“You keep using that word. I don’t think that word means what you think it means!”
Inigo Montoya, a fictitious character from the 1987 movie "The Princess Bride," written by William Goldman, directed by Rob Reiner.
Recently while reading in the book of Psalms something caught my attention, and even though I have read these several times in the past, the often repetitious phrase “justice and righteousness” piqued my curiosity. So I began to investigate and I found that one word led to another, and this is what you might call a distillation of the notes from that investigation as I want to share what I rediscovered.
In looking at how the Bible used these words it didn’t take long to make the connection between God’s perfection and the concepts of justice and righteousness. Seeing how God’s perfection is beyond anything anyone can understand is why I chose the title “Inconceivable Perfection,” and since the word ‘perfection’ is freely bantered around in today’s speech, I chose the byline, “You keep using that word. I don’t think that word means what you think it means!” A reference to the often-stated phrase in the 1987 movie “The Princess Bride,” if you’ve seen the movie you’ll know why I chose that line.
Seriously, as humans we have absolutely no clue as to what perfection looks like. Without the Bible we would have no way to relate to, or begin to, understand a perfect God. But out of love for us He not only provided a book about Himself, He also made it possible for us to one day enjoy perfection too!
My prayer is that in reading this odd study of words that you will also rediscover the amazing love our God has for us. God bless!
David A. Heywood
Rediscover the Bible Ministries, Inc.
As mentioned above, this ‘investigation’ began as a word study of two words, and as a result I found a lot of other related words. This is a quick sketch (about a half-hour read) of what started with a simple inquiry of why the words ‘justice’ and ‘righteousness’ are often seen in Scripture together. It led me through an adventure that in some ways encapsulates the purpose of life that leads to spending eternity with Jesus.
Chapter One launches the investigation with the words “justice and righteousness,” beginning with creation, actually before creation, seeing that God is, was, and always will be perfect. And due to disobedience shortly after creation, mankind became imperfect and all of creation cursed. There we see a dilemma, God loved humanity but He is also a just God, which now we know led ultimately to ‘Forgiveness” (Chapter Two). But we should not ignore the ‘processes’ behind the scenes, including: ‘Atonement’ (Chapter Three), ‘Reconciliation’ (Chapter Four), ‘Redemption’ (Chapter Five), ‘Restoration’ (Chapter Six), and ‘Sanctification’ (Chapter Seven). Each of which will be reviewed through the words found in the Bible that describe each concept. The last chapter provides a summary of the findings and closes with a quick look at the words related to perfection..
In this investigation I am proposing the premise that disobedience may negate perfection. Which can be applied from two directions, the first being if someone who was created perfect and disobeyed the creator they would have forfeited their perfection. The second application would be from the opposite direction, if an imperfect being did not desire perfection (chose to remain in a “fallen state”) they likely would not be able to be perfect. We will review this premise as we proceed in this investigation.
Inconceivable Perfection: A Word Study © 2025 by David A. Heywood. All rights reserved. Published by Rediscover the Bible Ministries, Inc.
Unless otherwise noted or verses marked ESV, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.
Verses marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Lexicons and dictionaries used for this study: A Greek-English lexicon. Liddell, H. G., Scott, R., Jones, H. S., & McKenzie, R. (1996). Clarendon Press. Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature: Vols. I–X. M’Clintock, J., & Strong, J. (1891–1894). Harper & Brothers, Publishers. Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition.). Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). United Bible Societies. The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Zodhiates, S. (2000). AMG Publishers. The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament. Baker, W., & Carpenter, E. E. (2003). AMG Publishers. and Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed.). Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K., eds. (1999). Moody Press.
I. Chapter One - "Justice and Righteousness"
A. Introduction
B. Let's Go Back to the Beginning
C. A Dilemma?
D. Application for Today
II. Chapter Two - "Forgiveness"
A. Introduction
B. True Forgiveness Begins with God
C. Why Not Forgive Unbelievers?
III. Chapter Three - "Atonement"
A. Introduction
B. Not Just Any Blood
IV. Chapter Four - "Reconciliation"
A. Introduction
B. Be Reconciled to God
C. The Ministry of Reconciliation
V. Chapter Five - "Redemption"
A. Introduction
B. Freedom from Slavery
VI. Chapter Six - "Restoration"
A. Introduction
B. The Final Action
VII. Chapter Seven - "Sanctification"
A. Introduction
B. The Struggle
C. The Commission
D. Glorification
VIII. Chapter Eight
A. Review
B. The Word Perfection