MONDAY
Introduction to Biblical Justice
Why should we consider justice as Christians? Why should we dive deeper into this topic? Well, I think for two primary reasons. 1.) There is too much injustice and things that are too messed up in the world for Christians to simply ignore it. (Homelessness, poverty, human trafficking, broken families, drug and alcohol addiction. People are turning away from God more and more.) 2.) And another, and the primary reason we should consider the topic of justice, is that there is too much overwhelming Biblical evidence that justice is near to the heart of God. We see this throughout scripture. It cannot be avoided, just to highlight a few:
Isaiah 30:18.
Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him.
Psalm 10:17-18
O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble;
You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear
To vindicate the orphan and the oppressed,
So that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror.
Psalm 82:3-4
Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.
Rescue the weak and needy; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.
Zechariah 7:9
And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah: “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.’”
Matthew 12:18
Here is my Servant whom I have chosen, the One I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations. A battered reed he will not break off, and a smoldering wick He will not put out, until He leads justice to victory.”
But even so, in our culture we have all types of versions and definitions of justice coming at us all the time. It can be confusing.
Maybe we have one group of people that says that justice is solely and entirely dependent on the individual. Maybe they would say that any justice that would need to be done for you, you can do yourself by working hard enough or pulling yourself up. Or maybe we have another group of people that says that justice is entirely a group thing. That you can be pardoned from your personal responsibility and that justice is a responsibility of the community, or even the state. Not only that, we do not even know what the word justice means anymore. We see the word plastered on billboards and campaigns and are inundated with all these versions of justice.
To make things even more confusing, in Christian circles we have those who only emphasize the declaration of the Gospel (with good reason) but take no interest in the demonstration of the Gospel through deeds of justice and mercy. Then on the other hand, we have those who place justice improperly on the top shelf of importance and they only focus on doing justice and mercy, while watering down the Gospel of Grace that we are called to preach. And I think this tension is just a reality for the faithful Christian, and one we need to be wise about.
There are a lot of things in the Christian faith that causes a “tension” for us, right? Like, how do we balance both grace and truth? How do we forgive freely, but also speak truth into people’s lives and maybe say some tough things? How do we believe that God is sovereign over all things, but in a mysterious way, we have free will to choose and must deal with the repercussions of our choices?
And this topic before us is another tension. This dynamic between “word and deed.” The church is called to two things, right? The ministry of the word and sacraments, and the ministry of deeds. The Gospel is meant to be proclaimed, and taught, and spoken. But it is also meant to be lived out. James makes this clear. In James 1:22, he says: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” And in the same chapter in verse 27 he says: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
The Christian has the duty to think through the nature of Justice as it relates to the mission of the Church.