Understanding Justice

Introduction

Justice is one of the most important ideas for a society to grasp. That is because it is impossible for people to live together in any degree of harmony or in any lasting and beneficial relationship with each other if there is not a shared and solidified concept of justice. If two people are stuck on an island in the middle of the ocean, the one thing that will determine whether they are able to live and thrive in that small society is whether they both have the same or at least a similar conception of justice. Whenever something goes wrong in a society, it is a matter that relates to justice. Every group of people, no matter what context, has a standard of justice, either spoken or unspoken, that underlays the foundation of their relationship with each other. Justice puts responsibilities on each of us for others around in as well as prohibition as to what we can and cannot do to others in the world around us. There is perhaps not a more important topic, one that effects us and our relationships more and on which our humanity stands or falls, as justice. That being the case, it is not surprising that the vast majority of disagreements and divisions between people have to do with justice. It may be personal or ideological, but when we have a division with someone based on whether something should be done one way or another, for any reason, we are really debating justice.

Justice is a very popular word these days, even if most people don’t understand or perhaps even think about what it means. But it is something that people like to say a lot, and it is meant to add weight to an issue. With this has come an inevitable abuse of the term and even an apathetic attitude towards justice. After all, how can we take justice seriously in a world where the word is used so much and no one knows what it means? Perhaps the word justice brings to your mind those fighting for what they call “social justice” and that may bring several different and unfortunate thoughts and feelings. Despite all the confusion in this world concerning the topic of justice, it is something that is extremely important to the God we worship. tells us that the King of the universe loves justice. Justice is the essential character of God’s nature, the essence of who he is, how he acts in the world and how he relates to people. With that being the case, it is impossible to know God and pursue the life we are called to live in Christ unless we have a grasp of justice from his divine perspective. Today we will look at justice, how the world is confused by it, how Scripture teaches us about it, and how it changes every aspect of our lives as Christians so that we may grow more and more into the image of Christ.

Confusion Over Justice

What is justice? Despite the various opinions and the vast divisions that people have on the topic of justice, its definition is rather straightforward. Justice is the standard to which we are expected to conform in relation to one another. While the term “social justice” has become popular in our day, the truth is that all justice is social. All justice has to do with how we treat each other. The term speaks to treating others fairly or as they deserve. The assumption behind a standard of justice is that between a group of people there is an intrinsic equality of being. That everyone is created equal and therefore deserves equal treatment before the law. It a word, justice is about being fair. It’s about doing what is right to everyone in whatever form that may take in any circumstance. It also means giving people what they deserve, that those who are just are praised and rewarded but those who contradict justice are penalized. This gives everyone in the society a reason to live justly and avoid doing wrong. It also enforces that standard of justice as a norm to be followed, and not an irrelevant rule to be overlooked and ignored.

The confusion isn’t about how we define justice as a general concept, it’s about how we understand the foundations of justice. For example, in order to have a standard of justice you have to first agree on what fairness and equality actually mean. Is it fair that everyone gets the same opportunities in life, or is it fair that everyone has the same result it life. Is it fair that those who work hard get more wealthy, or is it fair that wealth is distributed evenly? If the former, is it then fair that those who work hard can afford more or better legal representation when they stand before the law? If the latter, is it fair that everyone gets paid the same wage even when some refuse to add anything to society. I can almost guarantee that every one of us had an opinion or objection to one of those positions and that is exactly my point. Justice is confusing because the way we define the terms of justice and the words we use to describe it are vastly different from each other. This makes it difficult to live in the same world as others who disagree with what we define as fair.

There are other questions about justice that are confusing and difficult to answer. There are things in the past, for example, that we can unanimously agree were unjust. The African American Slave trade, the Holocaust, or the residential schools are all things we wish we could reverse where injustice was done. So some raise the question, are we responsible today to try to bring justice to things that happened in the past? If so, how far back do we go? How do we bring justice to people who aren’t alive anymore, and how selective are we to past acts of injustice? This brings another frequently debated topic, is justice primarily applied groups of people, or to individuals? Is an entire group of people guilty of a crime because one of them committed one, and is another group of people victims of a crime because one of them was victimized? These are the things that are currently being debated, with great emotion and zeal, in our public forums today. Just as Pilot asked Jesus “what is truth” so our culture is desperately asking “what is justice?”

Despite the deep seeded convictions we may have, these are difficult and messy questions to answer. How do we, as Christians, navigate this difficult issue

Going Back to the Author of Justice

Justice and the Christian Life

Conclusion