(_a_) δικαιόω—uniformly, or with only a single exception, signifies, not to make righteous, but to declare just, or free from guilt and exposure to punishment. The only O. T. passage where this meaning is questionable is Dan. 12:3. But even here the proper translation is, in all probability, not “they that turn many to righteousness,” but “they that justify many,” _i. e._, cause many to be justified. For the Hiphil force of the verb, see Girdlestone, O. T. Syn., 257, 258, and Delitzsch on Is. 53:11; _cf._ James 5:19, 20. O. T. texts: _Ex. 23:7_—“_I will not justify the wicked_”; _Deut. 25:1_—“_they_ [the judges] _shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked_”; _Job 27:5_—“_Far be it from me that I should justify you_”; _Ps. 143:2_—“_in thy sight no man living is righteous_”; _Prov. 17:15_—“_He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to Jehovah_”; _Is. 5:23_—“_that justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him_”; _50:8_—“_He is near that justifieth me_”; _53:11_—“_by the knowledge of __ himself shall my righteous servant justify many; and he shall bear their iniquities_”; _Dan. 12:3_—“_and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever_” (“they that justify many,” _i. e._, cause many to be justified); _cf._ _James 5:19, 20_—“_My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins._” The Christian minister absolves from sin, only as he marries a couple: he does not join them,—he only declares them joined. So he declares men forgiven, if they have complied with the appointed divine conditions. Marriage may be invalid where these conditions are lacking, but the minister’s absolution is of no account where there is no repentance of sin and faith in Christ; see G. D. Boardman, The Church, 178. We are ever to remember that the term justification is a forensic term which presents the change of God’s attitude toward the sinner in a pictorial way derived from the procedure of earthly tribunals. The fact is larger and more vital than the figure used to describe it.