Biblical Justice
Introduction
(All Bible quotations are from The New International Translation)
A Generally Accepted Definition of Justice
Justice is the principle of fairness, where individuals receive what is due to them based on their actions, rights, and responsibilities. It involves impartiality and the administration of law to ensure fairness in the protection of rights and the punishment of wrongs.
A Definition of Biblical Justice
Biblical Justice refers to the righteous and equitable treatment of all people, grounded in God’s character and His laws. It emphasizes restoring relationships, caring for the vulnerable, and ensuring that justice serves both the individual and the community. Biblical justice is restorative, seeking reconciliation and redemption, rather than solely punitive.
Justice in the Old Testament
Genesis
We find examples of God’s justice in the very first book, Genisis. Adam and Eve disobey God’s command not to ear of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God punishes them with exile from the garden. However, he makes them clothes before he sends them out.
Genesis 3:21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
After Cain murdered his brother Able God did not execute him. His punishment is first of all he is restricted from his profession farming. Secondly he is destined to be a homeless wanderer. Yet, he gives him a mark of protection on his forhead.
Genesis 4: 10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so[e]; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.
Joseph and the purposes of God.
This story tells us how Joseph forgives his brothers for selling him into slavery. He is compelled. by his love of family and by his awareness of God’s plan in history.
Genesis 45:3-8 3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.[a]
8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.
Exodus
The striking thing about this story is God’s value of freedom and active deliverance of the enslaved people in Egypt. Some historians suggest that the Hebrew people who came out of Egypt in this Exudus were more that the family of the descendants of Jacob. They may have been a rag tag multitude of other slaves. Os Guiness has written an interesting book ( The Magna Carta of Humanity) tracing the continuing influence of the Exodus story.
Exodus 3:7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
The Ten Commandments
Perhaps the most enduring proclamation of Biblical Justice is the 10 Commanments. They lay out the right relationships we ought to have between us and God as well as between people.
Exodus 20:2-17
And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Deuteronomy
A further exposition of God’s justice is found in chapter 10 of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 19:17-21 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. 19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. 20 Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. 21 He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.
The Prophets and Social Justice
Here are specific justice-related Bible quotations from Isaiah, Amos, and Micah.
Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”*
Isaiah 61:8
For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing. In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them.
Amos 5:24
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
Amos 5:15
Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
These verses emphasize God’s call for justice, care for the vulnerable, and righteous living.
Justice in the New Testament
Jesus and Justice
We find Jesus’ mission is to bring justice, proclaiming liberty to the oppressed.
Luke 4:18-19 18
“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,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
The Sermon on the Mount contains themes of mercy, forgiveness, and righteous judgment. Jesus proclaims that he is the fulfillment of the Law. He calls his followers to a higher application of the law.
Matthew 5:17-20 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Parables of Justice
In these memorable stories Jesus makes clear what a higher application of the law means.
Good Samaritan
Luke 10:25-37 25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Sheep and Goats
In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus explains how mercy towards the poor, the six and the imprisoned displays the justice he desires.
Matthew 25:34-36 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
Paul’s Teachings on Justice
Paul emphasizes love, equity, and fairness
Romans 12:19-21
19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[a] says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[b]
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Characteristics of Biblical Justice
Biblical Justice is more restorative than retribution. It’s emphasis is upon recomciliation. It flows from the character of God. He is righteous, Holy and compassionate. He is fair and equitable. His justice extends to all people, regardless of social status, ethnicity, or background.
Practical Application
Justice in the Church
The church ought to be involved in aiding the poor and marginalized. It should be a voice for the voiceless and promote reconciliation. The civil rights movement under King is an excellent of example of non violent political advocacy can bring about change and reconciliation.
Personal Responsibility
Each Christian ought to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly (Micah 6:8). This is true at all levels of society.
Conclusion
A Biblical vision of justice is both top down and bottom up. God is our ultimate judge. It is He who sets the standards. It is He who is the true measure and ultimate judge. His emphasis is upon reconciliation yet strict on those who ignore or thwart his commands.
It is bottom up in that each of us is responsible for our own behavior and to speak up in the face of corruption and strive to be embassadores of the God News of reconciliation in Jesus.
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