Thanks to @O'Darby for providing this article link below. (we were having a discussion about justice on another topic)
@Wick Stick pointed out that justice... (here's the quote)
That's a game changer.
Here's the link from @O'Darby
Justice: Hiding in Translation — God Loves Justice.
Here are a few significant quotes, if you don't want to read the whole thing.
"When I first started studying what the Bible said about justice topics, I thought I knew exactly how to find them: search for the word “justice.” But there’s a problem with looking for justice in the New Testament. If you type “justice” into a Bible word search engine, it doesn’t appear much. ...
In the few instances where the word “justice” appears, the word primarily refers to legal justice, which feels distant from the Hebrew shalom-centered ideas of justice in the Old Testament. Verses like “Mercy triumphs over judgment [krisis]” (James 2:13b), or “Judge [krino] not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1) make it seem like justice and judgment are opposite of mercy and, therefore, don’t belong in the New Testament. ...
HIDING IN TRANSLATION
Translating the Greek words for justice into English gives us yet a pretty big set of challenges. The Greek word most often translated “justice” in our English New Testament is krisis and is related to “judgment,” krima. The root is krino, meaning to sift and separate, like when a person evaluates something and makes a decision.[v] That’s a good picture of God as Judge—the compassionate, all-knowing one who sifts and makes judgments. That’s His job, not ours, because He sees things we can’t see like people’s hearts. The definitions of krisis line up with our English definitions: legal decision, condemnation, the authority to judge, punishment, or judgment.[vi] Krima has similar legal definitions. ...
At the time the New Testament was written, however, dikaiosune was not just used to mean “righteousness.”[ix] In fact, translators of classical Greek literature usually did the opposite when translating dikaiosune into English, opting for “justice” instead of “righteousness.”[x] In classical Greek, dikaiosune meant “well-ordering,” and it was an important word for understanding justice and government at the time. Plato’s Republic, written almost four hundred years before Jesus’ birth, was among the most influential books on the ideal structure of government of the day and was much concerned with “justice”—dikaiosune. [xi] To Plato, justice was important for understanding the human soul as well as the state.[xii] It was more than a personal quality; it was particularly demonstrated in relationships.[xiii] A “just” or “righteous” person fulfilled their proper role in civilized society.[xiv] ...
This translation problem helps explain why the New Testament seems almost silent on justice. When English-speakers like me read the Bible, it seems like righteousness is what we are supposed to pursue, not justice. And because righteousness in our world is connected to private, personal morality, it can seem like the highest goal of Christian life is to be clustered inside of church buildings, never doing wrong, instead of doing right in the wider world."
/ cc: @quietthinker @Lambano @Hillsage @amadeus @BarneyFife @RedFan @Berserk @Azim
@Wick Stick pointed out that justice... (here's the quote)
Wow. Thanks. (I responded)
That's a game changer.
Here's the link from @O'Darby
Justice: Hiding in Translation — God Loves Justice.
Here are a few significant quotes, if you don't want to read the whole thing.
Justice - Hiding in Translation
"When I first started studying what the Bible said about justice topics, I thought I knew exactly how to find them: search for the word “justice.” But there’s a problem with looking for justice in the New Testament. If you type “justice” into a Bible word search engine, it doesn’t appear much. ...
In the few instances where the word “justice” appears, the word primarily refers to legal justice, which feels distant from the Hebrew shalom-centered ideas of justice in the Old Testament. Verses like “Mercy triumphs over judgment [krisis]” (James 2:13b), or “Judge [krino] not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1) make it seem like justice and judgment are opposite of mercy and, therefore, don’t belong in the New Testament. ...
HIDING IN TRANSLATION
Translating the Greek words for justice into English gives us yet a pretty big set of challenges. The Greek word most often translated “justice” in our English New Testament is krisis and is related to “judgment,” krima. The root is krino, meaning to sift and separate, like when a person evaluates something and makes a decision.[v] That’s a good picture of God as Judge—the compassionate, all-knowing one who sifts and makes judgments. That’s His job, not ours, because He sees things we can’t see like people’s hearts. The definitions of krisis line up with our English definitions: legal decision, condemnation, the authority to judge, punishment, or judgment.[vi] Krima has similar legal definitions. ...
At the time the New Testament was written, however, dikaiosune was not just used to mean “righteousness.”[ix] In fact, translators of classical Greek literature usually did the opposite when translating dikaiosune into English, opting for “justice” instead of “righteousness.”[x] In classical Greek, dikaiosune meant “well-ordering,” and it was an important word for understanding justice and government at the time. Plato’s Republic, written almost four hundred years before Jesus’ birth, was among the most influential books on the ideal structure of government of the day and was much concerned with “justice”—dikaiosune. [xi] To Plato, justice was important for understanding the human soul as well as the state.[xii] It was more than a personal quality; it was particularly demonstrated in relationships.[xiii] A “just” or “righteous” person fulfilled their proper role in civilized society.[xiv] ...
This translation problem helps explain why the New Testament seems almost silent on justice. When English-speakers like me read the Bible, it seems like righteousness is what we are supposed to pursue, not justice. And because righteousness in our world is connected to private, personal morality, it can seem like the highest goal of Christian life is to be clustered inside of church buildings, never doing wrong, instead of doing right in the wider world."
/ cc: @quietthinker @Lambano @Hillsage @amadeus @BarneyFife @RedFan @Berserk @Azim
