Christ or Culture

The topic of justice is front and center on the cultural debate stage as we move closer to a unique and heated Presidential election. Yet, justice issues aren’t new to the public stage, they’ve been debated and critiqued for thousands of years. Today in America we have an incredibly complex judicial system with countless pages of legislation that attempt to establish a society that promotes justice. These laws define what our society views as right and wrong. 

Essentially, these laws describe how justice is to be understood in our society. Justice is done when the laws are followed or when appropriate punishment is rendered when the law is broken. Justice can be defined as simply the adherence to a standard or law. As far as the American government is concerned, the laws of the land and fundamentally the Constitution are the final standard. 

As Christians, we submit to that Standard from 1787 because we are subject to an eternal standard. We obey rulers on earth because Christ reigns from heaven. Congress has some authority in America, but Christ has all authority on heaven and earth. 

Christians must come to understand that attempting to redeem society while ignoring the Lordship of Christ is essentially just rearranging furniture on the Titanic.  

Modern secular thought leaders rejected Christ’s Lordship and His standards in favor of those that are more tolerable for modern minds. It seems like it would be obvious that arbitrary standards cannot provide a durable, lasting foundation for a stable society, yet it apparently is not. Arbitrary standards are bound to fail simply because they are arbitrary. Just like the discarding of God’s Law to make room for more updated and relevant principles, the new standards will one day also be replaced. In a society where the justice system is arbitrarily chosen it is easy to see why a new generation thinks it is right to tear down the old system and replace it. 

Attempting to implement a new, modern concept of justice onto American society is like rebuilding a collapsing house with rotten wood. The house fell because the foundation of God’s unchanging standard was removed. For a time, the surface may appear stable and solid, even while there is a crumbling structure beneath. Attempting to repair an unsupported structure cannot last, building on shifting sand always results in collapse (Matt. 7:24-27).

Engineered in Eternity

God placed the foundations of the earth and appointed the boundaries of the seas. 

He likewise established standards of justice and placed boundaries on human action. He has standards that He intends His creatures to follow. His eternal law reaches across all boundaries of time and space because it reflects His unchanging character. God’s law doesn’t change because He doesn’t change. His law demands punishment for sin because He hates sin. 

His law forbids lying because He is the truth. He demands evil to be punished because He is just. As Christians, we should be passionately committed to knowing our Maker. One way that we come to know more about Him is by knowing and understanding His law. The eternal Law He established reflects His character and proclaims to His creation who He is. Throughout His law, we see a God that is passionately committed to justice. Our society has been consumed with the concept of justice in recent months and, as usual, cultural issues have spilled over into the Church. Debates over what justice is, what it looks like, and how we should pursue it, have polarized the nation. In this series of articles, I will attempt to clarify the relevant issues as well as correct some common errors. First, by giving a brief overview of the current situation and then by describing the biblical concept of justice and how it relates to the recent social justice movement. In the next post I will describe the current social justice movement in the culture at large, and its spillover into evangelicalism. Finally, I will point out some reasons why biblical justice is incompatible with the modern social justice movement and outline a path toward true unity for Christians.

The Situation

           Recently, racial tensions have become extremely heated and volatile in America. Highly publicized confrontations between police officers and Black Americans have created an environment that seems to be teetering on the edge of chaos. Unfortunately, Christians have not been immune to the tension, nor to the resulting division. Even prior to the most recent events, racial issues were in the forefront of political and cultural discussion. Secular movements aimed at widespread societal change have dominated the public square. Unsurprising, but still disappointing, this ideology has been adopted by large segments of American Christianity. This trend is by no means limited to the Churches that are normally blown to and fro by the cultural winds. It has crept into sections of Evangelicalism that are normally standing strong for Biblical truth. The debate has been so heated and prominent that it has managed to move from a pet topic of the fringe element of progressive evangelicalism to a common topic at Southern Baptist potlucks. Prominent Evangelical pastors and leaders have spent considerable time over the past several months debating the compatibility of social justice with biblical justice. Christians that are normally locking arms to defend biblical truths have found themselves on opposite sides of this battle.  

Play-doh Dictionary

Modern secular thought often places significant emphasis on the moral requirement of diversity. Progressive leaders claim the inclusion of those with various sexual preferences, moral persuasions, ethnic backgrounds, religious beliefs, etc. are a requirement for any institution to be morally acceptable. Ignoring the fact that they don’t, and can’t, live up to their own standard, I’m want to focus on the principle of diversity and inclusion. It’s easy to miss what is actually being promoted because the view is obscured by nice-sounding verbiage. Diversity and inclusion sound like a good way to bring about unity. What is not said, but is true nonetheless, is that diversity without bounds is the abandonment of truth. Again, we see large portions of the evangelical Church soaking up this godless teaching in an attempt to maintain their seat at the "cool" table. I wholeheartedly believe unity and inclusion is an admirable goal, but only if the unity is true biblical unity. An important concept that I will repeatedly hit on is the definition of terms. Very often progressive thought leaders, including Christians, treat the dictionary like Play-doh. They utilize established words and concepts but import or mold the definitions as they see fit. 

