Archaic KJV Word
Justify
Modern equivalent: make excuses for
What Was Lost
The divine declaration. Dikaioo was a courtroom word: the Judge pronouncing the verdict 'righteous.' The stunning theological claim was that the guilty defendant was declared righteous -- not because the evidence showed innocence but because another bore the penalty. This was a legal revolution, not a moral excuse.
Closest Survivor in Modern English
justify (still used theologically but contaminated by everyday 'self-justification')
Peak Usage (1611)
KJV Romans 3:24 -- 'Being justified freely by his grace'; Romans 8:30 -- 'Whom he justified, them he also glorified'
Died still used but inverted (~1800)
Greek dikaioo ('to declare righteous/pronounce a legal verdict of righteousness/acquit and positively declare right-standing') was inverted into 'make excuses for yourself.' The divine courtroom verdict became self-serving rationalization.
What Replaced It
“excuse”
Self-serving rationalization; justification was God's authoritative legal declaration of righteousness
“defend”
Self-protection; justification was something done TO you by the Judge, not BY you for yourself
“prove right”
Evidential; justification was a judicial decree that created a new legal status regardless of evidence