American Presbyterian theologian William G. T. Shedd (1820-1894) wrote the following about δικαιοω:
In the New Testament, the verb
dikaioō signifies (a) to pronounce or declare to be just: “And the publicans
justified God” (Luke 7:29); “that you might be justified in your sayings” (Rom.
3:4); and (b) to acquit from condemnation: “Justified from all things from which
you could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39; Rom. 4:5-7; 5:1,
9; 8:30-33; 1 Cor. 6:11; Gal. 2:16; 3:11). That dikaioō does not mean
sanctifying or making just is proved by its antithesis to “condemning” (Deut.
25:1; Prov. 17:15; Isa. 5:23; 2 Chron. 18:6-7) and by its equivalents “imputing
righteousness” and “covering sin” (Rom. 4:3, 6-8; 2 Cor. 5:19, 21). (William G.
T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology: Complete and Unabridged, Volumes 1-3 [Reformed
Retrieval, 2021], 698)
To see why Shedd and other Reformed theologians (e.g., Leon
Morris) are simply wrong, see, for e.g.:
Refuting Christina Darlington on the Nature of "Justification"
Response to a Recent Attempt to Defend Imputed Righteousness
