The Justice of God

God is just.

Scripture —

Psalm 119:137 “Righteous are You, O Lord, And upright are Your judgments.”

Psalm 11:7 “For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; The upright will behold His face.”

Psalm 97:1–2 “The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; Let the many islands be glad. Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.”

Conscience- Romans 2:14–15 “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,” against what?

Every image bearer knows this. As much as they might maintain and try to deceive themselves that they have no fear of justice, it gnaws at them, perpetually, sometimes it goes away for a season, but it always comes back. Testimony of all peoples and all times confirm this. The cold war, 70,000,00 murdered. There is documentary of some of the monstrous tyrants howling as they were about to be executed, one screamed that he could hear the voices of those calling for his blood.

The 9 long years up to my conversion, I can’t think of many moments where I was ever in silence. I always had to have some kind of company or noise to drown out the reality of God’s justice gnawing away at my conscience.

Just in his words - what’s another word for this truth. Two specifically. veracity, faithfulness

Just in his actions- uprightness, purity, holiness

What would God’s providential and sovereign rule of the universe be without Justice?

Two distinctions

Commutative Justice and Retributive Justice

Commutative has to do with fairness between equal parties.

Commutative justice lies in covenants, compacts, agreements, commerce, and dealings with one another, in which one gives an equivalent in money or goods for what he receives of another; and when integrity and uprightness are preserved, this is justice. But such sort of justice cannot have place between God and men; what he gives, and they receive from him, is of free favour and good will; and what they give to him, or he receives from them, is no equivalent for what they have from him; What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me? Psalm 116:12: nothing that is answerable to them. Besides, God has a prior right to every thing a creature has or can give; Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him again? Rom. 11:35.

John Gill, A Complete Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity: Or A System of Evangelical Truths, Deduced from the Sacred Scriptures, New Edition, vol. 1 (Tegg & Company, 1839), 154.

Our confession fills this out in 7.2.

1. THE distance between God and the Creature is so great, that although reasonable Creatures do owe obedience unto him as their Creator, yet they could never have attained the reward of Life, but by some voluntary condescension on Gods part, which he hath been pleased to express, by way of Covenant.

W. J. McGlothlin, Baptist Confessions of Faith (Philadelphia; Boston; Chicago; St. Louis; Toronto: American Baptist Publication Society, 1911), 238.

The confession comments on itself later on

5. We cannot by our best works merit pardon of Sin or Eternal Life at the hand of God, by reason of the great disproportion that is between them and the glory to come; and the infinite distance that is between us and God, whom by them we can neither profit, nor satisfie for the debt of our former sins; but when we [page] have done all we can, we have done but our duty, and are unprofitable servants; and because as they are good they proceed from his16 Spirit, and as they are wrought by us they are defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection that they cannot endure the severity of Gods judgment.

W. J. McGlothlin, Baptist Confessions of Faith (Philadelphia; Boston; Chicago; St. Louis; Toronto: American Baptist Publication Society, 1911), 250–251.

Retributive Justice

Giving each his due

Remunerative Justice or Giving of Rewards

If all things are from, through, and to him, how does this work out? How can God give out rewards?

Remember, the creature owed allegiance and obedience just by being a creature.

Austin expresses it, “makes himself a debtor, not by receiving any thing from us, but by promising such and such things to us.”

God is pleased to graciously make promises to us, and to reward those promises. But even in this we are operating on his own grace bestowed on us. The fruits of the Spirit at work in us. There’s a strange way in which we are both rewarded and he is rewarding his own grace in us. I hope we’ll learn something about this in a few weeks from Philippians 2:12–13 “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

He’s pleased to reward his own work in you.

3. Their ability to do good works, is not at all of themselves; but wholly from the Spirit of Christ;

Skip to 6.

6. Yet notwithstanding the persons of Believers being accepted through Christ their good works also are accepted in him; not as though they were in this life wholly unblameable and unreprovable in Gods sight; but that he looking upon them in his Son is pleased to accept and reward that which is19 sincere although accomplished with many weaknesses and imperfections.

W. J. McGlothlin, Baptist Confessions of Faith (Philadelphia; Boston; Chicago; St. Louis; Toronto: American Baptist Publication Society, 1911), 251.

Punitive/Vindictive Justice

The flood. Sodom and Gomorah.

Acts 28:4 “When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, “Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.””

Unchanging

Psalm 36:6 “Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; Your judgments are like a great deep. O Lord, You preserve man and beast.”

App.

God’s justice reassures us when injustice happens to us or loved ones. Or in trials, temptations that he remains just.

2. We are to love God as much for his justice as his love. This is a hard one. We are to glorify God for his justice. We will for eternity.

3. There is a day coming when all injustice will be made right. See Watson in Jones.

4. Most glorious display of justice is at the cross and in our Justification.

Is there any other way God could have redeemed sinners other than Jesus? Could God have willed to pardon them freely without sending Jesus?

John Gill-

and, indeed, where is his wisdom in being at such an expense as the blood and life of his Son, if sin could have been let go unpunished, and the salvation of his people obtained without it?

Will God clear the guilty? Exodus 34:7 “who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.””