Godly Justice

Administering justice is a major theme of the Bible. King David administered justice to all his people (2 Samuel 8:15).  Indeed, God expects His people to administer justice: “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?” (1 Corinthians 6.2-3).

So that is the question: Do you and I practice justice in our lives? Are we administering justice in those areas that are under our realm of influence? What is the worldview of Justice?

It seems that in the business world, whatever is legal is just. If you understand the laws, you work that system to your best advantage within the law, then you are just.  You look for inefficiencies in the rules and procedures that are proscribed and look to exploit loopholes. If you are a fiduciary to some company, you may be required to look for loopholes in finding the best outcome for the interest that you represent, according to the law.

However, laws tend to proliferate. Law also becomes very politicized, so we can change the law and change what is just to accomplish desirable outcomes.  We create a tax rebate or investment opportunities based on the law. So, we change market forces. 

Ultimately, whatever man’s laws are, they are exploited by those who have the resources to exploit them.  That may be people who are very clever or may be people who have the wealth to spend to hire experts to exploit them. But in exploiting that law, they do it all under the cover of justice. They are just; they are behaving according to the law. So, in that way, man’s law has a form of godliness.  It’s trying to accomplish good ends, but it lacks power, and it’s certainly a clumsy tool.

This is exactly as God said it would be when ancient Israel demanded a human king (1 Samuel 8:9-10). It says, you asked for a king.  The consequences will be that your men will be forced to war. You’ll be forced to labor.  You’ll be taxed; you’ll be charged fees.  The fruit of your labor will be taken by the ruling class. Your land rights will be infringed, and you’ll be oppressed by your own government.  That was the outcome for ancient Israel, and that is the outcome today, is it not?

When looking at God’s definition of justice we will find who is the greatest “social-justice warrior” of all. That would be God. Let’s consider the Day of Atonement through this lens of justice. The Day of Atonement is about doing justice. God’s justice. Justice is not about punishing rule breakers. Justice is an outcome. It is a result or a product. Doing justice is cultivating the well-being of God’s creation. 

The ethical imperative of justice is in fact mercy. It’s the driving force, the energy behind Godly justice. The word justice is frequently translated from the Hebrew word mishpat.  That word includes the definition of an act of deciding a case or passing sentence or a decision in the more traditional version we would understand of jurisprudence. It also includes the concept of a manner, a cause, and fitness. Mishpat is a bigger word than simply the technical administration of a decision. Mishpat is a state or a manner of being.

If we think about the opposite of justice in the Bible, the phrases that jump out as contrasted to justice are things like “dealing treacherously” as opposed to justice.  To “lie in wait for blood” as opposed to justice. However, in Isaiah 5:7 it says: “He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.” Isaiah contrasts justice and righteousness with oppression and distress. The opposite of justice is not a technical violation of a law but a condition of oppression. A distressed condition.

Justice is also constantly associated in the Bible where mercy is typically contrasted with cruelty. God hates the facade of “righteousness” of the cruel and unmerciful.  He’s vehement in His condemnation of people who are righteous on the surface but cruel in practice.

Speaking in Amos 5:21-24 to those who tread down the poor, take grain taxes from the needy, divert them from justice and take bribes, God says this: “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

That’s God’s understanding of righteousness, of justice. The problem with man’s law is that it does not involve a change of heart. It’s merely a way of legislating action, putting rules around behavior.  Justice in God’s world encompasses both the motivation for action, and the outcome that it produces. So where is the action coming from and what is the outcome it produces is included in God’s understanding of justice. Both the fuel and the product. The mechanical action itself may not be that important.

With the Law, God teaches us what actions produce. The Law is critically important as God gives it to us. He defines in His Law actions that produce good and actions that produce bad. He gives us His Law in a wonderful way, which can be frustrating to those who want clear and succinct boundaries within which to operate. He gives us His Law in a case-study format. Principles are given to us, and we are required to extrapolate and apply those same principles.  In so doing, we develop character, and we develop wisdom.

Micah 6:8 “…what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy…” God’s Law is rich with merciful provisions. Protection for the weak, justice for the poor, requirements for impartiality, generosity at harvest time, respect for persons and property, even the property of your enemy, care for strangers, prompt payment of wages, sensitivity with regard to articles that may have been pledged against borrowing, consideration for the newly married or for bereaved families, and even care for animal and plant life. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.’” (Zechariah 7:9-10).  

We can all apply this in our own physical lives’ day to day.  Perhaps on the spiritual level, we have failed in our administration of justice.  We want to uphold the law yet, we have at times made justice about prosecuting violators, shunning them if not prosecuting them. Condemnation and shunning are not justice in the way that God is teaching us. We’ve often created doctrinal litmus tests to make sure that we’re right. We prosecute justice against the wicked. All of that is to distract us from the individual work we need to be doing to change our hearts and our purpose.

Isaiah 58 speaks of the kind of person who appears just and righteous but who forsake God’s way: “Yet, they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’  In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exploit all your laborers. Indeed you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness, . . .Would you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?” (Isaiah 58:2-5).

God defines the fast that He will notice: “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday” (Isaiah 58:6-19).

Atonement is the condition of justice. This day is the time when the jubilee is announced. The jubilee is very much about justice, God’s version of justice. A merciful, redemptive, rebuilding of social equality and opportunity for everybody. It is a justice that produces redemption of the lost, healing of the injured, strengthening of the weak, and hope for the hopeless. That is what Christ will do when He is King.  

That’s God’s justice.  Justice is not about punishing rule breakers. It is a product, a manner, a state of being that results from this motivating force behind God’s justice, and that is mercy.

Staff