I always kind of hope no one plays the “Greek card” anytime-and especially here in any case because the whole business of justification is a bit of a messy affair translation wise.
I'm not in a position to play the '"Greek card."
I’d first of all submit that it’s a bit ironic that the majority of the original ancient churches were Greek speaking, in the east, where the gospel was spread in Greek and the official language of the celebration is most often Koine Greek to this day and yet they hold to the same basic position on justification as the RCC.
Being "most often" the language of the celebration is not much help in reading the Greek Scriptures.
The problem was probably lack of most careful attention to consistency with
all that is revealed about "justification" in the NT.
And while I’m strictly an amateur on this, I know that the Greek root word for most of the words used in the bible pertaining to righteousness (and there are
many variations or derivatives with slightly different meanings) is
dikaios which simply means righteous or just. The NIV, NRSV, and NKJV all translate
Rom 5:18 using the term “justification”, meaning to be made just or righteous. The Greek is dikaiōsin:
Which is a form of the word
dikaiosi (justification).
Note the "be made,"
rather than "be-come" in the righteousness of
justification.
We "be-come" in the righeousness of
sanctification.
Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. NIV
Rom 5:19 actually spells it out with
two separate words,
dikaioi katastathēsontai, which
only translate as “made righteous”.
The two separate words mean
were made/will be made (
katastathēsontai)
righteous (
dikaioi) .
The concept of strict imputation doesn't really fit here:
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners,
Imputation (accounting) to us of
Adam's sin fits perfectly in
Romans 5:19a. . .it is the conclusion of the argument in
Romans 5:12-14, regarding what
sin caused death between Adam and Moses when there was no law to sin against at that time.
so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. NIV
And the imputation (accounting) to us of
Christ's righteousness in
Romans 5:19b is testified to many times elsewhere in the NT:
Romans 4:3,
Romans 4:9,
Romans 4:22-25,
Romans 1:17,
Romans 3:22, etc.
Both uses of imputation in
Romans 5:19 mean strict direct imputation, both are correct and both fit perfectly.
Paul has carefully and precisely constructed his argument regarding the exact and direct imputation of Adam's sin, beginning in
Romans 5:12-14, where his argument is:
The wages of sin is death (
Romans 6:23).
Sin is
transgression of the law. Where there is no law, there is
no sin taken in account (
Romans 5:13).
There was no law between Adam and Mose, therefore no transgression, and yet
all died because
all sinned (
Romans 5:12), even though they did not transgress the law (
Romans 5:14),
proof that God held them all guilty of Adam's sin because that was the only sin existing in the world (
Romans 5:13--guilt of transgression; i.e., sin) at the time.
His argument is then completed in
Romans 5:18-19 in two precisely constructied parallelisms of exact and direct imputation, establishing
our guilt in this condemnation into which we are born.
In Romans
5:15-16 Paul
contrasts, and then in Romans
5:17-19 he
parallels two
conrasts of the
trespass of Adam
with the
righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Note that he says in v.18 that we are
all condemned by Adams trespass,
just as we are made righteous by Christ's obedience. Christ was a second Adam (v.14;
1 Corinthians 15:45), meaning that our interest (involvement) in the two of them is of the
same nature (
1 Corinthians 15:22). In one man we are
made sinners,
just as in one man we are
made righteous.
Paul is drawing clear parallelisms of direct
imputation in vv.18-19, so that the last half of each verse gives the true meaning of the first half of each verse.
In neither half of the parallel does the outcome (guilt, righteousness) have anything to do with what men did, or our involvement would not be of the same nature (just as) and the parallelism would be destroyed.
Paul's meaning is that Adam's guilt is imputed to us
just as (in the same way) Christ's righteousness is imputed to us; i.e., exact and direct.
The word used for
“declared righteous” in
Rom 2:13 is
dikaiōthēsontai, and
this declaration or reckoning in any case is the direct result of obeying the law.
For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but
it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. NIV.
Or:
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but
the doers of the law who will be justified. NRSV
Precisely. . .Paul's point is this righteousness does not exist because no one can "do the law" as required for this righteosuness, therefore, he says,
"All who rely on the law are under a curse." (
Galations 3:10).
So we can forget
dikaiothesontai,
no one is declared righteous by obeying the law (
Romans 3:9-10), it has
nothing to do with the righteousness of the born-again.
And this idea of
obedience being the reason one is said to be righteous is echoed in Rom 6:16, the Greek word for righteousness being
dikaiosynēn :
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? NIV
And it’s interesting that both Rom 6:16 above and Gal 5:4 below place gaining righteousness in the future, related to obedience again, by the Spirit and not a righteousness that comes by the law.
And this takes us back to what I think I have previously presented to you:
(in another thread, and maybe not)
1)
righteousness of
justification - is
apart from works, and is
imputed (credited) to one at faith.
It is a
right-
standing before God's justice ("not guilty,"
saved from God's judgment) only,
not a state of holiness.
2)
righteousness of
sanctification -
involves works of
obedience in the Holy Spirit, in a process of growth in holiness.
Being
justified is dikaiousthe and
righteousness here is dikaiosynēs:
You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. NIV
"Justified" is a form of the word
dikaioo (
to make or
declare rightness, justness), and
"righteousness" is a form of the word
dikaiosune (rightness, justice)
where we see the distiction here between
righteousness by
justification (
dikaioo) -
declared "not guilty" and
righteousness imputed apart from works, and by
sanctification (
dikaiosune) -
holiness developed through works of obedience in the Holy Spirit.
A major difference between the old and new covenants is not that man is no longer obligated to be personally righteous under the new covenant, but that said righteousness is now finally achievable under the new, by the Spirit, under grace, in union with God. That's what it means to be made just.
That would be the righteousness of
sanctification.
For the righteousness of
justification through faith,
which saves, is always
apart from works and
by faith only (
Romans 4:5, see Abraham,
Genesis 15:6;
Romans 4:1-5).
So in conclusion:
The
righteousness of
justification by faith
apart from works which
saves from
God's judgment
(a
righteousness of
right-standing
only) is
made complete in
the
righteousness of
sanctification which
involves works of obedience in the Holy Spirit
(a righteousess of holiness).
I think we may be close to agreement here on:
1)
salvation from God's wrath (
Romans 5:9)
through faith, apart from works, in Jesus' atoning work
2)
justification apart from works by declaration of "not guilty," and imputed righteousness (permanent right-standing with God's justice
)
3) righteousness by sanctification
through works in the Holy Spirit to complete our
imputed permanent right-standing with God's justice
