A BIBLICAL UNERSTANDING OF JUSTICE, part 1
Notes
Transcript
UNIT 10 A BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING OF Justice
Micah 6:1-8
Introduction Slide Lesson Title
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good;
And what doth the Lord require of thee,
But to do justly, and to love mercy,
And to walk humbly with thy God?
These well-known words from the Old Testament were spoken by the prophet Micah—the same Micah through whom God prophesied that Christ Himself, the ultimate just ruler, would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
Slide
The Southern Kingdom
Micah was a prophet at the same time as Isaiah, from 736 BC–700 BC. He served the nation throughout the reigns of three kings—Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Throughout Micah’s ministry, the nation was on a spiritual roller coaster. Jotham led the people in the worship of God, Ahaz led them into the most vile, pagan forms of idolatry (including offering his own children as human sacrifices), and Hezekiah led the nation back to God in a national spiritual revival. Throughout this time period, the Assyrian army assaulted and defeated Judah’s sister kingdom, Israel, and took the people as slaves. Some years later, Babylon emerged as the world power and conquered Judah, bringing the people into captivity. Meanwhile, however, Judah continued her downward trend away from God and, not coincidentally, away from justice.
The prophet Isaiah, a contemporary of Micah, described the situation in vivid language:
Isaiah 59:14 “And judgment is turned away backward, And justice standeth afar off: For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter.”
Slide A Courtroom Scene
It was in this context that God, through the prophet Micah, summons His people to court. In Micah 6, God declares His controversy with Judah in a spectacular outdoor courtroom in which He calls on the mountains themselves to hear His pleas with His people.
Slide What Does God Require?
These words were God’s answer to Micah’s questions.
What should be our response to God’s goodness? Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly with your God. These three instructions are as relevant and needed today as they were in the eighth century BC.
Despite the many calls for justice in our day, justice has been separated from truth, even as it was in the time of Isaiah and Micah. When we separate justice from truth, truth falls in the street and justice gets trampled too.
Isaiah 59:14–15 “And judgment is turned away backward, And justice standeth afar off: For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; And he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him That there was no judgment.”
Everyone wants justice, but people today disagree on what justice really means and how it should be applied.
God’s Word allows us to cut through the confusion. Biblical justice isn’t about justice for one group or certain entities. It isn’t about leveraging social buy-in to further a political strategy. It is about truth. It is about relieving the oppressed. It is about equity. And it is to be deployed with mercy and humility.
EQ´UITY, n. [L. œquitas, from œquus, equal, even, level; Fr. equité; It. equità.]
1. Justice; right. In practice, equity is the impartial distribution of justice, or the doing that to another which the laws of God and man, and of reason, give him a right to claim. It is the treating of a person according to justice and reason.
In this lesson, we will look at what the Bible sets forth as the justice God requires and contrast that with common secular views of justice. In the following lesson, we will circle back to biblical justice and examine the most meaningful ways that Christians can advance justice through mercy and humility.
1. A Framework for Biblical Justice
1. A Framework for Biblical Justice
Defined biblically, justice is “the faithful application of the law of God.”
In Micah 6:8, where God commands us to “do justly,” the word justly speaks of “righteousness, rectitude, moral virtue, rightness of principle or practice.”
If we step back to look at how this definition is developed through Scripture, we see three basic truths.
If we step back to look at how this definition is developed through Scripture, we see three basic truths.
A. God Is the Habitation of Justice
A. God Is the Habitation of Justice
Slide 1A
Justice is an objective part of God’s nature.
All that found them have devoured them:
And their adversaries said, We offend not,
Because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice,
Even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.
Those who forsake God also forsake justice, because justice ultimately comes from God. As the Creator and eternal King, God’s nature establishes what is right and maintains it through His actions.
God’s decrees are just and right and are the one objective line against which justice and injustice may be measured.
TZADDI.
Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy judgments.
The fact that we discuss justice or injustice is a testimony to the lawgiver Himself, God Almighty.
“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? Justice requires a standard, and there is no objective standard in a purposeless universe.” —C. S. Lewis
B. God’s People Are to Model Just Living
B. God’s People Are to Model Just Living
Slide 1B
Throughout the Bible, the adjective just does not simply describe someone who is fair toward others, but someone who is upright and practices righteousness.
