Unlike the Hellenic ethical ideal, justice and righteousness are not principally descriptions of one's inherent character or goodness but of conformity to a particular external standard-the law of God. Confusion of this Biblical description with the old Hellenic ideal contributed greatly to the misunderstanding of the doctrine of justification in the ancient and medieval church. In simple terms, righteousness is a standard, not a quality. Modern secular culture has transformed the meaning of justice.
Justice now denotes conformity to the political sentiment and sentimentality of secular elites.
True justice, that is, righteousness as defined by Biblical law, has, by contrast, been criminalized. In Biblical terms, it is a crime to steal from the rich in order to give to the poor, it is a crime to murder unborn children, and it is a crime to require someone other than children's parents to educate their seed. In modern democracies, however, Biblically defined criminal justice has become criminalized justice. Almost as perverse as this new meaning of justice is the trepidation with which professed Christians cower before the inane logic of its secular perpetrators. A society in which a ravenous state may steal private property from its citizens is not a just society.