Truth and Righteousness
Excerpt
Truth translates the Greek alÄ“theia, and righteousness the Greek dikaiosunÄ“, and these are the meanings that the two words normally have in the Greek New Testament. But in this passage there seems to be an allusion to (or dependence on) Isaiah 11.5, which describes the rule of the future Davidic king: “Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins” (RSV), which the Septuagint translates by the same two nouns used here, dikaiosunÄ“ and alÄ“theia. The two lines in Hebrew are parallel, and it would seem that no great difference in meaning is intended between the Hebrew “righteousness” and “faithfulness” the two are synonymous. So it may be that here the Greek alÄ“theia reflects the meaning of the Hebrew noun “faithfulness, loyalty,” that is, the Christian soldier’s faithful devotion to the cause for which he is fighting, his loyalty to his commanding officer. More
Bratcher, Robert G., and Eugene Albert Nida. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. New York: United Bible Societies, 1993. Print. UBS Handbook Series.
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