This is the meaning in Genesis 6:9 when God describes Noah as “a just man.”
These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
This connection is so important that it is impossible to separate “doing justly” from “practicing righteousness.”
What God has decreed to be right is also just. Furthermore, to advocate for justice without moral righteousness makes justice a loose cannon that has the potential for inflicting incredible damage.
For the Old Testament Israelites, commitment to Jehovah was also a commitment to His community. It involved following laws God gave specifically for the benefit of the poor and needy who are overlooked apart from the influence of Scriptural justice.
For instance, Deuteronomy 24 contains instructions to pay just wages, to pass equal judgment for both the citizen and the foreigner, and to leave food in the field for the poor to gather.
Teaching Suggestion If you have time, read Deuteronomy 24:14–21 as a group, noting God’s care for the needy in each of the specific instructions of justice.
New Testament Christians, filled with the grace of God, should be no less equitable and generous in their dealings with others.
Both the Old and New Testament instruct us to love our neighbors.
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.
If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
Thus, God’s people should model just (righteous) living as they do justly (deal equitably).
Thus, God’s people should model just (righteous) living as they do justly (deal equitably).
C. Men Are Individually Responsible
C. Men Are Individually Responsible
This truth is a crucial point of distinction between biblical justice and social justice. Whereas most social justice ideologies place blame on collective groups of people—sometimes for the transgressions of their ancestors—biblical justice focuses on the responsibility of the individual before God.
This doesn’t mean that societies and cultures as a whole do not turn from God. For instance, the nation of Israel repeatedly turned from God as a group. But when they did, the individual people in Israel were responsible for their own sins.
Romans 1 also details the collective turning from God of pagan societies in verses 18–32. Even as He introduces these verses, however, God offers the gospel to individuals who will turn to Him.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
So even people who are caught up in a culture of unrighteousness or whose leaders practice injustice are still accountable to God for their personal choices.
God sees us as individuals rather than as collective groups, and we are personally accountable to Him.
Discussion An understanding of personal responsibility related to justice is so important. How might this impact a person’s understanding of salvation? How about a person’s care for others? How about a person’s motivation to rise above adversity in life?
God doesn’t pick arbitrary sins over which to hurl blame at an entire group of people; rather, He calls each of us to personal repentance.
With repentance, God always offers forgiveness.
In fact, forgiveness is another contrast to secular social justice which has a tendency to assign perpetual guilt for the sins of a group’s ancestors.
In fact, forgiveness is another contrast to secular social justice which has a tendency to assign perpetual guilt for the sins of a group’s ancestors.
Contrary to the unjust punishments among ancient societies, God stipulated that the judges in Israel could only mete out capital punishment to the actual offender, not to the offender’s father or children.
This underscores the personal responsibility built into biblical justice.
The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
But God didn’t just protect ancestors or descendants. He also said that a righteous person living in the midst of wicked people would not be held responsible for the wickedness of the larger group. Furthermore, the larger group, when behaving wickedly, could not claim innocence based on the actions of a few good people within their group.
God told the prophet Ezekiel that He was bringing judgment on the nation of Israel, and even if three of the godliest men in the Old Testament—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were living there, their presence could not stop His judgment.
Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God.
Blame shifting is as innate to human nature as sin itself is. We see this in the very first sin. When God confronted Adam and Eve with their sin, Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.
And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
There were only two people in existence, and they both blamed someone else!
But there is no room for blame shifting in the sight of God, because He views each of us individually, and we are personally responsible to Him for our own actions.
For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
2. Expressions of Biblical Justice
2. Expressions of Biblical Justice
Slide 2
The biblical concept of justice takes place in at least two forms: commutative justice and distributive justice.
The biblical concept of justice takes place in at least two forms: commutative justice and distributive justice.
Commutative justice speaks to the relational aspect of justice. This is living in a right relationship with God and others. Commutative justice includes giving others their due as image bearers of God and treating others with dignity and respect.
