Does God Care About Justice?
Recently in the news, stories came out about two separate men (both now 93 years of age) who are being indicted for a combined 470,000 counts of accessory to murder in the Nazis’ Auschwitz death camp.[1] Elizabeth Kolbert writes in The New Yorker about a delay in some of the cases.[2] She writes that Germany’s central office for investigating Nazi crimes is looking to build cases against fifty former Auschwitz guards. Unfortunately, in the process of trial, nine of the fifty guards had died, and others could not be located.
These reports, along with other similar events, document the innate human demand for justice. Although we know the scales are different, every crime, every murder, and indeed every sin calls for justice. As human beings we care about justice because we bear the image of the One Whose throne is built upon justice and righteousness (Ps. 89:14). Furthermore, we reflect and seek justice that finds its objective meaning in God.
In a post-Genesis 3 world, humanity is capable of grievous sins. And although we may escape this life of earthly justice, we will all stand before the Judge for divine justice (Joel 2:10-11; Mal. 4:1,5). Because of this important reality, in this essay we will consider God’s concern for justice. We will see that true worship and true justice are uniquely tied to one another. Finally, we’ll notice that the reconciliation of justice and mercy is revealed through the act of atonement.
Justice in Amos 5:7-15
Amos was a prophet who God sent to the northern kingdom of Israel during a time of peace and prosperity. Despite Israel’s prosperous times, God was furious with them. Why would God be upset with them? Because below the surface of prosperity were layers of corruption, greed, and injustice. The way in which they obtained their peace and prosperity was not just or righteous. They took advantage of the poor and oppressed. They took advantage of countries around them that couldn’t defend themselves in war. From this context, we can see that God notices His people’s injustice in at least two ways. Through Amos, we hear God’s judgment:
God’s Evaluation of the Facts – Amos 5:7-13: God evaluates the details in their lives. He is aware of the nation’s many sins (e.g., pride, perversion of the legal system, and social injustice). God is aware that their prosperity has come only by their wicked treatment of the poor. Justice has clearly been perverted. The wicked so control the legal system of the day that the prudent man keeps a low profile (Amos 5:13).
God’s Evaluation of What Is Wrong – Amos 5:14-15: The norm for moral living has been confused, ignored, and forgotten. Conformity to God’s righteous rule has been outright ignored. The compass that shapes their morality for those responsible for justice has been reversed. The command is given: “Seek good, not evil,” and, “Hate evil, not good.
Justice Is Essential to True Worship
By examining Amos 5:7-15, we see that God hates merely outward expressions of worship rituals. He dislikes them because they are false in heart and substance. What God demands is not merely worship rituals, but justice and righteousness. The way God sees it, justice and righteousness reflect the heart of true worship.
True worship is a matter of the heart that is manifested primarily in the way we conduct daily life (righteousness and justice). Correct ritual procedures are repulsive apart from just and righteous living. In other words, right living cannot be separated from true worship. Our ethics reveal what we worship.
What this reveals is that justice is more than just an idea or an abstract concept. In Scripture, we see God caring about the well being of His creation.[3] Therefore, conformity to what is just only comes through worship of the one true God. Injustice is ultimately rooted in selfish goals with no sense of accountability to the transcendent God.
Justice and Mercy Meet at the Cross
Jesus going to the cross elicits the question, “Couldn’t God just forgive us without Christ being crucified?” Leroy Forlines asks a similar question saying, “Why is atonement necessary for man’s redemption?”[4] He answers, “It was because the holiness of God refused to be comprised.”[5] Justice must be carried out in light of the sins of the many. Old Testament sacrificial laws show us that punishment is required because standards matter to God. God cannot ignore wrongdoing. God’s just and righteous character demands that every fault be punished. Yet God’s righteousness is uniquely tied with mercy and forgiveness.
Mercy is the opposite of justice, but it equally finds its place in Scripture.[6] In Psalm 33:5, righteousness and loving-kindness are parallel expressions. Later in Psalm 76:8-9, God appears as a judge, acting in a just manner in order to save the poor. God’s expression of mercy is built upon the love He has for His creation. The compassion that He shows on His people is reflective of His inward personal goodness.
