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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Luke 1:75 - 1:75
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Holiness and righteousness (ὁσιότητι καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ)
The adjective ὅσιος, holy, is properly what is confirmed by ancient sanction and precept. Ὁσία is used in classical Greek to denote the everlasting principles of right, not constituted by the laws or customs of men, but antedating them; such as the paying of the proper rites of sepulture. Compare the fine passage in the “Antigone” of Sophocles (453-55):
“Nor did I deem thy edicts strong enough,
That thou, a mortal man, shouldst overpass
The unwritten laws of God that know not change,
They are not of to-day nor yesterday,
But live forever, nor can man assign
When first they sprang to being.”
Hence ὁσιότης is concerned primarily with the eternal laws of God. It is “the divine consecration and inner truth of righteousness” (Meyer). Throughout the New Testament its look is godward. In no case is it used of moral excellence as related to men, though it is to be carefully noted that δικαιοσύνη, righteousness, is not restricted to rightness toward men. Compare Eph 4:24; true holiness; literally, holiness of the truth.