I teach a bilingual Bible class.  Although I benefit from a translator, I actually have learned to speak and read Spanish.  Recently I made an interesting discovery.  In a Spanish Bible the word justicia appears often.  It’s a favorite word of the Old Testament prophets, as well as Jesus.

Interestingly, in the English translations the word justice seldom appears in the corresponding biblical passages.  Instead, in our English Bibles, we generally see a word like righteousness.  

In our English culture, we ascribe the concept of justice to the realm of law.  Only when we affix the word social to our word justice do we approach the concept so familiar to Jesus and the Jewish Prophets before him.

That’s not to say Jesus’ contemporaries did not have an emphasis on the legal aspect.  Theocratic in nature, they would often begin their religious questions with “Is it legal.”  Jesus’ approach was much less legal.  In fact he always appealed to a righteousness of the heart.

Mateo 5:6 NVI
Dichosos los que tienen hambre y sed de justicia, porque serán saciados.

Matthew 5:6 NIV
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.