Distributive Justice speaks of impartially rendering judgment, righting wrongs, and meting out punishment for lawbreaking. This kind of justice is reserved for God and God-ordained authorities.
Specifically, in the context of justice within a society, we understand that God ordains rulers who are divinely authorized to carry out punitive justice.
For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
A biblical understanding of justice, however, must include more than the intellectual concept of it, for biblical justice is also a practice.
After all, Micah 6:8 doesn’t say, “understand justice,” but, “do justly.” So, what does the Bible say about how justice should be carried out?
Actually, it says a lot.
A. In Society
A. In Society
Slide 2A
As we saw a moment ago, God commanded His people to care for the poor, the foreigner, and the outcast:
If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:
God also specifically forbade any partiality in judgment—either slanted toward the poor or toward the powerful:
Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
The books of Psalms and Proverbs give instruction to care for the needy and to speak up for those who are oppressed:
Psalm 41:1 Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
Psalm 82:3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Proverbs 29:7 The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it.
Proverbs 31:9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
One author noted that Western nations, traditionally rooted in Christian values, include a biblical sense of justice, typically “acknowledge a transcendent lawgiver, they respect the rule of law, they acknowledge human dignity and God-granted human rights, they provide checks on corruption, they establish due process, and they entrust final judgment to God.”
These are all qualities that protect those who would otherwise be more likely to be taken advantage of and would have fewer resources with which to defend themselves.
Biblical justice is based on God’s character, not on the winds of culture. Sometimes Christians who have followed cultural norms have gotten justice wrong.
Biblical justice is based on God’s character, not on the winds of culture. Sometimes Christians who have followed cultural norms have gotten justice wrong.
For instance, when Western Christians participated in America’s greatest shame—slavery—they were unjust and directly disobeying God’s commands (even though some attempted to twist Scripture to justify their practice).
In particular, God’s commands expressly forbid kidnapping a person from his home and selling him into servitude. This crime was punishable by death in the Old Testament. Exodus 21:16
And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
It was Christians such as William Wilberforce and John Newton who led the charge to end slavery in England. They followed scriptural justice rather than cultural norms, and nations were changed because of it.
When we align ourselves to what culture says is right, there is a good chance we will get justice wrong.
But when we align ourselves with Scripture, we will not only get the issues right, but we will mirror God’s heart for others.
B. Among Christians
B. Among Christians
Slide 2B
Jesus is the ultimate expression of God’s heart for the outcast. He repeatedly reached out to those whom society despised, including the leper, the lame, and the broken.
In a day when the world looked down on women, He included them. In a culture where the Samaritan was despised, Jesus went out of His way to give the gospel to the Samaritan woman at the well.
Nobody has modeled biblical justice and God’s heart of compassion like Christ.
Christians throughout history have left us a rich heritage of modeling what it means to “do justly.”
Some of the people we most admire are those who sacrificially give of themselves to care for the exploited, orphaned, and enslaved.
Three Christians of the past who practiced this kind of sacrificial care come to mind:
Three Christians of the past who practiced this kind of sacrificial care come to mind:
George Müller rescued, housed, fed, and educated ten thousand orphans from the streets of England, beginning during the cholera epidemic of the 1830s and continuing until his death in 1898.
Amy Carmichael spent fifty years in India rescuing young girls from a life of temple prostitution.
William Wilberforce labored tirelessly in the British Parliament to see slavery outlawed.
All of these were Christians who responded compassionately because of their biblical convictions of justice and their Christlike care for others. Christians all around the world continue to do justly as they care for orphans, establish hospitals, and open schools for the poor.
Where the gospel has gone forth, acts of mercy and compassion have always been a result. Local churches by the thousands give benevolence daily in America.
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Certainly “doing justly” is not just needed in past history or other countries. In our own neighborhoods and communities, Christians should be on the front lines of compassionate care.
Teaching Suggestion Mention specific outreach ministries of your church, such as nursing home, jail, public school, or bus ministries. Suggest to your students that they might consider personally being a part of this kind of on-the-ground outreach that includes gospel emphasis.
Teaching Suggestion As you prepare for this study, ask someone in your church (perhaps even in your class) who has been reached through a ministry of compassion to share his or her testimony with you. Share that testimony with your class as an illustration of how compassion combined with the message of the gospel can change lives.
