Righteousness

Righteousness—what a word. One can’t read The Sermon on the Mount without concluding that the Galilean was quite taken with the concept. If one doubts the existence of the Galilean, then know that the writer of the Gospel of Matthew thought highly of the word.

Events unfolding in America today force us to consider what the Galilean must have meant by the concept of δικαιοσύνη, or righteousness. A relatively small, but vocal and attention-drawing sect that has broken off from traditional Christian beliefs has molded the word to fit the actions of a man and his followers who represent the very antithesis of the Galilean’s teachings.

One wonders how it happened. That’s for future historians to determine. For now, let’s look at the word itself, righteousness. Webster defines it as “acting in accord with divine or moral law: free from guilt or sin: morally right or justifiable.” Or, we might summarize it, the exact opposite of what we see coming from the current administration.

From the Biblical perspective, one writer defines it as

1. Just; accordant to the divine law. Applied to persons, it denotes one who is holy in heart, and observant of the divine commands in practice; as a righteous man. Applied to things, it denotes consonant to the divine will or to justice; as a righteous act. It is used chiefly in theology, and applied to God, to his testimonies and to his saints, and

2. Just; equitable; merited.

So, we see that the meanings from the secular and religious world are similar except in determining fromwhere the law governing the action emanates. We find it easy to determine what it is that Donald Trump’s followers consider righteousness. It is … well it’s what Donald Trump does from day to day. Many Americans don’t find that reassuring.

The Galilean didn’t exactly define the concept for us except by both examples and personalities. Francois Viljoen, Faculty of Theology, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus,

South Africa, notes that the Galilean “ … uses righteousness to refer to Jesus, John the Baptist and the disciples. In two cases, he contrasts the righteousness of the disciple with that of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. This suggests that Matthew probably uses the word as identity marker for his community.”[i]

Professor Viljoen further notes other writers who claim that, ‘The word ”righteousness” ...

expresses the essence of the sermon on the mount.’ If we consider The Beatitudes as a sort of “constitution for the righteous,” we must shudder at the difference between the opposing poles of Christian belief in America today.

True followers of the Galilean would surely mark his sense of righteousness far, far above that of Donald J. Trump.

If that sounds reasonable, we’ll take this subject up again next week.

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[i] Viljoen, F.P., 2013,

‘Righteousness and identity

formation in the Sermon on

the Mount’, HTS Teologiese

Studies/Theological Studies

69(1), Art. #1300, 10 pages.

http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/

hts.v69i1.1300