The Administration of Justice 

Mohammed Bouazizi is an example of the destructive consequences of injustice. He was a street vendor in Tunisia in the early 2000s. It was a dusty and poor place, and he sold fruits and vegetables from a wooden cart. It was all he could do to sustain his family. The political system in Tunisia was very corrupt and the police used their position of power to extract tolls and bribes that were not legal. But they had the power to do it. He endured this practice over many years. But, eventually he snapped. 

On December 17th of 2010, the police officers once again harassed and humiliated him. They slapped and spat on him. They confiscated his cart and his scales. The governor’s office ignore his plea for help. So, he doused himself in gasoline, lit himself on fire, and burned himself alive.  His action was a catalyst to protest. The nation steeled themselves around this point of focus, and it turned into a revolution. But what about the consequence of that revolution?

That movement became something that was known as the Arab Spring. It sparked massive protests, revolt, and revolution across the Middle East. In Syria, 500,000 died and millions were displaced. In Libya, there was a catastrophic war. 230 thousand were killed in Yemen, and it became the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Injustice had tremendous impact on entire societies.

We can point to examples here at home: What about the 1% protests against economic inequality, the Tea Party movement against government overreach. Black Lives Matter protests against racial injustice. And recent anti-immigration riots in the UK and France.  All of those movements share in common, a deep sense of injustice.

What is of consequence is how important justice is. Injustice fuels division, anger, and instability across the globe. It riles people up and we often respond violently. The world is tearing itself apart as a consequence of injustice.

So, there’s a lot of philosophies and theories about what justice is. The most simple form is something called Procedural Justice. And that’s merely the methodical application of the law. It sets the law equal to justice. One critic observed: A rule gets applied to the facts. The result is justice. It may be morally wrong, but the focus is on doing what’s legal rather than on what’s right. The rule overrides all other considerations and concerns.  More and more, that’s the form of justice that we see in the world. If the law says it’s legal, I can do it and that’s just.

A more modern concept that is popularized, in a more idealistic sense, is Utilitarian Justice. This idea was popularized by philosophers like John Stuart Mill, and it defines justice as: Whatever is in the best interest of the most people. So, you do whatever is of maximum utility. We get the best version of the outcome for the most amount of people. The problem with doing what benefits the majority, is sometimes that sacrifices the rights of the few. So again, that’s not particularly idealistic. It’s not really justice, because it doesn’t protect necessarily the weak. 

The most modern version of this, is a book written by John Rawls. His concept is, Justice as Fairness. And his approach was that we should create all of the rules of society by imagining that we all exist behind a veil. We have no idea where we fit in society, what power we have, what role we take, and from that position of blindness, we then define the rules. That is a very utopian concept that evolves into a strong recommendation of the redistribution of wealth. And it’s impossible to implement. And once one gets into the distribution of wealth, it becomes economically quite destructive. 

All of these arguments and philosophies are based on the assumption and fundamental driver of self-interest. So really the best we can do in administering justice is find a way to balance competing self-interest, to put them into this equality where no one person gets more power than another so that everybody can have their fair share.

Let’s contrast that with God’s definition of justice, because it’s a very different model. The Bible isn’t really about getting what you deserve. Biblical justice is about giving what is right. It flows from love, not from self-interest, and it is fundamentally self-sacrificial. There are several different attributes that we can observe about God’s version of justice. 

God’s true justice is rooted in love. Love is central to His character and it motivates everything He does for humanity. He has an intense desire for our good, for our well-being, for our success, because we are His children. That’s what God’s justice is about (Micah 6:8; Psalm 33:5 NIV). This is a description of God’s fundamental justice. It’s not just about fairness, it’s about concern for others, even when it costs the administrator something.

God’s justice is relational. It’s about relationships. It’s not really about rules and outcomes. Christ summarized the law of God by saying, “Love God and love your neighbor.” So, if that summarizes the law, then justice is about our relationships with our fellow humans and with God. He instructed His followers that if they were going to the temple to make a sacrifice and they remembered that they had a difference with a brother or a sister, that they were to leave their offering, go back and fix that relationship (Matthew 5: 23-24). The sacrifice was not acceptable to God unless you had repaired that relationship.

Paul describes what it means to live in compliance with the law: “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18). That was a key element of his description of obedience to that law. So justice is not a persnickety regulation. Justice is not legal compliance. It includes reconciliation. It’s not just about punishment in the legal sense. It is about deep relational reconciliation of people, creation, and society. 

Biblical justice, God’s justice, is restorative. Scripture is an ode to Godly justice, and it affirms that our Messiah will deliver the justice. And He’s going to bring: “…good news to the poor” and “…bind up the brokenhearted”,  and “…proclaim freedom for the captives” (Isaiah 61.1 ESV). His justice restores what’s broken. In Isaiah 61, we read about rebuilding, we see that there will be abundance in place of shame, “For I, the LORD, love justice;…” (Isaiah 61:4,7,8).