Convictions for biblical justice shouldn’t lead us to care less for those in need; it should lead us to care more and to exercise greater compassion.
Discussion Sometimes it’s easy to look at the big needs in society without noticing the specific needs around you. What are some of the needs in your church or community? What are some ways you can make a difference this week?
3. Secular Counterfeits to Biblical Justice
3. Secular Counterfeits to Biblical Justice
Slide 3
It would seem that all justice is created equal. By the word’s very definition, something is just or unjust, right or wrong.
Unequal justice would be an impossible oxymoron. But terms can be slippery. And that is where social justice poses its challenges.
No one is for social injustice. But the term social justice typically has a different meaning than the individual words suggest.
In fact, one of the most challenging aspects of discussing social justice is that both its adherents and critics use the same terms to refer to different meanings.
“What they call social justice encompasses far more than any given society is causally responsible for. Crusaders for social justice seek to correct not merely the sins of man but the oversights of God or the accidents of history. What they are really seeking is a universe tailor-made to their vision of equality.” —Thomas Sowell
The traditional usage of justice refers to the process rather than the outcome.
In a courtroom, a man is said to have received justice if he received due process—whether the outcome was acquittal or conviction. A “fair fight” is one in which both sides keep the rules, no matter who wins. In both of these situations, justice is determined by the process meeting the standard, regardless of who receives the desired outcome.
In social justice, however, the emphasis is on the outcome, not the process. In this framework, justice hasn’t been done unless the minority party receives the desired outcome.
It also strips people of their individuality, by categorizing them into groups based on a shared trait, rather than viewing them as an individual, valuable person.
Ensuring equity in a process is essential; ensuring equality in an outcome is dangerous.
Ensuring equity in a process is essential; ensuring equality in an outcome is dangerous.
Changing the definition of justice to mean a guaranteed outcome has brought about counterfeits for biblical justice.
Rather than creating biblical justice and opportunities for all, social justice creates distorted forms of justice.
Let’s look at three of these distortions.
Let’s look at three of these distortions.
A. Secularized Social Justice
A. Secularized Social Justice
Slide 3A
The secular concept of social justice tends to place people into various victim categories. And these categories are almost innumerable. They can include everything from skin color to ethnicity to education to gender to political views to diet choices.
The assumption of social justice is that if you are a minority in any form, the system is always rigged against you. And if you happen to be in multiple areas of minority (referred to in social justice terms as intersectionality), then you have especially been discriminated against.
This assumption that entire groups experience discrimination by virtue of being a minority creates permanent victimization.
This assumption that entire groups experience discrimination by virtue of being a minority creates permanent victimization.
Where there is no real act of injustice, there can be no solution to create justice.
Where there is no real act of injustice, there can be no solution to create justice.
Not surprisingly, these ideas of secular social justice tend to foment anger as people see themselves as perpetual victims of those in power, having no agency to set goals or control their destinies.
Some of the results of this feeling of helplessness have included rioting, looting, and other violent demonstrations of anger. However, these outbursts offer no real solutions to the problems. To be sure, there are times when systems are unjustly slated against particular groups. But assuming that a bad outcome is based solely on unjust systems robs individuals of the significance their choices have. And it blinds people to the needed work of finding a thoughtful way to change their outcome.
Since experiencing injustice within the framework of this view only happens to people in a minority group, everyone who is not in a particular minority group is assumed to be a perpetrator of injustice. Some people even say that if you are not a part of the offended group, you share the complicity and guilt of the offenders—even if the offenders were one’s distant ancestors. Since you are therefore an offender, you must sit down and be quiet. To speak up with solutions is seen as trivializing others’ pain.
The truth is, every injustice is the result of sin. We are all victims of Adam’s sin.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Many of us have been treated unkindly and experienced injustice. We should all desire to be part of—and be allowed to participate in—solutions to injustice.
And we should all guard against a war of blame that hurls accusations of injustice without acknowledging personal choice or furthering reconciliation.
It is important to note that in the secular view of social justice, some of the main categories of victimization are grouped around what we as Christians know to be unbiblical behavior.
