Several times St. Paul uses dikaioō in its forensic ot sense, “declare or acknowledge to be
just,” especially when he is quoting the ot,
but it would be wrong to extend this meaning to all the texts. In the first
place, this would be to forget that “verbs in -oō mean to make whatever the root indicates. Thus dikaioō should properly mean ‘make
just.’ This meaning is not found in secular Greek for rather natural reasons.”
In the second place, it would overlook the fact that St. Paul, as a converted
Pharisee, perceived as no one else did the opposition between the new covenant
and the old covenant, law and grace, circumcision and baptism, and perhaps
especially the inefficacy of the old legal dispensation compared to the
efficacy and realism of the dispensation of salvation centered on the cross of
Jesus. The consequence is a radical change in ideas concerning
righteousness/justification, as is seen in the frequent linking of the verb
“justify” with faith in Christ and in the explicit contrast between
justification and works of the law; there is a different scheme or process for
attributing justice/righteousness in the new covenant than in the old covenant.
The apostle gives dikaioō a causative
sense, as appears from Rom 3:24—“All have sinned and come short of the glory of
God (cf. Rom 8:30; 2 Cor 3:18; 5:21); (henceforth) they are justified (present
passive participle, dikaioumenoi)
freely by his grace, through the redemption (apolytrōsis) that is in Jesus Christ.” God has shown his mercy, but
not by pronouncing acquittal pure and simple; through Christ a price was paid,
a ransom (lytron) with expiatory
value (cf. verse 25: hilastērion), so
that “sinners” have become just, have been made truly righteous. Another clear
text is Rom 3:26—“to show his justice/righteousness (his salvific action), so
that (it might be established that) he himself is just and that he justifies
(present active participle, dikaiounta)
the one who has faith in Jesus”: the just God communicates his
justice/righteousness and makes just. Again: “We hold that a person is
justified (present passive infinitive, dikaiousthai)
by faith without works of the law”; “There is only one God, who will justify
(future active indicative, dikaiōsei
= will make just) the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised
by means of that same faith” (Rom 3:30).
The realism in this Christian
justification is made explicit at Rom 5:1—“Having therefore been justified by
faith (aorist passive participle, dikaiōthentes),
let us maintain peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Whereas sinners
were enemies of God, they have now “become righteous/just,” i.e., reconciled
with God (5:10) in an enduring way (5:2) and have a loving relationship with a
holy God in the peace of a purified heart. Such is the standing of the present
Christian life. Believers are made so thoroughly just that they are sure of
their future glorification: “Those whom God has called he has also justified
(aorist active indicative, edikaiōsen),
those whom he has justified he has also glorified (aorist, anticipating
something that is certain, according to Lagrange)” (Rom 8:30). All these verbs
are causative; all these acts of God connect to each other and are called by
each other’s names. Justification is as real and as personal a gift as the gift
of faith; the present state is as certain as the future glory. Finally, 1 Cor
6:11 is decisive: “You have been washed (at baptism), you have been sanctified,
you have been justified (aorist passive indicative, edikaiōthēte) in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the
Spirit of our God.” The three aorist verbs show that the events coincide; the
two latter verbs in the passive express the reality of the interior change. E.
B. Allo notes, “This is a classic passage against imputed righteousness.” (Ceslas Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, 3
vols. [trans. James D. Ernest; Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.,
1994], 1:340-43)