Imperial Valley Christian Center

Came across this one last night while reading Acts with the kids. I'm going to use the King James Version because it's a little more literal than the NIV.

34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him (Acts 10:34-35 KJV)

So what does worketh righteousness mean? How did Cornelius the Centurion, who Peter is addressing, become acceptable to God? What did he do?

Tzedakah means alms.

To review, the word translated righteousness here is the Greek word dikaiosune, this word is used 92 times in the Christian Scriptures, it is translated righteousness 92 times in the King James Bible. The Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word dikaiosune is tzedakah, which is usually translated righteousness in the Hebrew scriptures. But it turns out that the in the Judaism of Jesus's day, (Remember Jesus was Jewish, he spoke Hebrew, he attended synagogue, all his disciples were Jewish, the people who wrote the Bible were Jewish.) and even up to today, tzedakah means alms, i.e. giving to the poor. Here's Harvard Professor George Foot Moore on the subject:

"It is very significant that the usual word for alms in this period is sedakah, which in the English version of the Bible is all but uniformly rendered 'righteousness,' whether used of God or of man. Like every such conventional equivalent, this one not infrequently misleads the reader, all the more because ' right­eousness' is frequently coupled with 'justice' (mishpat), and because the Christian reader brings to the word Pauline associa­tions. The ' righteousness' of God is frequently shown, however, in his vindication of his people by delivering them from their enemies or from other evils, so that the word becomes parallel to the words for deliverance, salvation, blessing, kindness, and, as a result, even to property, wealth. The Greek translators some­ times render it not by dikaiosune but by elemosune, as better expressing the implications of the context as they understood it. In Dan. 4, 24 (English version 4, 27) the corresponding Aramaic sidkah is 'alms-giving': 'Redeem thy sins by alms-giving and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.'" (Judaisn, In the First Centuries of the Christian Era, Vol. 2, pg170-171)

The context is about giving alms.

So how did Cornelius the Centurion become acceptable to God:

1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, 2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway (Acts 10:1-2 KJV)

30 And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, 31 And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God (Acts 10:30-31 KJV)

You can see that what caused God to take note of Cornelius was his giving to the poor, his alms, what in Hebrew would be called his tzedakah. So it seems pretty certain that when Peter, in that context, says, worketh righteousness, he means, not the ordinary meaning of the Greek word dikaiosune, translated as English righteousness, but the meaning of the Hebrew equivalent, tzedekah, which in the early Christian centuries meant alms. So that verse should read like this:

34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, does tzedakah, gives alms, does works of charity, is accepted with him (Acts 10:34-35 KJV)