus and facere, and therefore meaning “to make righteous”), just as the
Holland rechtvaardigmaking, is apt to give the impression that justification denotes a change
that is brought about in man, which is not the case. In the use of the English word the danger is
not so great, because the people in general do not understand its derivation, and in the Holland
language the danger may be averted by employing the related words rechtvaardigen and
rechtvaardiging. “To justify” in the Scriptural sense of the word, is to effect an objective
relation, the state of righteousness, by a judicial sentence. This can be done in a twofold way:
(a) by bringing into account the actual subjective condition of a person (to justify the just or the
righteous), Jas. 2:21; or (b) by imputing to a person the righteousness of another, that is, by
accounting him righteous though he is inwardly unrighteous. The latter is the usual sense of
justification in the New Testament.
B. THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION IN HISTORY.
The doctrine of justification by faith was not always clearly understood. In fact, it did not find its
classical expression until the days of the Reformation. We shall briefly consider:
1. THE DOCTRINE BEFORE THE REFORMATION.
Some of the earliest Church Fathers already
speak of justification by faith, but it is quite evident that they had no clear understanding of it
and of its relation to faith. Moreover, they did not sharply distinguish between regeneration
and justification. A rather common representation was that regeneration takes place in baptism
and includes the forgiveness of sins. Even Augustine does not seem to have had an accurate
understanding of justification as a legal act, as distinguished from the moral process of
sanctification, though it is quite evident from the whole tenor of his teachings and also from