What is Biblical Justice? (part 2)
- Pastor Duane Cross
- Aug 30, 2010
Week of August 29, 2010
Continued from last week...to read last week's article CLICK HERE
We’ve been talking a lot around here about justice and mercy, especially in the context of domestic abuse and human trafficking. To give us some biblical context, I would like to submit an article by Paul Metzger from the summer 2010 Leadership Journal. Enjoy part 2 of this article.
The same problem still arises today, especially given the tendency in some Christian circles to downplay social justice while highlighting personal morality. Jesus rebuked this in the Pharisees: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness” (Matt. 23:23).
Both individual transformation and community transformation are part of restoring wholeness. While morality and immorality are birthed in the human heart (James 3:10-18), justice is centered in God’s heart. We are to purify our hearts (James 4:8) whose desires lead us to sin. With transformed hearts, we are to extend God’s justice to the poor, orphans, and widows, and to show no partiality.
These concerns are not limited to life within the Christian community. After all, how can we be salt and light if we practice justice among our own but do not extend it to those outside the believing community? And while the church is a visible manifestation of God’s kingdom, the church is not all of God’s kingdom. God is concerned with making every realm of his creation whole.
Unlike the earliest followers of Christ, we live in a democratic society where even criminals and evildoers have rights, and we have the ability to influence public policies and legislation. The relationship between morality and legislation is complex—they are distinct but not completely unrelated. We should reflect on how the justice of God’s kingdom influences our involvement in matters of government.
In the Gospels as well as Acts, we see Christians ministering to the poor and marginalized, even challenging societal structures that weigh down upon them (Matt. 9:35-38; Acts 3-4, 5:12-16). Today we have even more opportunities to extend and advance that care in our society.
In our post—Christian setting, many skeptics view religion as corrosive, divisive, and a source of injustice. But the kind of religion the Bible advocates is rooted in justice that flows from the heart of God. It seeks to bring all things into the wholeness of God. As those justified by faith in the God of all justice, we are to experience the wholeness that he brings and extend it as citizens of his kingdom.
In Christ,
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