A Word-Study Chart · The Gospels, Paul & John
dikaiosynē · root δικ- · "right, just, in-the-right"
righteousness · justice · the state of being right with God and doing right
Not one word — one root, a whole family
This study traces a word family rather than a single lemma. All of it grows from the root δικ-. English obscures the unity, because we borrowed "just / justice / justify" from Latin and "right / righteous / righteousness" from Old English — two roots for what Greek keeps as one. So when Romans 5:1 says we are justified and Romans 1:17 speaks of righteousness, the reader sees two topics; Paul wrote one. To be δικαιόω-ed (justified) is to be granted δικαιοσύνη (righteousness) and counted δίκαιος (righteous).
God Himself is righteous; we are not; Christ alone is the Righteous One; He becomes our righteousness; we are declared righteous by faith; we then practice righteousness; and we press on toward the world where righteousness is at home.
Righteousness is not a rule above God; it is His own character.
εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν δίκαιον καὶ δικαιοῦντα τὸν ἐκ πίστεως
einai auton dikaion kai dikaiounta
…so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
The hinge of the whole gospel — and you can see both members of the family in one line: God is δίκαιον (just) and δικαιοῦντα (justifying). The cross lets Him be both at once. 1 John 1:9 — "He is faithful and just to forgive."
The problem is universal — including our best self-made righteousness.
οὐκ ἔστιν δίκαιος οὐδὲ εἷς
ouk estin dikaios oude heis
There is none righteous, no, not one.
The verdict that levels everyone. Romans 10:3 names the fatal alternative — establishing "one's own righteousness" while ignoring God's. Self-made righteousness is the very thing that blocks the gift.
The just, dying for the unjust — the only qualified substitute.
δίκαιος ὑπὲρ ἀδίκων
dikaios hyper adikōn
Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God.
The exchange in miniature: the δίκαιος (righteous) for the ἄδικοι (unrighteous) — same root, opposite states. 1 John 2:1 calls Him "Jesus Christ the righteous," our Advocate; Acts 3:14, "the Righteous One."
The great exchange — His righteousness for our sin.
ἵνα ἡμεῖς γενώμεθα δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ
genōmetha dikaiosynē theou en autō
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
The verse for "Christ is our righteousness." Not righteousness we generate, but righteousness we become — God's own, located "in Him." 1 Cor 1:30: Christ "became for us… righteousness." Phil 3:9: "not my own righteousness… but that which is through faith in Christ."
A courtroom verdict, received, not earned.
δικαιωθέντες οὖν ἐκ πίστεως εἰρήνην ἔχομεν
dikaiōthentes oun ek pisteōs
Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The passive matters: we are justified — acted upon, not acting. Gal 2:16: "a man is not justified (δικαιοῦται) by works of law but through faith." Rom 4:3: Abraham believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
The righteousness reckoned to us begins to be lived out by us.
ὁ ποιῶν τὴν δικαιοσύνην δίκαιός ἐστιν, καθὼς ἐκεῖνος δίκαιός ἐστιν
ho poiōn tēn dikaiosynēn dikaios estin
The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
Imputed becomes imparted. Doing righteousness does not earn the status — it reveals it. 1 John 2:29: "everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him." The family of God resembles the Righteous One.
ἐδουλώθητε τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ
edoulōthēte tē dikaiosynē
Having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Freedom in Christ is not lawlessness but a new allegiance. Eph 4:24 — the new self is "created… in true righteousness"; Eph 6:14 — wear it as a breastplate.
Pursued now, perfected then — a world where righteousness dwells.
οἱ πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες τὴν δικαιοσύνην
peinōntes kai dipsōntes tēn dikaiosynēn
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
"We must be…" — Matt 5:20 sets the bar: a righteousness that exceeds the scribes'. Not a higher score, but a different kind — the gift of stages IV–V, working itself out. Matt 6:33: seek first His righteousness.
ἐν οἷς δικαιοσύνη κατοικεῖ
en hois dikaiosynē katoikei
We await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
The destination: a renewed creation where righteousness is finally at home. 2 Tim 4:8 — there waits "the crown of righteousness," given by "the righteous Judge."
