On Justification by Faith

Greek Words Relating to Salvation in the New Testament

By Bp Joseph Boyd (Ancient Church of the West)

The reason I cannot, of good conscience, agree with the Protestant understanding of “Justification by Faith” is all because of one little word. Strong’s will tell you, with Luther, the Reformers, and countless Protestant website, that “Justification” is “Dikaiosis” in Greek, and that it means “To be declared righteous.” For many years, this was unquestioned truth to me, and I based my whole understanding of my relationship with God on a legal process of God declaring me righteous. 

This worldview was completely destroyed when, one day in 2007, I discovered that this is not what the Greek word meant. It is not a legal term, and it nowhere implies “declaration.” 

The Greek root of Dikaiosis means “righteous”, and is used to mean “Saint” and “Holy” throughout the Biblical and Christian Tradition. The suffix “-osis” is the aorist tense and means “a state of”, and together the word means a “state of righteousness” not “to be declared righteous.” 

If the Septuagint gives the lexical context for the use of this word in the Ancient Church, the Protestant assignment of the meaning of the Latin word “iustificario” from the Vulgate (which was a legal word and assigned by St. Jerome in the 5th century), is an improper assignment. It was a simple mistake to make, but careful scholars can’t allow it to stand when so much hinges on the meaning of this one little word.

To be “legally declared righteous” results in Luther’s famous “snow covered dung” analogy. To be truly transformed by God’s grace through faith means that we are made into the likeness of Christ. One is external and involves God pretending, the Holy Trinity conspiring within itself to save mankind through legal loopholes, and Christ hiding us from the wrath of God the Father in an act of holy deception. The other is an actual relationship with God that manifests our original purpose and the harmony of Trinity for our salvation, and Christ fulfilling the will of the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

We are indeed “Justified by Faith”, but this means that we are actually made righteous by the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, not merely declared to be something that we are not.