Justice

What does true justice look like?

When the poor, the orphan, the widow, the immigrant do not have to worry whether they will be taken care of

“Justice” occurs over 400 times in the OT

“Righteousness” occurs another 130 times in the OT

The natural world is NOT a place of justice. There is nothing just about predation. So Humanity lives in an unjust world, and they are tasked with bringing forth justice. Creating justice.

Justice in the West boils down to three core values that are very different:

Core Value: Maximizing Welfare - the just action is whatever brings the greatest amount of good, and reduce the greatest harm for the greatest number of people.

Problem: Gets you moving in the right direction towards helping people, but does not offer any help towards discerning WHAT is the greatest good and what defines harm.

Core Value: Respecting Freedom - Justice is what creates the greatest amount of respect for the rights and freedoms of each individual to live how they want to live.

Core Value: Promoting Virtue - Justice is what shapes a society so that people act as they ought to in accordance with moral virtue.

Humans ought to behave one way, and a just society is what pushes people towards this.

Immense problem when we assume the Bible supports our point of view. The Bible will hardly ever fit neatly into your point of view. We need to listen to the Bible with generous hearts and be willing to be moved by it rather than force it to support what we are already comfortable with.

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Micah 6:8 -

8  He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?

Hebrew for justice = mishpat

Two main modes of Justice:

Retributive or Rectifying Justice - Justice is declaring that behavior is wrong and seeking to rectify it through punishment and recompense.

Restorative Justice - Justice is creating codes by which we choose to live that embodies “uprightness” to benefit a) the general person or b) the vulnerable and disadvantaged.

Mishpat in the Bible is almost always used in the sense of creating a society where the most vulnerable and disadvantaged are supported and cared for. Creating legislation and the focus of the leadership of the society is on protecting the vulnerable and disadvantaged. This is why justice in the Bible is so often connected to ideas of mercy, love, and humility.

Why are justice, mercy, and humility connected?

Mercy is looking on and acting on the behalf of people who are in difficult situations that are not my own.

Humility is treating others as more important than me. Their problems are therefore my problems.

Justice in the Bible is making other people’s problems my own.

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“The quartet of the vulnerables” - the widow, the orphan, the immigrant, and the poor.

English Standard Version Chapter 7

8 And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10 do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

Old Testament prophet exposing injustice in his community.

English Standard Version Psalm 146

5  Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the LORD his God,

6  who made heaven and earth,

the sea, and all that is in them,

who keeps faith forever;

7  who executes justice for the oppressed,

who gives food to the hungry.

The LORD sets the prisoners free;

8  the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.

The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;

the LORD loves the righteous.

9  The LORD watches over the sojourners;

he upholds the widow and the fatherless,

but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

Justice that the Lord enacts is caring for the vulnerable in society.

What is mishpat for the prophets?

The poor, the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant do not have to worry about their safety or worry that they’d be taken advantage of.

According to the prophets (and therefore the one who speaks through them), the litmus test for a just society is whether the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the immigrant are worried for their safety or their wellbeing.

When someone in our society goes and cares for these populations, the vulnerable, we call that charity which means giving, it’s an optional outpouring of service. The Bible calls it justice, and it is not optional.

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“Lower classes are not only disproportionately vulnerable to injustice but are disproportionately actual victims of injustice. In human history, injustice is not equally distributed.”

-Nicholas Walterstorff, Justice: Rights and Wrongs

If I am to honor the Bible as a source of divine wisdom, I have to reckon with the fact that the problem of poor living conditions for the vulnerable and disadvantaged must also become the problem for those with influence, resources, and a voice. This is what it means to be a just community.

You cannot refute this fact.

You can say you don’t agree with the Bible on what it means to be a just community. But you cannot refute this biblical definition of justice.

You can say this is complicated and dangerous and messy. But you cannot refute this biblical definition of justice.

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English Standard Version Chapter 9

23 Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”

Do not boast in education, influence, or wealth. These are not what we strive to have define us. Rather, boast and define yourself as one who knows God, and knowing God is knowing him as the one who exercises justice, mercy, and righteousness. He notices the problems of others and makes them his problems.

“Knowing God is not a matter of mere inner spirituality, but a matter of transformation of values and resulting practical commitment.” - Wright

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The phrase “justice and righteousness” is used over 50 times in the OT.

In the Bible, the reason we seek justice is because we are righteous.

Righteousness - relational term meaning a standard of right relationships. It is an ethical standard consisting of people in right relationship. “You’ve done right by me.”

English Standard Version Chapter 29

12  because I delivered the poor who cried for help,

and the fatherless who had none to help him.

13  The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,

and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

14  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;

my justice was like a robe and a turban.

15  I was eyes to the blind

and feet to the lame.

16  I was a father to the needy,

and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.

17  I broke the fangs of the unrighteous

and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

Job sees righteousness as a way of life that embodies justice (concern for the vulnerable).

English Standard Version Chapter 18

5 “If a man is righteous and does what is just and right— 6 if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, 7 does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 8 does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, 9 walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel sees the righteous one as one who treats the vulnerable fairly and helps secure the life of the poor.

