In the Right (2 Timothy 3:16)

"All scripture breathes God, and is profitable for scripting our life; for providing us with evidence of spiritual reality; for completely restoring us to our former position in Christ; and for training us in righteousness." (2 Timothy 3:16, paraphrase).

This is obviously a paraphrase of 2 Timothy 3:16, but a very accurate portrayal of what the spirit of God, based on the Greek text, is trying to communicate.

RIGHTEOUSNESS

This word study concerns the word "righteousness", a very often talked about, but misunderstood concept in the scripture.

The word comes from the Greek word (dike), which originally meant ''a ruling at court". It gained a negative connotation of punishment, in that when the verdict was "guilty", there was often some form of punishment meted out. Even today, the English word "judgment", is often seen as negative, though it is essentially neither negative or positive, but rather expresses the thought of a judge deciding the legal merits of two opposing sides and, following deliberation, rendering a verdict.

(Dikaiosyne), or "righteousness", always has this legal background, of 'a judge allotting to each, what is due'.

UNWRITTEN STANDARD

To the Greeks, righteousness was originally an unwritten standard, acceptable to society, that defined how a model citizen lived. It was not something self-imposed, but was an external, unwritten "law", that an individual internalized, and it became their manner of behavior. It was a universal standard, acceptable to all, of what was "right"

behavior. As society developed, through the legal system, these unwritten laws were written down, and those observing them, were deemed righteous. To the Greeks, the righteous were considered those in society, who, by their lifestyle, kept civilized society functioning as it should, and demonstrated how every member of that society should live.

In keeping with this background, righteousness always had to do with relationships, whether it was fulfilling obligations towards people, or the gods.

LEGALLY RIGHTEOUS

Later, righteousness took on two specific meanings:

1) It referred to someone who was legally righteous.

2) It referred to the claims or entitlement, of those that were legally righteous.

Righteousness was not so much a question of being "morally" right, as it was of being "legally" right. A righteous person was one, who according to a judges verdict, was declared to be "in the right". In fact, the dominant meaning that developed, in classical Greek, was that of plaintiffs appealing to judges, wanting their 'legal rights'.

HEBREW

The Hebrew word for righteousness originally came from a word signifying "stiff" or "straight", and came to mean conformity to a "line" or "rule" of God or others.

There is no one word in the English, that can adequately portray the meaning of the Hebrew or Greek words for righteousness. Primarily, the word is one of legal terminology, and means:

1) A verdict rendered in one's favor.

2) The consequences of the verdict.

CRIMINAL & CIVIL CASES

In the Hebrew legal structure, there were basically two types of legal cases, and thus two types of verdicts. There were criminal cases and civil cases. Criminal cases had to do with a verdict of guilt or innocence, while civil cases had to do with legal rights, and a verdict of being justified, ["in the right"], or, unjustified, having no legal right or claim.

CIVIL LAW

 In the OT, righteousness has nothing to do with what is morally right or wrong. Righteousness has to do with civil law. Righteousness is a question of legal rights, in

relation to ownership; property; or inheritance.

 When a judge "justified" an individual, in a legal dispute, the judge was not only conferring upon that person the position of being legally, "in the right", but the judge was also granting to them, all the benefits of being "in the right", or righteous, and awarding to them the property; inheritance; or ownership, of what ever was being legally disputed, by the two parties. "Justification" restored property; ownership; position; or inheritance, to an individual.

When Abraham was declared to be righteous, by faith [Genesis 15:6], (1) he not only met the standards of obligations towards God, but (2) he also obtained all the benefits of that covenant relationship, that he now had, with the Father God.

FULLNESS & ABUNDANCE

The Hebrew word for righteousness actually expresses the ideas of "fullness and abundance", and contains the sense of "reward".

When the scripture breathes out God, we are actually being trained, by spiritual revelation, to walk in every benefit; right; inheritance; and position of authority, that we already possess, in Christ Jesus; all the fullness and abundance that is ours.

AFFIRMATION:

The announcement of God's word, manifests His presence, and by the Holy Spirit, brings me the revelation or who I am in Christ, and how to live in the authority of my legal position and inheritance, in Him.

You are God's Best and God's Best is Yours