It is important to note that in the secular view of social justice, some of the main categories of victimization are grouped around what we as Christians know to be unbiblical behavior.
Often, the insistence on social justice is a thinly-veiled attempt to give social credibility and political power to activists who have organized around these behaviors.
In fact, social justice is used to represent a wide variety of issues that clash with a biblical understanding of justice.
“When you look at prominent social justice groups and the issues they are fighting for—same sex marriage, abortion, affirmative action for women and select minorities, redistribution of justly earned income or power—it’s clear that these are toxic to our culture and incompatible with the biblical understanding of true justice.” —Voddie Baucham
The LGBTQ movement, in particular, has harnessed social justice terminology to push an agenda that most Americans, at least in the early days of this movement, would have been against. And they have done this by redefining words.
For instance, take the words equality and discrimination.
Bible-believing Christians believe that regardless of any physical, national, or social differences, all people are created equal at birth and should be treated with dignity and respect.
Romans 10:12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
Furthermore, within the church body, we believe that the ground is level at the foot of the cross. We all come to Christ the same way—through Jesus—and there is no difference in any person’s worth to God or access through Christ to inclusion in the church body. Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
But the social justice movement re-engineers terms so that discrimination no longer means unequal treatment, but unequal anything. .
It has been on this distorted version of equality that LGBTQ activists have changed the definition of marriage as well as male and female.
Today, if you hold exclusively to the millennia-old, biblical, and even biological, definitions of these words, you are said to be discriminating. And if you believe the Bible as it states these behaviors are sins against God, you are said to be hateful.
The “social warriors” often speak of inclusion but refuse to include biblical Christians in their discussions.
Not all who champion the cause of social justice have a desire to push an anti-God agenda, but those with this agenda have used the terminology of justice to add credibility to ideas which would otherwise be rejected outright.
One of those ideas includes Marxism. The online Oxford Dictionary defines social justice as follows: “Justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society.”
Scholar William H. Young defines it “to generally mean state redistribution of advantages and resources to disadvantaged groups to satisfy their rights to social and economic equality.”
The “state redistribution” phrase refers to the ideas behind Marxism. The term Marxism it is not simply a political insult cast to make a point. Rather, it refers to the philosophies set forth by Karl Marx upon which socialism and communism were built. Karl Marx believed that the government should be the owner and distributor of all wealth and that, while individuals may be greedy, the State would be benevolent.
History reveals how wrong Marx was. There is no reason to assume the government will be more generous than individuals. Indeed, socialist and communist regimes—once they have amassed power—have always been corrupt and destructive.
In fact, the philosophies of Karl Marx were directly responsible for the 100 million people who were worked, starved, or beaten to death under Stalin, Mao, and Castro.
Of course, ordinary citizens who have no power to gain don’t subscribe to Marxist philosophies out of a desire to hurt others; they think they are helping. But they are mistaken.
Thomas Sowell pointed this out when he said, “The people who manned the community movement around the world before the Soviet Union was established didn’t devote themselves to this cause for the sake of creating gulags and secret police and territorial aggrandizement. They did it because they were seeking social justice. But what actually happened shows some of the cost and some of the dangers of that.”
It is important to understand that the “redistribution of power and resources” philosophy is inseparable from the modern social justice movement.
You simply cannot advocate for the current social justice-identified groups and disagree with this Marxist-based philosophy.
Social justice demands that there is blame to be cast on some and that their wealth or power should be redistributed to others.
“Then we need to find out who’s to blame for that if this group doesn’t do as well academically, if this group doesn’t do as well economically, if this group is not as well represented politically. And then… there needs to be a redistribution of power and resources in order to redress those grievances. That’s the answer. And that has to be the answer, according to social justice.” —Voddie Baucham
In his book, Why Social Justice Is Not Biblical Justice, author Scott Allen wrote,
“Social Justice is deconstructing traditional systems and structures deemed to be oppressive, and redistributing power and resources from oppressors to their victims in the pursuit of equality of outcome.”
