It seems the word “Justice” is getting a lot of attention when it comes to Christians speaking about the whole Bin Laden ordeal. Here are a few thoughts I’ve had on the idea of justice as it is played out in Scripture. I feel like we are throwing the word around in relation to God a little too freely. I’m concerned anytime we start defining God’s justice in relation to the human forms of justice. Or worse yet, defining God’s justice in relation to punishment here on earth that may or may not be divine acts, but merely part of a fallen world, or even the natural order of things.
I’m certainly not saying a human form of justice wasn’t served when the Al-Qaida leader was taken out. I’m not even saying it wasn’t divine justice. I’m just wanting to be cautious about defining this definitively as God’s justice. God’s justice has much deeper spiritual overtones and purposes than a very earthy, human sense of someone getting what is due.
If there is one requirement from God, it is that his people seek justice and act justly. But justice is not simply, “to each one that is due.” It is a very deep, very ethical topic. I believe it is one of the weightier matters, yet one that may surprise us, when we see just what God is talking about when he mentions justice and what justice requires of us. Justice is from the same root as just, justification, and righteousness. It means, “that which is right.” God is just. God is righteous and from his being comes the standard for Justice and Righteousness. One only needs to look back at the record of God and we will declare what Nehemiah declared in 9:33–“In all that has happened to us, you have been just, you have acted faithfully, while we did wrong.” Or the Psalmist 89:14–“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.” Or in Revelation 15:3–“Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty, just and true are your ways, king of the ages.”
And God as one whose being is defined by justice and righteousness requires this from his creation. Justice is a requirement to sustain the eternal relationship between God and mankind. Yes, a requirement. In Amos 5:21-24 Israel has turned away from God. The lack of justice as you read through is the overarching problem, especially the Lack of justice for the poor, oppressed, and afflicted. “Let justice roll down like a river, and righteousness an ever flowing stream” God says. Justice and righteousness are the same thing, same idea. That which is right and just. Let that roll on like a river and a never failing stream. Let justice reign in the courts. But, more than that let justice and righteousness reign in relationships. That’s what is really the issue. Justice in relationships. We’re not talking about “that which is due” but the idea that Justice is brought to culmination in the restoring of relationships. Not simply giving or getting what is due, but the restoring, or the building of relationships. Relationships that are right. Relationships that are just and righteous. Justice as the reconciling of relationships is by far the weightier matter in Scripture than merely, “getting what it due.” In Micah 6:6-8 it is asked what God wants? “Act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.” God wants Justice, mercy and humility in the community of Israel.
This definition of justice fits Jesus call to ministry in Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Jesus ministry was a ministry of justice, that is, setting the world right. Jesus reached out to the poor, oppressed, hurting, afflicted, and held authorities accountable.
I am convinced that there is an irony of justice. And that irony is that justice being served is not one getting their do, but the complete reconciliation of the relationship. Let me explain.
What we normally think of when we hear justice is retribution. Someone did something and they deserve to be punished. But what about loving, forgiving, and working for the wrongdoer and the wronged to have a right relationship with each other. Could this be an accomplishment of justice?
Person-to-person reconciliation is the practical form of Justice modeled by Christians as we emulate the diving reconciliation we have received through Jesus Christ. Paul’s declaration to the Corinthians 2 Cor 5:20, “Be reconciled to God” has broad and deep implications to the church. It would not be an overstatement to say that the defining event in all of history and creation is the death of Jesus Christ. And that death of the Son of God was brought by justice. A justice that had and has at its very core, love for us. A love of Christ that says, “not them, me.”
The Justice of God seen in the Christ event has as it’s motivator, reconciliation. It wasn’t some arbitrary sacrifice to satisfy God’s law. It wasn’t simply a requirement to appease God’s burden. It wasn’t simply a payment for sin. Here is sin and it needs paid for so here’s the payment. As if God is some pawn dealer and Jesus is coming to pay the price for sin to settle up with God. No, justice as it is seen in the Christ event has as it’s purpose reconciliation. Reconciliation of the eternal relationship of God and mankind.
2 Cor 5:17-21 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
The greatest act of justice of all creation was when God’s justice was met through the sacrificial death of Christ, and that justice is complete when humankind comes to God and is reconciled to God. When the eternal relationship is restored and when the individual is given the ministry of reconciliation.
Moreover, the ministry of reconciliation is complete when that which is spiritually reconciled with God is lived out in our relationships with each other-when we dispense the justice of God that restores relationships, and seeks the good of others and does not harbor bitterness or seek revenge.
For the Christian, justice, is going beyond our mere requirements. Justice is considering ourselves as nothing and others as most important, especially the poor the oppressed, yes even those who are getting what they deserve. Justice isn’t just giving what is due. Christian justice is a love that is so great it moves one to sacrifice for another’s good.
A justice that is so rooted in the love of God that it pursues reconciliation in all relationships. We’ve got a ways to go before justice rolls down like a river. I must confess, I don’t know that I know this kind of Justice. But anyone who receives the true justice of God, the reconciling of our eternal relationship with him, must be ready to let that justice flow through them like a river and a never failing stream.
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