A Biblical Understanding of Justice
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Hear ye now what the Lord saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, And let the hills hear thy voice. Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord’s controversy, And ye strong foundations of the earth: For the Lord hath a controversy with his people, And he will plead with Israel. O my people, what have I done unto thee? And wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, And redeemed thee out of the house of servants; And I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him From Shittim unto Gilgal; That ye may know the righteousness of the Lord. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, And bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, With calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, Or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 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?
Introduction
Introduction
These well-known words from the Old Testament were spoken by the prophet Micah - the same Micah through whom 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 to worship 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 the Northern kingdom of 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:
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.
Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord’s controversy, And ye strong foundations of the earth: For the Lord hath a controversy with his people, And he will plead with Israel.
He then questions Judah as to how He has wronged them or why they would turn from Him when He had been so good to them. He describes how He brought them out of Egypt and led them into the Promised Land.
O my people, what have I done unto thee? And wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, And redeemed thee out of the house of servants; And I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
Micah, serving in this word picture as the litigator, answers on behalf of the nation. But Micah doesn’t offer a defense - there was none. Rather, he offers a series of questions regarding how Judah should respond to God’s goodness toward the nation.
Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, And bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, With calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, Or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
All of these - national depravity and the absence of justice, God’s plea with the nation to return to Him, and Micah’s questions as to how to respond to God - lead us to the succinct words of Micah 6:8.
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?
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 8th 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 Micah. When we separate justice from truth, truth falls in the street and justice get trampled too.
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.
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 ill circle back to biblical justice and examine the most meaningful ways that Christians can advance justice through mercy and humility.
A Framework of Biblical Justice
A Framework of 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 trough Scripture, we see three basic truths.
God is the Habitation of Justice
God is the Habitation of Justice
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 not objective standard in a purposeless universe.” - C.S. Lewis
God’s People Are to Model Just Living
God’s People Are to Model Just Living
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 is it 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 make 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 judgement for both the citizen and the foreigner, and to leave food in the field for the poor to gather.
New Testament Christians, filled with grace of God, should be no less equitable and generous in their dealings with others.
Both the Old and New Testaments 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 living as they do justly
Men Are Individually Responsible
Men Are Individually Responsible
This truth is a crucial point of distinction between biblical justice and social justice. Whereas most social 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 verse 18- 32. Even as He introduces these verses, however, God offers they 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.
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 contract to secular social justice which has a tendency to assign perpetual guilt for the sins of a group’s ancestors.
Contrary to 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 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 judgement 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.
Expressions of Biblical Justice
Expressions of Biblical 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 other 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 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.
In Society
In Society
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 book of Psalms and Proverbs give instruction to care for the needy and to speak up for those who are oppressed:
Blessed is he that considereth the poor: The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
Defend the poor and fatherless: Do justice to the afflicted and needy.
The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: But the wicked regardeth not to know it.
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, the acknowledge human dignity and God-granted human rights, they provide checks on corruption, they establish due process, and they entrust final judgement of 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 culture 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.
And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
Is 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.
Among Christians
Among Christians
Jesus is the ultimate expression of God’s hear 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 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 mean 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:
George Muller: Rescued, housed, fed, and educated ten thousand orphans from the streets of England, beginning during the cholera epidemic of the 1830’s and continuing until his death in 1898.
Amy Carmichael: spent 50 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 right” is not just needed in the past or in other countries. In our own neighborhoods and communities, Christians should be on the front lines of compassionate care.
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.
Secular Counterfeits to Biblical Justice
Secular Counterfeits to Biblical Justice
It would seem that all justice is created equal. By the word’s very definition, somethings 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 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 a man bu 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 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 equity in an outcome is dangerous. Changing the definition of justice to mean a guaranteed outcome has brought about counterfeits for biblical justice.
Play Red light, green light - with a twist to favor the one I want to win.
Rather than creating biblical justice and opportunities for all, social justice creates distorted forms of justice.
Secularized Social Justice
Secularized Social Justice
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. Where there is no real act of injustice. Not t surprisingly, these ideas of secular 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.
Conclusion
Conclusion
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:
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.