Throughout the book, Allen goes on to describe social justice: It is obsessed with power, privilege, oppression, and victimization; it uses pragmatic tactics to cow dissenters into submission; it fixates on identity markers such as class, race, gender, and sexual orientation; it is openly hostile to Judeo-Christian religion; it is militant against the natural family and traditional sexuality; and it focuses on the redistribution of wealth and power by means of a powerful state apparatus.
No wonder Allen calls this ideology “Marxism 2.0.”
No wonder Allen calls this ideology “Marxism 2.0.”
This commitment to Marxist ideals within the social justice movement is seen in various secular social justice organizations. Every Bible-believing Christian affirms that life—every life—matters, and that we are all created in God’s image.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…
We all have the same nature and share the same blood, making one single human race.
Because we believe that all life matters, we therefore also believe that all black lives matter. But there are those who have used the phrase “black lives matter” to push an anti-Christian agenda. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) organization is extremely opposed to Scripture and its values. Its founders are Patrisse Cullors, Alisha Garza, and Opel Tometti—all self-described Marxists. Cullors said in an interview that “We are trained Marxists. We are super versed on ideological theories.” Cullors’s book When They Call You a Terrorist also references her study of Mao, Marx, and Lenin to help her form her current ideas.
Cullors’ mentor, Eric Man, was part of a radical left militant organization called the Weather Underground. The express political goal of this group was to create a revolutionary party to overthrow American imperialism. As the BLM website gained traction in 2020, it revealed a strong anti-family agenda, including the following stated objectives: “disrupt the Western- prescribed nuclear family structure,” “foster a queer-affirming network,” and “do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege.”
From a fundraising perspective, BLM has done an excellent job at seizing the moment. Yet, of the millions of dollars received, there has been little accountability and no released statements showing funds going to the support of victims of crime or their families.
Secular social justice can and does rouse crowds and raise money But scriptural justice is there to support the family, provide care to victims, and minister with the love of Christ.
B. Critical Race Theory
B. Critical Race Theory
Slide 3B
Entwined within the secular social justice ideology is a framework of thought called Critical Race Theory (CRT). This theory views the development of Western culture as the result of systems of white power and racism.
Proponents of CRT believe that racism is embedded in western civilization through systemic racism and unconscious bias. Many corporations and schools are now teaching CRT and its assumptions in the form of diversity or sensitivity training.
A Wall Street Journal article described the type of teaching government employees received in their CRT training: “At the Department of Homeland Security, diversity trainers held a session on ‘microaggressions.’ The trainers insisted that statements such as ‘America is the land of opportunity,’ ‘Everybody can succeed in this society, if they work hard enough,’ and ‘I believe the most qualified person should get the job’ are racist and harmful.”
Racism is an ugly sin which is censured in Scripture James 2:8–9 condemns the sin of partiality upon which racism is built. James 2:8–9 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: 9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
We ought to love and care for our neighbors, regardless of who they are, what they believe, what their background is, or any other variables. We should endeavor to have a welcoming spirit toward anybody and everybody. We believe that, since we are all sinners and all come to God through the blood of Christ, the ground is level at the cross.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Sadly, an honest view of history reveals racism in every corner of the globe. In our own country, Americans participated in racism through slavery and the Jim Crow laws enacted after the Civil War.
There is certainly racism today as well, and every instance of it is unequivocally wrong.
But saying that racism is wrong is not the same as saying that CRT is right. To say, as CRT advocates do, that all white people have some level of unconscious bias against all people of color is, in fact, forming another racial bias.
In reality, no one has secret knowledge of another person’s heart, and it is wrong to assume that one’s skin color determines the prejudices of his heart.
No human being, of any skin color or ethnicity, should feel guilt simply because of how God made him. God created you exactly as you are, carefully weaving into your DNA the physical aspects of your being.
Psalm 139:14–16 describes God’s personal care in your creation.
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
Marvellous are thy works;
And that my soul knoweth right well.
My substance was not hid from thee,
When I was made in secret,
And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect;
And in thy book all my members were written,
Which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
Where there have been racial or ethnic divisions, God desires reconciliation and restoration, not perpetual blame and separation.
Where there have been racial or ethnic divisions, God desires reconciliation and restoration, not perpetual blame and separation.
