Righteousness or Justice?
I was about to preach at an evening service in a small church in a remote village in rural Honduras. I could barely see my notes, because the church was lit by only a few candles – all the congregation could afford, after their village was devastated by Hurricane Mitch a year earlier. Without wishing to be too graphic, the truth is that I was also fighting the worst case of diarrhea of my life! To top it off, I had just finished a bitter argument with one of my students, who refused to eat the food offered to us – because (very understandably) he didn’t want to end up getting sick like me.
In short, I was miserable! So I said to my friend and translator, “Miguel, I’m not sure I have a good message for these people tonight. So if I’m preaching badly, you just go ahead and say whatever you want to say.” Without missing a beat, Miguel responded, “Jeff, that’s what I always do when you preach.”
What power a translator has! The Italians have a saying, “traduttore traditore” – “the translator is a traitor.” I don’t know about that, but I do know that a translator has the potential to dramatically alter the meaning of the words she is using.
With that in mind, translating the words of the Bible must be a dangerous undertaking! I was thinking about the danger of translating today, after reading a comment about the book of Matthew, in David Bosch’s masterful book, “Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission.” Bosch focuses our attention on one of Matthew’s favorite Greek words “dikaiosyne,” which shows up in some of Jesus’ most famous sayings. For example, “…seek first the kingdom of God and his dikaiosyne, and all these things will be added to you.” (6:33)
According to Bosch, dikaiosyne can be translated as righteousness (a distinctly religious concept, suggesting a spiritual/moral quality to which we can aspire and receive from God), justification (God’s merciful act of declaring us just), or justice (our right conduct toward others, and especially those who are oppressed). All three concepts are contained in the one word, dikaiosyne. What a rich word it is!
I’m not sure what happens when the Bible gets translated from the original languages into Swahili, Chinese or Spanish. But almost always, the English translators render dikaiosyne as righteousness. This would lead English readers of scripture to conclude that Jesus was concerned chiefly with personal piety, putting narrowly “spiritual” matters before concerns of justice for the oppressed of this world. My guess is that this tendency goes all the way back to the King James version in the early 17th century: After all, it’s not hard to see why the king would not want his official Bible to portray Jesus emphasizing justice as the defining mark of God’s kingdom. But righteousness, proper moral behavior: What king wouldn’t want his subjects to make this the focus of their religion?
But what happens if you translate dikaiosyne as “justice?” Suddenly, we have Jesus telling us that a right response to the needs of the oppressed lies at the heart of God’s kingdom (Matthew 6:33). Those who “hunger and thirst for justice” are the ones God will satisfy. (5:6) Now we hear Jesus insisting that his disciples’ commitment to justice surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees. (5:20) Indeed, the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are persecuted precisely because of their commitment to working for justice! (5:10) It certainly puts a different spin on following Christ for those of us who live and serve in high-risk communities!
I thought of this passage last month, when my friend Alfred Oyango hosted a small group of friends at his church in Kawangware, one of Nairobi’s many teeming slum communities. Harvest Bible Baptist Church meets in a small classroom made of corrugated tin, and dreams about how to reach and serve their very poor community. After talking about Christian community development and the importance of holistic ministry responding to the felt-needs of the poor – including their need for justice – our friend Sheth (from Kibera) made the observation that caring for the poor is difficult when the political and economic “powers that be” conspire to prevent them from making even modest gains in their standard of living. “How do we as the church speak to those powers, even while doing our ministry within the communities to which we are called?” Sheth asked. It is a very important question.
Perhaps a modest starting point could be found in our approach to practicing dikaiosyne, to seeking it and the kingdom of God above all else: If we will allow our traditional understanding of the word to be modified (not replaced, but modified; for all three senses of the word are necessary for us to fully understand it), such that we can hear Jesus telling us that the thing we must seek above all else, the essence of the kingdom, the thing that will bring both ultimate satisfaction and persecution, is God’s justice-righteousness-justification – perhaps this would be one small step toward understanding how we can build holistic ministries that…
…share the wonderful news of God’s justification
…teach people to live “upright, godly lives in this present age” (Titus 2:11-14)
…actively work for justice on behalf of the poor and oppressed
…confront the “powers that be” when they stubbornly refuse to let people and communities flourish under their leadership.
Like King James of old, we all prefer to “translate” the words of scripture into meanings that serve our own purposes. But like my Honduran friend Miguel, the Holy Spirit will continue to re-translate our words back into his perfect message. It is our confidence in the Holy Translator that gives us the courage to speak the words of scripture, to seek first the Kingdom of God and his dikaiosyne in Kibera, Kawangware, Mathare, Dagoretti… and Denver!