What Does Romans 10:3 Mean in the King James?
For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The obstacle is not the effort to become right, but trying to erect your own alignment instead of coming under God’s.
THE MEANING
You can work to make yourself right while still refusing the alignment that comes from God. The verse names that refusal: setting your own standard in place and not yielding to God’s. This distinction speaks now wherever self-made rightness takes the place of receiving God’s alignment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse dissolves the belief that sincere effort to make yourself right is the same as yielding to God’s alignment.
THE ROOT
δικαιοσύνην
dikaiosynēn
GROWS FROM
δικαι- (dikai-), from δίκαιος (dikaios)
Just, right; here, alignment.
“righteousness” in this verse is dikaiosynēn. The same Greek word-family includes what is just and the act of setting something right. Here, God’s alignment is the one the self-made version does not enter.
ALSO GROWS
dikaios: Just, right, aligned.
δίκαιος
This related adjective gives the quality named by “righteousness”: what is in alignment.
dikaioō: To justify, set right, or declare right.
δικαιόω
This related verb shows the family also speaks of being set right, not merely possessing a moral score.
στῆσαι
stēsai
GROWS FROM
ἵστημι (histēmi), with the stem στα-/στη- (sta-/stē-)
To stand, set, or place in position.
“establish” in this verse is stēsai. The verb gives their effort a physical shape: they are trying to set their own righteousness upright, as a standing position. The verse places that self-established position beside God’s alignment, which they refuse to come under.
ALSO GROWS
histēmi: Stand, set, or cause to stand.
ἵστημι
This is the verb behind “establish,” making the attempt to set their own righteousness in place visible.
stasis: A standing or position.
στάσις
This related form makes clear that what is being set up becomes a position one takes.
ὑπετάγησαν
hypetagēsan
GROWS FROM
τάσσω (tassō), in ὑποτάσσω (hypotassō)
To arrange, assign, or place in order; with ὑπό (hypo), to place under.
“submitted” in this verse is hypetagēsan. The verb pictures a relation of coming under an order. Set beside “establish,” it reveals the contrast: they set their own position in place but do not place themselves under God’s alignment.
ALSO GROWS
taxis: Order or arrangement.
τάξις
This related noun shows the ordering sense carried by the root.
diatassō: To arrange, direct, or prescribe.
διατάσσω
This related verb carries the same root idea of placing things in an order.
THE PATTERN
Self-made claims to rightness give way when alignment is received from God rather than erected as one’s own standing.
And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:THE THREAD
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.The same Greek word, δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē), appears here as “righteousness.” Romans 1:17 shows God’s alignment being revealed through trust, opening up what Romans 10:3 names as the refusal to come under it.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us