Bible Gem 2097 – The Key to Understanding Righteousness (Hebrews 5:13)

for everyone partaking of milk is without experience in the Word of Righteousness, for he is an infant. [LITV]

Hebrews 5:13

for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. [ESV]

Hebrews 5:13

For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. [NLT]

Hebrews 5:13

This Gem is the “Key to Understanding Righteousness for everyone unskilled in the Word of Righteousness”. It is also for those who don’t understand the word “righteousness” and think that to be right with God, their goodness just needs to outweigh their failings. If that is you, you need to keep reading. Have I got your attention now?

I certainly hope so because this is a very important topic. It ultimately helps you understand what gives you entry to heaven and what doesn’t. Not only that but it will also explain in the end the reason the writer of the letter to the Hebrews told us he can’t tell us deeper things when we don’t know our ABC’s (Gem 2094). Understanding this deep statement will ultimately connect us to the reason he tells us that Jesus is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. In other words it leads to the correct understanding of why Melchizedek has been linked as a word picture of Christ. But in order to do all of the above, we need to understand the depth of the phrase “the word of righteousness” and the connection to those “without experience” or “unskilled in the word righteousness” or “don’t know how to do what is right”.

“Ian, what on earth are you talking about?” I hope I haven’t lost you already. Both the writer of Hebrews and I told you this was difficult to explain. Bear with me as I unpack it for you. The problem is the significance and depth of meaning found in the word “righteousness” and the three ways this phrase can be interpreted. I am sure you have grasped the basics already, even if you don’t yet understand the significance. There are three ways of reading the phrase:

1. The word of righteousness
2. The Word of Righteousness
3. Applying or understanding “righteousness”; meaning how to be right with God

Those three interpretations or ways to understand this unique phrase explain the three-fold variation in the translations we have for this complicated verse. It is like the intention of the author of Hebrews suddenly became clear to me after all these years. I feel like I have found gold. The key which unlocks exactly what this writer is getting at. I think I really “get it” for the first time and it makes so much sense of all he has written.

Here is a summary of what the commentators say about “unskilled in the word of righteousness”:

1. Inexperienced in the Christian gospel
2. Inexperienced in the gospel that has righteousness as its theme
3. Inexperienced in the doctrine of being righteous (before God)
4. Inexperienced in the full exposition of the Christian faith
5. Unacquainted with the higher teaching involving righteousness
6. Without experience in moral truth
7. Incapable of understanding a deep discussion
8. Without experience in the word of righteousness
9. Incapable of comprehending the full knowledge that leads to perfection or maturity

Let me unpack the significance of these three ways of understanding “the word of righteousness”. I don’t want to get grammatically technical and put you all off. But for the sake of the purists among my readers – we can either read this phrase as an objective genitive or as a subjective genitive. Put as simply as I can, is the focus of this phrase on The Word or is the focus on the word ‘righteousness‘?

1. The word of righteousness

If the word of righteousness is an objective genitive then the focus is on the word righteousness. The writer is therefore meaning I can’t tell you deeper things because you don’t even know the true meaning of the word ‘righteousness’.

2. The Word of Righteousness

If the word of righteousness is a subjective genitive then the focus of The Word of Righteousness is on the personification of The Word or The Word of Righteousness. That would suggest the writer to the Hebrews is using this phrase to refer to Jesus as the Word of Righteousness. i.e. that Christ is the focus of his comment and not just the word righteousness. Much like John did in John 1:14 when he referred to Jesus as The Word become flesh.

3. Applying or understanding “righteousness”; meaning how to be right with God

Or as the Dynamic Equivalence versions put it (see those I gave you in Gem 2096), the focus is on the meaning of applying the concept of being right with God or understanding the concept of ‘righteousness’. In other words “knowing what is right”, “understanding the difference between right and wrong”, “being able to digest or apply the doctrine of righteousness”, or simply “knowing God’s ways or knowing what it is that makes you right with God”. I think you can understand now the subtle differences between these three interpretations of this unique expression – “the word of righteousness”. That then explains why we have three different categories of translations.

I have seen for the first time that it is highly likely the writer of Hebrews is meaning this in a purely literal way. That he is using this phrase as a subjective genitive and hinting at something in terms of Christ Himself. But even if he is using the phrase as an objective genitive then he could well be talking about that fact that they didn’t actually understand the meaning of the word ‘righteousness’ and how it applies to them. In other words, how can you understand deeper things when you don’t really even understand the word ‘righteousness’. “How can I talk to you about Jesus’ connection to Melchizedek when you don’t fully understand the word righteousness?”

Over the years as I have taught classes on Bible study and the Bible, in churches or in Bible Colleges around the world, I have realised there is an incomplete understanding of how the Bible writers use the word ‘righteousness’. We confuse it with the other words wrapped up in the package:- right, righteous, being right, being in the right, living rightly, being righteous, living righteously, just, justified, living justly (according to the law). As a result of the confusion over all these words and the interpretation we place on them, we conclude that it is a term which applies to us when we are obeying the law. “The law” meaning the law of the land, laws the government has passed, social laws or the moral code. And what does the moral code mean these days when people do what is right in their own eyes, as it was in the time of Judges.

No, the term righteousness [δικαιοσύνη] (dikaiosunē) is a term used in the New Testament as a technical term for being right with God according to God’s standard of measure. It is not based on what the mind of man interprets as the standard for being right with God. Rather it is based on God’s standard requirement for being right with Him. That is what the writer of Hebrews is going on to talk about. We need to understand this from God’s view point and not our human perspective. That, my friends, is exactly what the writer to the Hebrews is saying. The author of Hebrews is saying he can’t talk about deeper things, when they didn’t even understand the word “righteousness”. They were [apeiros] when it came to the term ‘righteousness’. They were ‘unskilled’, ‘inexperienced’, ‘unacquainted’, ‘untrained’, ‘unaccustomed’, ‘unable to comprehend’ or ‘understand the term’. He tells them, “How can we have a conversation or discussion about this term [dikaiosunē] when you are like little children, not yet able to talk properly [nēpios]?

I believe I have made the writer’s words clear in terms of his forceful statement in Hebrews 5:11-13. In the following Gem, I will turn our attention to the full depth of meaning of the subjective genitive – The Word of Righteousness. I think you can see now there are still some things we have to get clear before we can tackle the idea of the link between Jesus and Melchizedek.

All you need for understanding lies deep within the pages of Scripture; waiting for revelation from the Author.

Ian

God takes us into deep waters, not to drown us but to cleanse us.

Jussar Badudu

Jesus gave up his life for the church (the people of God) to make them holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.

Ephesians 5:26

Some drink from the fountain of knowledge. Others just rinse and spit.

Ian