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Paul's concept of dikaiosyne, which is generally translated by "righteousness" in the forensic sense of "righteousness before God," can also be interpreted to mean "acceptance by God" or "communion with God."

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But now the christology that is clearly indicated by this is not a christology according to which Jesus himself believed in God's presence and then, through his words and deeds, so lived God's presence toward others that they were thereby confronted with the possibility of so believing and living themselves, thereby making it possible for still others so to believe and live, and so on. No, whether or not Jesus himself believed in God's presence, he was experienced by some of those around him as the one through whom God was decisively re-presented -- to them, and to women and men generally. For these persons, therefore, Jesus could be called the Son of God in a unique sense -- not because he himself believed in God's presence and then acted out of communion with God in the way in which they had been given the possibility of doing through him, but solely and simply because it was decisively through him that they themselves had been given this possibility. In this sense, Jesus made the presence of God, the coming of God, communion with God, acceptance by God, righteousness before God, an event -- not in the sense that he himself believe believed it and acted out of it, however true it may be that he did that also, but in the sense that through him they were decisively given the possibility of themselves so believing and acting.

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