English Standard Version Chapter 11

3  And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

4  but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

5  Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Isaiah looks forward to the coming Messiah who will rule with righteousness through justice - meaning he will care for the vulnerable and disadvantaged.

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The rational for justice is the imago dei. This is a radically unique idea in human history. Human life is sacred and important. The truth is that in our community, the mishpat or rights of some human beings will be neglected, and it is the job of every follower of God to notice and to be a part of the solution.

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English Standard Version Chapter 18

17 The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

The promise that LORD made to Abraham was that all the nations of the earth be blessed through him and his descendants. How would that be the case? By Abraham’s family doing righteousness and justice - living differently than Egypt or Canaan or Babylon or any other empire that neglects the needs of the vulnerable and disadvantaged.

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“The righteous are those who are willing to disadvantage themselves to the advantage of their community. The wicked in Proverbs are those who are willing disadvantage the community to advantage themselves.” - Bruce Waltke

“God, through his prophets, and ideally also through godly judges, puts himself on the side of ‘the righteous’ - meaning, not the morally sinless, but those who are ‘in the right’ in a situation of social conflict and abuse.” - Wright

“The poor as a particular group in society receive God’s special attention because they are the ones who are on the ‘wronged’ side of a situation of chronic injustice - a situation God abhors and wishes to have redressed. For God’s righteous will to be done requires the execution of justice on behalf of the poor. Therefore God takes up their cause, or case, against those who are doing the injustice.” - Wright

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Jesus embodies justice as he is constantly moving towards the vulnerable and disadvantaged: poor, sick, outcast, women, Samaritans, tax collectors, prostitutes.

Parables: If you throw a part, invite the people who can’t pay you back at all. Disadvantage yourself for their benefit. This is what the kingdom is like.

English Standard Version Chapter 11

42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 43

Justice and love of God are two sides of the same coin for Jesus.

In Jesus’ death on the cross, God disadvantages himself to advantage others, while he also accomplishes recompense. The judge becomes the judged. Both definitions of justice meet: retribution on evil by embodying justice by taking the judgment on himself.

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Followers of Jesus are those who have received the justice of God. He looked on us in our suffering and he provided for us by disadvantaging himself for our benefit. Therefore, followers of Jesus should be at the forefront of seeking justice for the poor and vulnerable.

The default context for pursuing justice is in the community of Jesus. At the same time, that community has always played a prophetic role in the greater society. In that role, the community of Jesus speaks publicly and particularly to the ruling powers to call them to account that they are under God’s rule and his will is for all people, but especially the vulnerable and disadvantaged, to be taken care of.

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In ancient Israel, who was most vulnerable?

It was a land-owning based society, so if you did not own land or connected to families who owned land, you were vulnerable.

Women, specifically widows, were particularly vulnerable from being taken advantage of when their land-owning husbands died. Orphans and immigrants also could not own land.

In first century Roman empire, who was most vulnerable?

Women, slaves, children - the people who did not have means.

Because the way things in our society is structured, who is most vulnerable?

Those without access to food, education, stable home life.

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English Standard Version Psalm 33

5  He loves righteousness and justice;

the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.

“Justice as an appeal for a response means taking upon oneself the cause of those who are weak in their own defense.” - Wright

English Standard Version Chapter 30

18  Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you,

and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.

For the LORD is a God of justice;

blessed are all those who wait for him.

Justice is the REASON for God’s compassion and grace.

“Justice was the social foundation of Israel not only because the initiative of God’s redeeming power was an act of righteousness, but also because it called forth a response of imitative righteousness and justice among the Israelites themselves. Having been put ‘right’, so to speak, the Israelites were to maintain righteousness. Having experienced justice, they were to ‘do justice’. - Wright

English Standard Version Chapter 5

5 Let me sing for my beloved

my love song concerning his vineyard:

My beloved had a vineyard

on a very fertile hill.

2  He dug it and cleared it of stones,

and planted it with choice vines;

he built a watchtower in the midst of it,

and hewed out a wine vat in it;

and he looked for it to yield grapes,

but it yielded wild grapes.

3  And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem

and men of Judah,

judge between me and my vineyard.

4  What more was there to do for my vineyard,

that I have not done in it?

When I looked for it to yield grapes,

why did it yield wild grapes?

English Standard Version Chapter 5

7  For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts

is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah

are his pleasant planting;

and he looked for justice,

but behold, bloodshed;

for righteousness,

but behold, an outcry!

The New International Version Chapter 5

I will sing for the one I love

a song about his vineyard:

My loved one had a vineyard

on a fertile hillside.

2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones

and planted it with the choicest vines.

He built a watchtower in it

and cut out a winepress as well.

Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,

but it yielded only bad fruit.

The New International Version Chapter 5

7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty

is the nation of Israel,

and the people of Judah

are the vines he delighted in.

And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;

for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

The Lord expects that his people be as committed to justice as he is.