By Jeremy Bell
The idea of justice resides in the minds of every human being ever. Everyone has some idea of best behavior for themselves or others. They also have an idea of the worst behavior. It is typically developed and matured over time. Justice requires judges to administer a verdict on behavior and punishment or reward dependent on that verdict. This system is a demonstration of authority over life and choice. In a broken world, justice is exercise for power. God’s justice is to help the needy. As God’s people, God’s priests, Christians are expected to execute His justice in their lives according to His standards.
Point of View
Anthropologically, there are many pathways to discover best justice doctrines and sentences. People in power, or with power, use their status to decide what is best. For political powers, they will do what is best to keep them in power. It may be the aggregation of what most people vote for, it may be authoritarian, one source commands, that will keep people in subservience to them, so they won’t lose their power. To this day, there is debate about the ideal justice that is best for society. Justice is a malleable concept with great power for the powerful with promises of better societal life for the obedient. God’s Justice
From a theocentric point of view, justice is not malleable construct. God’s justice is ultimately administered by God, the only true authority. Until then, God has appointed people as judges, imperfect reflections of God’s ways. People learn from God what God’s justice is and how it should be applied. Then, people recognize that God made people with unique characteristics. People were created in the likeness of God, resembling God, mentally, morally, and socially. Humans were once perfect in righteousness and innocence. Like Himself, God gave people reason and choice.
Unfortunately, unrighteous choice caused all to die through the first human, Adam. Because God respects human choice and honors human freedom, this existence is broken. God has allowed people to work against His will. Even so, God is working all things for His glory, and includes the actions of people who act freely. God is righteous, and He expects His people to act righteously. He cannot and will not pass over wrongdoing. God is just, and He expects His people to act justly. Because He is Omniscient, God’s justice is administered fairly. He teaches, and has taught, people how to judge and administer justice. God also judges His judges. Psalm 82 provides an easy-to-read view of what He expects.
[ Psalm 82 ]
A Psalm by Asaph.
God presides in the great assembly.
He judges among the gods.
“How long will you judge unjustly,
and show partiality to the wicked?” Selah.
“Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless.
Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
Rescue the weak and needy.
Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.”
They don’t know, neither do they understand.
They walk back and forth in darkness.
All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
I said, “You are gods,
all of you are sons of the Most High.
Nevertheless you shall die like men,
and fall like one of the rulers.”
Arise, God, judge the earth,
for you inherit all of the nations.
John relays what Jesus said about this Psalm
God’s people are gods, sons of the Most High. They judge under the name of God. They are little ‘g’ god’s because they are ambassadors. The Psalmist shows what God required and what went wrong. Jesus demonstrates perfection of judging and obedience. God’s justice is perfect in Jesus and He still desires His people to follow Jesus’s example, as ambassadors. People justice, for power and out of fear of losing power, will seek to destroy God’s justice of repentance and salvation. Repentance gives power and authority, by choice, to God and removes it out of the hands of people. God’s justice is a direct threat to the self-imposed authority of people.
[ John 10: 23 – 24, 30 – 39 ]
It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. The Jews therefore came around him and said to him, “How long will you hold us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” [30 – 39] “I and the Father are one.” Therefore the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?” The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’ If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken), do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’ If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me. But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
They sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand.
Brokenness
People are broken, living in a broken world. Human justice has been used in a terrible way to strengthen the powerful and keep the needy and helpless subservient to power. People, in their angst against God, have twisted His ways and His teachings. People have twisted God’s definition of relationship into subservience. Following God does not mean the brokenness ends. It starts by recognizing that God is also gracious. His grace includes His goodness, kindness, mercy, and love. His holiness would exclude people from His presence, but He desires to know each of us personally and does by His grace.
God does not desire unquestioning obedience in His judges. God’s justice is in relationship, so it is administered fairly and graciously at the same time. In order for the perfect justice of God to be enforced while saving people at the same time, sins have to be forgiven. Jesus had to experience God’s wrath when the sins of people were placed upon Him. This was not done because of some need of God, God is self-sufficient. This was done because of the desire and graciousness of God. Through the last human, perfectly righteous Jesus, all people may choose life. This life is a gift. By faith in Jesus and the grace of God in the power of the Holy Spirit, the believer is accountable and justified before God the judge. The more intimate the believer is with Jesus, the greater their faith in the Nature of Joy.
Resources and Notes
All scripture in this article is from the WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE (WEB). The World English Bible (WEB) is a Public Domain (no copyright) Modern English translation of the Holy Bible. The World English Bible is based on the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensa Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament.
For more related to this blog, check out my post on Truth Basics for Christian Living with Strategic Options.
This is a reliable translation, but it is always good to read other translations as well. Biblegateway.com has a multitude of translations to read from. It is a great resource.
Another great resource is Biblehub.com. There are multiple translations, commentaries, and so much more. Great research can be done on this platform.
One more I use regularly is Gotquestions.org. This is a great site to answer questions and find threads of related questions.
There are many resources. The key is that God wants relationship directly with you, the individual. His primary source for revealing who He is and growing in intimacy is His word, the scriptures. Don’t just read for instruction. Analyze and read for understanding. Explore, ask questions, and be transformed in Jesus every moment you possibly can. There is no dispute this is a key desire of God. People are brough to the Father, in the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This… This is the Nature of Joy.
Jeremy is an author, musician, and business intelligence manager. His mission is to equip and encourage those in Christ, to equip and encourage others in Christ. Jesus, Christ, is the Nature of Joy and melody of the heart. Jeremy unites business analytics (business intelligence), songs, and Scripture for Christian living in the power of the Holy Spirit.