How can two such polarizing terms go together? Jacques Ellul navigates this question to see the relationship between justice and mercy:
Whenever God pronounces judgment, mercy is unfailingly present. Nevertheless, it remains strictly a judgment. Thus the judgment upon Adam preserves life on earth; the judgment upon Cain established God’s protection of the sinner; the judgment upon Nineveh-in Jonah-is the call to repent.[7]
This leads us to consider the judgment placed upon Christ for humanity’s redemption. Christ is the one Who applies and takes on the penalty Himself. Greg Gilbert talks about the significance of justice and mercy meeting at cross saying,
I’m the one who should have died, not Jesus. I should have been punished, not he. And yet he took my place. He died for me. They were my transgressions, but his wounds. My iniquities, but his chastisement. My sin, his sorrow. And his punishment bought my peace. His stripes won my healing. His grief, my joy. His death, my life. [8]
While justice and mercy are opposed to one another, they are reconciled in Christ. God’s economy of justice is revealed in the reconciliation of justice and mercy through the act of atonement.[9] As Leroy Forlines states, the atonement is a picture of a “proper relationship between God’s holiness and His love.”[10] That is, His acts of mercy do not compromise His justice because of what was done in and through Christ’s work on the cross.[11]
Ministers of Reconciling Justice and Mercy
One of the greatest virtues about which we should be concerned is justice. In all the vocations to which we have been called, we need people who care about justice. Government should be a sphere and medium in which we see justice carried out. Justice and righteousness are foundational characteristics of God’s rule, and they are what should establish and secure the rule of any human government (Ps. 89:14).
As Christians, we have an obligation to proclaim the message of reconciliation that is both vertical and horizontal (2 Cor. 5:11-21). The atoning work of Christ provides peace with both God and neighbor. This ministry of reconciliation is holistic in scope. The Bible shows us that sin’s curse touches the entire creation. Yet the Gospel is equally holistic in restoration. This ministry is uniquely tied to the reconciliation of justice and mercy that is seen through the act of atonement.
Does God care about justice? I believe Scripture reveals undoubtedly that He does. And because we are made in God’s image, we therefore have an innate desire to see justice as well. This desire for justice is consistent with reconciling those around us on a vertical level (peace with God) and on a horizontal level (love for neighbor).[12]
So when you put on the uniform of your job, whether that is a suit and tie or a hardhat and boots, flex your ministry of reconciliation in God’s world and reflect the reconciliation of justice and mercy in a world filled with injustice. May our efforts reflect Micah’s instruction, “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?” (Micah 6:8).
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[1] AP, “Germany: Accused Nazi guard, 93, charged with accessory to murder,” CBSNews, February 16, 2015, accessed February 19, 2015,
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/germany-accused-nazi-guard-93-charged-with-accessory-to-murder/.
[2] Elizabeth Kolbert, “The Last Trial: A great-grandmother, Auschwitz, and the arc of justice,” The New Yorker, February 16, 2015, accessed February 19, 2015, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/16/last-trial.
[3] Exod. 23:2-3, 6; 1 Kgs. 10:9; Ps. 33:5; 72:1; 89:14; Isa. 9:7.
[4] Leroy Forlines, Biblical Ethics: Ethics for Happier Living (Nashville: Randall House Publications, 1973), 30.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Exod. 33:19; Ps. 25:6-7.
[7] Jacques Ellul, The Theological Foundation of Law (New York: The Seabury Press, 1969), 37.
[8] Greg Gilbert, What Is the Gospel? (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 68.
[9] I am indebted to my Christian Ethics professor, Dr. Daniel Heimbach, for this thought. He is Senior Professor of Christian Ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
[10] Forlines, 30.
[11] Ibid, class notes from Dr. Heimbach.
[12] Scripture tells us to love neighbor “as yourself” (Lk. 10:27-28).
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