The counterfeit is not open wickedness but a homemade righteousness, confident and respectable. Scripture's sharpest warnings about the δικ- family fall on those who trust their own.
τὴν ἰδίαν δικαιοσύνην ζητοῦντες στῆσαι
tēn idian dikaiosynēn zētountes stēsai
Ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
The tragedy: zeal aimed at building a private righteousness, refusing the one God gives. Phil 3:9 is Paul's personal renunciation of exactly this.
πεποιθότας … ὅτι εἰσὶν δίκαιοι
hoti eisin dikaioi
…to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.
The parable that follows (Pharisee and tax collector) ends with the tax collector going home justified — δεδικαιωμένος — the verb of stage V, granted to the one who pleaded for mercy.
The verb δικαιόω is forensic — a judge's declaration, not an infusion of goodness (its passive, "be justified," is the language of a verdict). That status, received by faith (stage V), then bears fruit in actual righteous living (stage VI). Justification and sanctification are distinct, but the same δικ- root binds them: the gift always begins to look like its Giver.
Watch for it in your Bible: wherever you read "just, justice, justify, justified" and wherever you read "righteous, righteousness," the underlying Greek is one family. Some translations (e.g. the NET, and notes in the ESV/CSB) flag this; most simply alternate. Tracing δικ- reunites the courtroom (justified) and the character (righteous) into one gift.
The family appears several hundred times across the New Testament. Below are the verses gathered in this study, grouped by member — noun, adjective, verb, adverb — all from the one root.
| Ref. | Word | Member | Parsing | Sense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mt 5:6 | δικαιοσύνην | noun | acc sg | hunger & thirst for righteousness |
| Mt 5:20 | δικαιοσύνη | noun | nom sg | righteousness must exceed the scribes' |
| Mt 6:33 | δικαιοσύνην | noun | acc sg | seek first His righteousness |
| Lk 18:9 | δίκαιοι | adj | nom pl | trusted they were righteous (self) |
| Acts 3:14 | δίκαιον | adj | acc sg | "the Righteous One" (Christ) |
| Rom 1:17 | δικαιοσύνη / δίκαιος | noun+adj | nom sg | righteousness revealed; the just live by faith |
| Rom 3:10 | δίκαιος | adj | nom sg | "none righteous, not one" |
| Rom 3:26 | δίκαιον / δικαιοῦντα | adj+verb | acc sg / ptc | just and the justifier |
| Rom 4:3 | δικαιοσύνην | noun | acc sg | credited to Abraham as righteousness |
| Rom 5:1 | δικαιωθέντες | verb | aor pass ptc | "having been justified by faith" |
| Rom 6:18 | δικαιοσύνῃ | noun | dat sg | slaves of righteousness |
| Rom 10:3 | δικαιοσύνην | noun | acc sg | establishing "one's own" righteousness |
| 1 Cor 1:30 | δικαιοσύνη | noun | nom sg | Christ became our righteousness |
| 2 Cor 5:21 | δικαιοσύνη | noun | nom sg | we become the righteousness of God |
| Gal 2:16 | δικαιοῦται | verb | pres pass 3sg | not justified by works of law |
| Eph 6:14 | δικαιοσύνης | noun | gen sg | breastplate of righteousness |
| Phil 3:9 | δικαιοσύνην | noun | acc sg | not my own, but from God by faith |
| 2 Tim 4:8 | δικαιοσύνης / δίκαιος | noun+adj | gen / nom sg | crown of righteousness; righteous Judge |
| Titus 2:12 | δικαίως | adverb | — | live "righteously" in this age |
| 1 Pet 3:18 | δίκαιος | adj | nom sg | the just for the unjust |
| 1 Jn 2:1 | δίκαιον | adj | acc sg | "Jesus Christ the righteous," Advocate |
| 1 Jn 2:29 | δικαιοσύνην | noun | acc sg | practicing righteousness → born of Him |
| 1 Jn 3:7 | δικαιοσύνην / δίκαιος | noun+adj | acc / nom sg | doer of righteousness is righteous as He is |
| 2 Pet 3:13 | δικαιοσύνη | noun | nom sg | new earth where righteousness dwells |