Justice is not just about punishment, it’s about rejuvenation. About restoring relationships. It’s about healing, enabling, and improving what we are responsible for, motivated by a desire for the best for whomever we are governing: “The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed” (Psalm 103:6). God will also focus on restoring to health those who lack it, and on healing our wounds; both are restorative elements (Jeremiah 30:17).

God’s justice is also constant. So, when we begin talking about the more, softer qualitative elements of God’s justice, let’s not make the mistake that being “relational” means that God’s justice is relative. God’s justice is the same always. It is unchanging. His justice is firm and purposeful (Hebrews 13:8; Malachi 3:6). 

Now to those who read the Bible, learning about God’s instructions and justice can seem harsh. Certainly, people have a hard time with the Old Testament, and the Old Testament God, because He’s unswerving in His justice. And the way He does it is uncorrelated to our sense of time.

So, when God commands entire peoples to be wiped out, we see blessings and cursing that are visited upon generations, or even immediate death for somebody who reaches out to steady the ark of the covenant. That doesn’t seem easy to us to understand, but it is about God’s purpose. His firmness is reliable, it is trustworthy, and it has an end game (Hebrews 12:5).  God is disciplining us. He’s disciplining humanity, and He works on a scale we can’t comprehend. He has purpose and His justice is firm.

God’s justice is also practical. It gets right down into the weeds. It’s not theoretical. He is concerned about food, shelter, safety, economic well-being, social standing. The Bible is rich with examples of God caring about the day-to-day of living. In Isaiah 58, we see a condemnation of God’s people for their pharisaical behavior. And in that behavior, ceremony has become more important than “just” behavior. They’re using their ceremony to cover unjust behavior, and God says:

“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?” (Isaiah 58:6-7).

How we behave towards people matters. It’s not esoteric. In Deuteronomy 15:7, we are urged to be open handed with our generosity towards those in need. And in James 1:27 we’re told that true religion takes care of those who are in distress. This justice is not a passive justice. We are called to act: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22 NIV; Matthew 25:35-36 NIV).

But, let’s make that a little pointier. Let’s get down to some brass tacks and talk about marriage. This concept applies to your family. It applies to parents and children. It applies to our relationships across the church. Read about what God says about His government on Earth in its gestational form, which is the family:

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh,’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.  Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife…” (Ephesians 5:25-33).

This is a description of justice. This is a man’s rendering unto a woman what is her just due under the law of God. And it is very expansive. It describes our role in a marriage and expands that out to the relationship between Christ and the church. The role of this husband that’s being described is motivated by a desire to restore and to elevate his wife. He’s constant and he’s dependable. He is firm. He’s practical in his provision, and he is above all else, self-sacrificial because this is not a one-way street.

“Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror” (1 Peter 3:1–6).

So, this is very difficult in the modern world to apply, to understand. We are presented with a very different model. The word “submit” is difficult for all of us, but it again is a description of justice. Wives can make or break their husbands. You can give yourself to them in a self-sacrificing way. And they may or may not fully respond to that gift you’re giving them, but that is their just due under the law of God. You can live for their benefit and elevate your husband, or you can demand what is fair. You can take what you deserve. And you can destroy that man. However, “… it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,” (1 Peter 3:17-18).

So if we look around the world, humanity is consumed by a desire for justice. And all of this friction that we see in the global political stage is really driven by each person’s desire for justice in their life, and it sets the world on the precipice of disaster while we all demand our rights and our desire for retribution. The very best man can do is attempt to create an artful balance that tries to prevent anybody from getting more power than the other person over them. Balancing self-interest. It is a temporary equilibrium at best. It is always broken, sometimes quite violently. 

When it comes down to it, it’s our relationships with each other that is most difficult, and most profound. We have a model of what justice is in Jesus Christ. He was an Eternal, all powerful God being. And He chose to relinquish that to become a lump of dirt like us. And that is often overlooked in the sacrifice that He made because we focus on His death. The idea of being God, and choosing to give that up is even more remarkable. 

He was beaten and scourged by evil, unscrupulous enemies. They had no right to do that. It was unjust. He was then nailed to a stake and hung in abject degradation, and He died there, an eternal being who willingly ceased to exist. By that action, God the Father and Christ affected true justice. It was relational. It was restorative. It was purposeful. It was practical. And it made a path for every human being to be justified, to be brought into alignment and set equal before God. To be reconciled to Elohim, the God family. 

So, we have to learn now how to administer that kind of justice in our decisions, in our relationships, to be self-sacrificial. To sacrifice ourselves, as Christ did in order to give justice to those that we may govern.

Staff