The Greek of the Letter to Diognetus 9:4 reads:
ἐν τίνι δικαιωθῆναι δυνατὸν τοὺς ἀνόμους ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀσεβεῖς
ἢ ἐν μόνῳ τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ θεοῦ
The Greek uses δικαιωθῆναι,
which is the infinitive aorist passive of δικαιοω. Interestingly, Cyril
Richardson translates this, not as “declare righteous,” but make righteous
(i.e., not merely declarative/forensic, but transformative):
In whom could we, lawless and impious as we were, be made
righteous except in the Son of God alone? (Letter to Diognetus 9:4, in Early
Christian Fathers [trans. Cyril C. Richardson; New York: Collier Books, 1970], 221)
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