The meaning of δικαιοσύνη

[pilgrim]

I am interested in a conclusion as to what this word means.
A dialogue was started here:

To Jason: Meaning of δικαιοσύνη

Just wanted to let you know I haven’t forgotten about this discussion. I’ve been out of power for several days due to inclement weather here in the Puget Sound, and have fallen behind at work and in various other discussions I’m having. I’ll try to get caught up as soon as I can, but it may be several days before I can respond fully. Sorry!

I was following this with interest but it has been left ‘hanging’.
I am no expert in koine Greek but I don’t like to be misinformed by those who either ARE knowledgeable or those who purport to be knowledgeable.
I think there’s nothing worse for the testimony of EU than if we make false claims (even if done so in absolute innocence and with the best of intentions). Such claims may drive a sincere seeker away from the (possible) truth of the unconditional universal love of God.
My faith is not built upon the foundation good knowledge of Greek, nor even scripture but upon my experience of the Living Word within my heart. That said, it is vital that I do not mislead people by making erroneous claims.

I would be grateful if anyone could shed further light on the meaning of ‘dikaiosune’.

[TotalVictory]

pilgrim:

I’m not the expert you’re looking for, but I’m quite certain Jason Pratt has addressed this at some length elsewhere on this site.
A quick google gave me these results, none of which is the one I’m thinking of.
Perhaps Jason can help us here…

Jasons discussion with theopologetics
[To Jason: Meaning of δικαιοσύνη)

[On The Reality Of The Victory Of God's Love And Justice)

[JRP vs. Matt Slick on the Sin Against the Holy Spirit)

Bobx3

[Paidion]

Theopologetics convinced me with his Jan 6 2:48 PM post. What more can be said?

Once it has been shown that 2+2=4, one can talk around it for hours, but it still remains that 2+2=4.

I think that Theopologetics has clearly demonstrated that “συνη” is a Greek suffix which transforms an adjective into a noun just as “ness” does in English. In my opinion, it would be ludicrous to suppose that because the old English form of “ness” meant “nose”, that the English word “righeousness” is related to noses. Thus “συνη” probably has no relation to the Greek preposition “συν”.

**In Greek: δικαιος + συνη = δικαοσυνη

In English: righteous + ness = righteousness**

[pilgrim]

Theopologetics convinced me with his Jan 6 2:48 PM post. What more can be said?

Once it has been shown that 2+2=4, one can talk around it for hours, but it still remains that 2+2=4.

I think that Theopologetics has clearly demonstrated that “συνη” is a Greek suffix which transforms an adjective into a noun just as “ness” does in English. In my opinion, it would be ludicrous to suppose that because the old English form of “ness” meant “nose”, that the English word “righeousness” is related to noses. Thus “συνη” probably has no relation to the Greek preposition “συν”.

**In Greek: δικαιος + συνη = δικαοσυνη

In English: righteous + ness = righteousness**

I also think that Theo presents a strong case but Jason commented:

The evidence suggests {-sunê} was some kind of special case suffix variant; and in lieu of other evidence the most logical reason for the special case usage would be found in the meaning of the word as a word itself. Why use the preposition {sun} there instead of a generic suffix variant? Because the preposition {sun} means something the authors and speakers thought contributed to the new noun thus made from the adjective.

[JasonPratt]

I’ve been out of pocket for several days, but I’ll be continuing that discussion with Chris soon. One thing I’ve been doing is looking over all the examples Chris (Theopologetics) gave of words with -sunê as suffixes. A very strong majority of them involve an emphasis on coherent interactions between people (or the lack thereof, with appropriate context and/or grammatic modifications).

AT Robinson’s offhanded confirmation that -sunê was both a prefix and a suffix meaning “together”, was not given in a fashion where he suggested it was an archaic vestigal meaning. He mentioned it with a series of examples where compound words were formed in such a fashion that we’re supposed to recognize the term means “together”. This will be part of my multi-stage rebuttal about the meaning of the term.

But in short: does a highly respected grammarian writing a historical grammar of Biblical Greek confirm the term is “together” is used as a suffix? Yes. Does he confirm it using examples which indicate we’re supposed to regard it as still meaning “together” as a suffix as much as a prefix? Yes. Is there evidence that the usage as a suffix is rare compared to other qualitative noun modifiers, both during and before Biblical canon composition? Yes. Is the suffix rarely used as such in the Biblical canon? Yes. (Dikaiosunê is the most common such term in the NT by far.) On the other occasions (besides dikaiosunê) the suffix is used, do the contexts routinely indicate the authors/speakers are trying to emphasize the importance of people (or in some cases other things, but even in those cases typically also people) cooperating together, or failing to do so? Yes. (For that matter, is there some evidence in contemporary Greek that the suffix was used to emphasize this? Yes.) Does the meaning “fair-togetherness” routinely make contextual sense as a translation when dikaiosunê occurs? Yessity yes yes.

These are all significant evidences pointing toward the suffix having the intended meaning of “together(ness)”, and I still find the cumulative case very compelling.

But more details to come later when I get around to it. (I do have normal ‘work’ work I have to pile through occasionally.)