# standards (by which you judge a person or an act)



## seitt

Greetings

Recently I was having a theological discussion at the Orthodox church here, and I wanted to get across the idea that God has much higher standards than human beings do.

For example, we tend to judge things (and people) by what we consider the general standard of human behaviour, so if someone only tells lies very occasionally and is almost always kind to others, we judge him to be a good person.

However, God’s standards are far higher than ours: he will not tolerate the slightest lie or unkindness and will judge us for it if we don't repent and confess, because He is holy, as the Τρισάγιον emphasises. This is why the Cross of Christ is so important – when we believe in Him, and accept the fact that He died for us, we can find forgiveness for the sins we have all committed.

So, how can we say, “God’s standards are higher than ours,” please?

Best wishes, and many thanks,

Simon

PS Needless to say, as Christians we need to be very careful about judging people, but the concept can apply to judging acts too, in general also as well as specific instances.


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## ireney

Hey there. I think you are talking about "κριτήριο" what standards God uses to judge humans. Am I right?


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## Perseas

I 've also thought of "κριτήρια" or its synonym here "μέτρα".
Ex.  _H αξία του σκοπού πρέπει να ζυγίζεται κυρίως με ηθικά μέτρα. 3α_


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## cougr

"Μέτρα" is probably the choice translation in this case but I think that the term "στάνταρ" (as per 1a) could also be adequate.


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## cougr

In my answer above, I had solely focused on the term "standards" without having taken regard of the whole sentence, ie. "God’s standards are higher than ours".

On a rethink then, I feel that "πρότυπα" would work better than "μέτρα". Eg. "Του Θεού τα πρότυπα είναι υψηλότερα από τα δικά μας".


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## seitt

Hi again, and many thanks for the interesting possibilities.



> I think you are talking about "κριτήριο" what standards God uses to judge humans. Am I right?


Yes, I am talking about standards God uses to judge humans, and also the standards we use to judge other humans, although I am saying that our own standards are much lower.
Maybe I could explain it this way: if we liken human life to an exam, we may hope that we'll be okay with 50% but God demands from us that we get 100% - not one single lie, not one single swearword, not one single unkind thought allowed to dwell in our hearts etc. etc. Anything else would compromise His holiness. We see the result here in the Αγία Γραφή, echoed over and over again in the Πατέρες της Εκκλησίας:
Ρωμαίους 3:23
πάντες γὰρ ἥμαρτον καὶ ὑστεροῦνται τῆς δόξης τοῦ Θεοῦ
i.e. we all fail, maybe not by our own standards but most certainly by God’s standards, because they are so much higher.


> On a rethink then, I feel that "πρότυπα" would work better than "μέτρα". Eg. "Του Θεού τα πρότυπα είναι υψηλότερα από τα δικά μας".


Aren't πρότυπα like prescriptions for what is right? Could I say that it is precisely because God has perfect πρότυπα that His κριτήρια are so awesomely high?

Best wishes,

Simon

PS For those who are interested in the theological repercussions (furthermore, I aim to show that God really does have those high standards I've been talking about, and that we have a genuine theological concept here):
Imho Orthodoxy gets it totally right in emphasising the paramount importance of Easter, when Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead – as Christians, the weight of our sins, our failures, is on Him.
ΡΩΜΑΙΟΥΣ 6:23
τὰ γὰρ ὀψώνια τῆς ἁμαρτίας θάνατος τὸ δὲ χάρισμα τοῦ θεοῦ ζωὴ αἰώνιος ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν
1 ΠΕΤΡΟΥ 3:18
ὅτι καὶ Χριστὸς ἅπαξ περὶ ἁμαρτιῶν ἔπαθεν δίκαιος ὑπὲρ ἀδίκων ἵνα ἡμᾶς προσαγάγῃ τῷ θεῷ θανατωθεὶς μὲν σαρκὶ ζῳοποιηθεὶς δὲ τῷ πνεύματι·


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## cougr

seitt said:


> .....Aren't πρότυπα like prescriptions for what is right?......



Not as far as I'm aware. Perhaps you're thinking of _προδιαγραφές_.



seitt said:


> .....Could I say that it is precisely because God has perfect πρότυπα that His κριτήρια are so awesomely high?....



It seems okay to me if you wanted to mean that God's standards are perfect hence his criteria are set awesomely high.


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## Perseas

Here are some sentences I found in the internet with the words we are discussing:

1.Η Βασιλεία του θεού θέτει υψηλά *πρότυπα* για τους υπηκόους της.
2.Το  τέλος είναι αυτό που θα καθορίσει αν η  πορεία μας στη γη ήταν αυτή που έπρεπε, σύμφωνα με τα *πρότυπα* του Θεού.
3.Οι τελειομανείς θέτουν υψηλά *στάνταρντ* στις επιδιώξεις τους.
4. Η ηθική Ζωή του πνευματοφόρου ανθρώπου δεν μετριέται με τα *μέτρα* του κόσμου τούτου, αλλά με τα *μέτρα* του Θεού.
5.Οι πράξεις του ανθρώπου αξιολογούνται με τα *κριτήρια* της αγάπης και της ελευθερίας και όχι με τη διασφάλιση του συμφέροντος.
6.  Η επιλογή του προσωπικού γίνεται με αυστηρά *κριτήρια*.




seitt said:


> However, God’s *standards* are far higher than ours: he will not tolerate  the slightest lie or unkindness and will judge us for it if we don't  repent and confess, because He is holy, as the Τρισάγιον emphasises.  ...
> 
> So, how can we say, “*God’s standards are higher than ours*,” please?


Τα  *______ * του θεού είναι υψηλότερα (ή ανώτερα) από τα δικά μας.
(In this sentence: *πρότυπα* (or *στάνταρντ*).


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## ireney

Look, πρότυπο is the thing which one wishes to emulate (it has other meanings but we're talking about the one that may be used here).
Κριτήριο is the thing by which you judge.


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## seitt

Just to say a very big thank you to you all - truly most helpful.


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## seitt

Just a thought – would δεδομένα be a possibility here too, perhaps?


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