What does the Bible say about justice and why should I care? - Hannah Evans

From Genesis to Revelation, justice is a major theme, showing just how central justice is to God’s character.

Injustice is everywhere. I see it on the news, plastered over social media and on the streets as I walk through town. Sometimes it hits me in the face and I’m left wondering how our society can function so lopsidedly. Other times I’m so blinded by my own privilege and “busy-ness” I don’t notice it. But regardless of whether it hits me in the face, or I’m blind to it – it exists, and the Bible has a lot to say about it.

A [very] brief overview of what the bible says about justice...

Whilst I was at a Just Love talk in March there was a speaker who showed us a Bible that had all the verses that mentioned justice cut out – there was barely any Bible left at the end! I tried myself (admittedly I used highlighters instead of cutting anything!) but I was still struck by how frequently justice turned up. From Genesis to Revelation, justice is a major theme, showing just how central justice is to God’s character.

In the beginning God made the world and it was good (Genesis 1-2). Everything was in perfect harmony. Adam and Eve lived in fellowship with God, one another, themselves, and the garden. In Genesis 3, however, we see the breakdown of these relationships at the fall. Adam and Eve put themselves as King instead of God. This distorted their view of themselves; their view of one another; their attitude to the garden where they lived and destroyed their relationship with God.

In the Bible, justice is used to describe putting right what has been broken – to restore these severed relationships. The Hebrew word for justice is mishpat and it appears over 200 times in the Old Testament. In his book Generous Justice Tim Keller states that ‘mishpat, [...], is giving people what they are due, whether punishment or protection or care’ (p. 3-4). Justice in the Bible is more than ensuring that someone who has done wrong is held to account. True justice is about coming alongside those who are most vulnerable and those who cannot fight for themselves – it is about ensuring each person has their rights.

Throughout the Old Testament, God demonstrates himself to be a God that cares about people’s rights, and the Old Testament laws are steeped in a heart for justice. Just one example of this is the gleaning rule (Leviticus 19:9-10) that allowed the poor to harvest food left behind by landowners. The landowners had to intentionally limit their profit to benefit those who were worse off than themselves. God was so concerned for the wellbeing of the vulnerable that he created specific laws protecting them. Through these laws we can see God’s character – and it’s clear that he cares about the vulnerable. As well as the laws, God directly instructs the Israelites to live justly, as in Zechariah 7:10-11 – ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: Administer true justice, show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the immigrant or the poor’. And again in Micah 6:8 ‘What does the Lord require of you?/To act justly and to love mercy/and to walk humbly with your God’.

God describes Himself as the defender of widows, orphans, foreigners – in other words He is the defender of the voiceless and vulnerable. Deuteronomy 10:17-18 says – ‘The LORD your God... defends the cause [mishpat] of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the immigrant, giving him food and clothing’. By describing Himself as ‘a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows’ (Psalm 68:4-5), God emphasises that this is one of His primary roles – this is something He cares about! This was shockingly countercultural in the ancient world. At that time, there was a belief that the richer and more powerful you were, the more you were favoured by the gods. But the God of the Bible turns that on its head. Instead, He identifies Himself with those shunned and mistreated by society.

The greatest proof of this overwhelming love is in the New Testament when Jesus, God’s only son, was sent into the world to save us from our sin and give us a relationship with God. Jesus came to put right our broken relationships with God, one-another, the environment, and ourselves. He cared for the shunned and unloved members of society. But he didn’t offer help from a position of comfort. No. He came and lived alongside them. He lived his life in solidarity with those who suffer injustice. He experienced homelessness, hunger, poverty, grief, betrayal, an unjust trial and unimaginable suffering.

This is a God who cares about the vulnerable. A God who cares about the needy and the suffering. This is a God who loves justice.

So why should I care?

As Christians we want to live lives that honour God, that reflect Him and reflect His love.

In the book of Job, Job emphasises just how important God’s command to live justly is. He says that if we don’t help the poor we’re actively not honouring God (Job 31). If we truly want to live our lives in worship to God we will be passionate about restoring broken relationships with God, with others, with the environment and with ourselves. Living our lives in worship to God includes loving those in need. We want to glorify God in all we do and that includes thinking about how we use our time or our possessions – we want to see them as gifts given by God.

But guilt cannot sustain this fight for justice – only love can. In Ephesians, Paul explains that we are saved by grace, through faith in order to do good works. We’re not stirred to action by guilt or anger – instead we are driven by grace. Grace that found us at our lowest and loved us when we absolutely did not deserve it. A true understanding of how much Jesus has done for us will lead us to a life of pursuing justice. Jesus’ unconditional love for us will flow out into every aspect of our lives, as we strive to reflect His love for people in how we live.