This is part of the amazing reality of a biblical, local church, as Paul described it to the church at Colosse.
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Paul went on to exhort them to exercise forgiveness and charity in their relationships with each other.
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
There simply is no room for this kind of language in a CRT view. In reality, CRT diverts attention from the real problem that we are all sinners.
Instead of seeing the sin of racism as being inherent to our sinful nature, CRT sees it as being inherent to a particular skin color.
This denies the necessity and availability of the blood of Jesus to cover our sin and regenerate our hearts.
CRT is a shallow answer with destructive results for the real problem of sin.
Nothing less than the blood of Christ can regenerate a heart. Biblical justice takes place when Christians, filled by the love of Christ, see others as God sees them and serve others as God commands.
C. Liberal-Religious Social Justice
C. Liberal-Religious Social Justice
Slide 3C
A child of the twentieth century’s social gospel movement, the modern religious social justice movement insists that engaging in acts of social justice is a requirement for preaching the gospel.
Some even go so far as to say that if a church does not do works of social justice it is not preaching the full gospel.
Acts of social justice such as serving the poor and needy are commendable ministries; but serving others does not help us earn our salvation, nor are such acts of service part of the gospel.
We know from 1 Corinthians 15 that the gospel is centered solely on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
We cannot inject extra issues or ideas into the gospel of Christ. In fact, the apostle Paul warned the believers in Galatia against this very thing.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
When someone says, in effect, “Jesus’ sacrifice is good, but you have to be involved in social justice to earn your way to Heaven,” that is “another gospel.”
Being service-minded is good; in fact, it is biblical. But making service the gospel is heretical.
The result of religious social justice is that theologically liberal churches in America with socialist leanings have begun to fight against the righteousness of Christ and the plain truths of God’s Word.
Not only is there the potential for corrupting the gospel, as we just saw, but in order to be held in esteem by the social justice world, these churches change their messages to please the world.
When culture becomes our gauge for what is offensive or helpful to the gospel, we will give an uncertain sound concerning truth, righteousness, and the Bible itself.
For an example of how the liberal- religious social justice movement compromises truth, consider the group called Faithful America.
Their website explains, “We are the largest online community of Christians putting faith into action for social justice.”
The same web page lists some of their successes: Fought back against Hobby Lobby Convinced Google to drop World Vision Forced MSNBC to drop the Family Research Council Helped students win justice for fired principal (This was a vice principal who was fired from a Catholic high school because he was gay.) Defended an unjustly-defrocked pastor (This was a Methodist pastor who, against the orders of his denomination, officiated a same-sex wedding for his son.)
This is a purportedly Christian organization taking up unbiblical causes and fighting against churches and Christians—all in the name of “social justice.”
The greatest concern with the three methods of counterfeit justice is that compassionate Christians, concerned about injustice, are allowing themselves to be pulled into worldly philosophies that point people away from Christ, rather than toward Christ.
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
When Christians begin to see the world through philosophies that deny the sinful heart of man and the remedy of the gospel, they lose passion to preach the gospel and win souls to Christ.
When we forget that man’s primary need is the gospel and see it in terms of oppression, victimhood, and power, the most important priorities are lost—and so are men’s souls.
When we find ourselves more at home with social activists who campaign for ungodly lifestyles than we do with other Christians who boldly proclaim the gospel, it is clear that our purpose in Christ’s kingdom to evangelize the lost is not being fulfilled.
And when we engage in social causes that are based on worldly rationales, we can know that we are buying a cheap counterfeit for the real justice that God requires.
Conclusion
Conclusion
God established scriptural justice long before man developed social justice.
Our goal as Christians must be to understand and practice the justice God commands. And we must avoid the pitfalls of counterfeit justice movements whose philosophies contradict God’s Word.
Are you willing to: “to Justly”, “love Mercy” and “walk Humbly with God?”
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In our next study, we’ll look more in depth at how we can practice biblical justice to make a difference for Christ in the lives of those in need.
Chappell, Paul; Chappell, Larry. Avoiding Confusion High School Teacher Edition (pp. 257-283). Striving Together Publications. Kindle Edition.