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Is the modern social justice movement synonymous with the concept of justice we read about and see in the Bible?
Introduction
Hebrew Lexical Data
Justice is the abstract concept of the resulting state of proper judgment.
In a legal sense, judgment refers to the process of defending the righteous and condemning the guilty.
Together, these concepts form the basis of righteous governance in an emulation of the kingdom of God.
There are four words in the OT that are related to the concept of justice:
שָׁפַט (šāpaṭ).
vb. to judge, govern, administer justice.
This verb generally refers to all aspects of administering justice, including making, enforcing, and judicially deciding the merit of case laws.
שׁפט (šāpaṭ), which means “to govern” or “to administer justice,”
This word appears 203x in BHS.
It is always translated krino or one of its derivatives in the LXX.
Here is an example of what it looks like to administer justice.
שׁפט
מִשְׁפָט (mišpāṭ).
n. masc.
justice, judgment.
Containing a nuance of righteous living, generally refers to all aspects of administering justice, including making laws, enforcing laws, and decisions regarding the merit of cases.
מִשְׁפָט (mišpāṭ, “judgment”)
This word appears 421x in BHS.
The overwhelming majority (385) of the LXX rendering is krino.
It is rendered dikaiosune 36x in the LXX.
This makes it the most common word in the OT for the idea of justice.
Example Uses
Here we have a twofer.
Both Mishpath and Sedek appear together in this verse: judgment and righteousness.
צֶדֶק (ṣedeq, “righteousness”)
(ṣedeq).
n. masc.
righteousness, justice.
The abstract concept of something or someone that is right or just.
The focus of this section is on the legal aspects of justice.
This word appears 119x in BHS.
In all but two instances the LXX translates it with a derivative of dikaiosune.
צָדַק (ṣādaq).
vb. to be or make righteous, to be or make just.
Primarily describes the act of justifying a person or declaring a person to be justified.
צָדֹק (ṣādōq, “to be or make righteous”)
This word appears 208x in BHS.
It is translated a derivative of dikaiosune every single time.
Depending on context, the Septuagint uses Greek words related to the terms δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē, “righteousness”) or κρίνω (krinō, “to judge”) to translate these Hebrew words.
MAJOR POINT: The commandments to Israel are not commandments issued to the civil authorities.
To impose those on civil authorities is the church over-stepping its boundaries.
The idea of justice then in the OT is not that all men would have equality in all things.
It was that all men would be treated the same without regard for their station in life, be they rich, poor, a widow, an orphan.
You would not render judgments and make decisions based purely on a person’s status.
You see, God sends widows and orphans to hell the same as he does rich men and women and the kid with the silver spoon in his mouth.
OT Texts On Biblical Justice
Judge with righteous judgement.
Do not distort justice.
Do not be partial.
Do not take a bride.
Sanctify/purify yourselves.
Remove your evil deeds - idolatry.
Cease to do evil.
Learn to do good.
Seek justice.
Reprove the ruthless.
Defend the orphan.
Plead for the widow.
Greek Lexical Data
δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē).
n. fem.
justice, righteousness.
The quality of being in accordance with God’s law.
This word appears 91x in the GNT.
It is translated righteous 90x and right once.
κρίσις (krisis).
n. fem.
judgment, legal case.
Refers to the process, event, or result of legal proceedings intended to evaluate punishment.
This word and its cognates appear 538x in the GNT.
Both these words are legal terms and refer to legal concepts.
That is important to remember when we talk about the concept of justice as it appears in the NT.
Caring for Widows & Orphans in the NT
Modern proponents of Social Just have used this text to point out racial prejudice in the early church.
But that is what is going on here?
This text has been used to
1.
This practice was a common practice among the Jews long before the NT Church came along.
2. These Hellenistic widows were Jews.
They were the same race.
Hence, it could have been racism.
In addition to this Witherington writes:
Nothing in this entire text suggests that the division of labor, or the difficulties that led to this division of labor, reflects some sort of significant theological differences between Hebrews and Hellenists.
Ancient texts viewed widows not, first of all, in terms of their bereaved marital status (as we generally do) but in terms of the destitution that typically resulted from it.145
One major study argues that widowhood was more common in this period than often assumed and that most widows were terribly impoverished.
Some even argue that widows constituted nearly a third of women in the Roman world and 40 percent of those between forty and fifty years of age.147
If impoverished widows constituted only half of such numbers (despite the large percentage of poor people in general in Mediterranean antiquity), they could easily overwhelm a community’s resources to care for them.
This is not the case on modern western society.
Keener goes on to say:
Compared with Jewish customs of charity, those of Greek society did not help widows much.
Generally, widows were expected to be supported by male relatives or to remarry.149
A Roman ideal was the univira, the person who married only once; but from the era of Augustus forward, remarriage was standard practice.151
Judaism tended to encourage widows’ remarriage and certainly did not discourage it.
Rather than discrimination, it was more likely that there was a disproportionate number of Hellenist widows in need due to the simple fact that they lacked the same level of local extended kin network.
It is not that necessarily the case that ALL the Hellenist widows were being neglected but many or even most of them.
Either way, it is anachonism to read back into this text racism as so many social justice proponents do.
Such a reading is, at a minimum, irresponsible and subjects those who do so to various criticisms, not the least of which is pandering.
That this practice did not continue without adjustments and qualifications is clear:
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