Progressives have done this repeatedly in church history. In an attempt to avoid the admission that they have strayed from historic Christian beliefs they twist and shape terms. Sometimes this is unintentional, but often it is not. In this way, unbiblical ideas have snuck in and corrupted many in the church. 

This has been done with terms like justice, racism, and unity. Unity in the Christian sense requires adherence to truth. Unity based on unbiblical concepts, no matter how wrapped in biblical terminology they may be, is not the unity Christ desires for His Church. 

In this respect, division is far preferable to compromise. A unity that can only be obtained by accepting false principles is the enemy of Christ. Martin Luther summed it up perfectly when he said, “Peace if possible, truth at all costs.” In service to this, I will now attempt to define and describe biblical justice.

Blind Justice and Equal Weights

         Christians on both sides agree that we are called to live in a just way. This is so clearly taught in Scripture that it is beyond dispute. God’s people must “do justice” (Micah 6:8) and live in an “upright and godly” way (Titus 2:12). In short, God wants His people to live justly, promote and seek justice, and have no part of injustice. Scripture speaks widely and deeply about justice, a point that should make clear the fact that God takes this issue seriously. Examining a few passages that are central to our focus on the social justice movement will help give us a sense of the whole. Simply put, when the Bible uses the term justice it is speaking of adherence to God’s law. This is seen when God’s people appeal to God’s law to decide what is the appropriate response to an unlawful act. Punishment type and severity are part of God’s standards of justice. This is seen in Exodus 21:22-25 where the focal point is the standard that is used to determine punishment. It says, “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” In this text we see the example of a pregnant woman mistakenly injured by others. If the child is not harmed, then only a fine is required. Yet if the child is injured then the same injury is to be done to the offender, up to and including execution. Here we see that the punishment must not be arbitrary, rather it responds in proportion to the unlawful act. It is worth pointing out here that punishment is required by God’s law. Failure to render punishment to the guilty is an act of injustice. When God’s law is broken, guilt is incurred, and judgment is owed.

Exodus 21 illustrates for us how the principle of proportionality is to be used in determining punishment. Proportionality here means that the severity of the offense determines the severity of punishment. Later in Exodus 21 in verses 35 and 36 we see a different but related aspect of justice. This verse says, “When one man's ox butts another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price, and the dead beast also they shall share. Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his.” In this text, a man’s property is unfairly lost to him. This is essentially a violation of the seventh commandment which forbids theft. Remember, justice requires adherence to God’s law. We see that the focus of the text is not so much on the theft but rather on the victim. The loss of his property by someone else’s negligence entitles him to repayment. Here God establishes the principle of restitution. Restitution here means that when an innocent person is subjected to some harm or loss due to the actions of another, they are owed compensation. The compensation serves to eliminate the harm they suffered as much as is possible. I would like to point out here that the payment is owed by the offender personally. The person at fault must suffer the consequence and bear the burden of restoring what was lost. A final passage that is relevant for our discussion is Leviticus 19:15. It says “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.” Here God instructs His people to apply His law is to be the equal and consistent, regardless of who is involved. God desires all involved to be treated fairly and no partiality to exist in matters of justice. This principle of impartiality has a long history in western society.  

Traditionally, justice has been said to be “blind” and is reflected in images of Lady Justice holding scales with a blindfold on. The blindfold and scales represent her impartiality and commitment to truth, regardless of the identity of those involved. This passage in Leviticus is teaching this principle. God wants His law administered to all people fairly, regardless of their status or power. 

Interestingly, the text specifically forbids manipulating the law in a way that gives preference to the poor. 

It is surprising that God anticipated favoritism being shown to the less powerful not the wealthy. Justice must be applied equally, or it is not justice at all. This same concept is taught in Proverbs 20:10 where it says unequal standards are an abomination to the Lord. Justice is only biblical justice if it views all people as equals. All mankind is truly equal because we are all made in God’s image. 

When those in authority make a judgment, they must do so with fairness. By showing no partiality based on race, wealth, social status, cultural position, or any other factor, they honor God by honoring His image-bearers. These few examples are far from exhaustive, but they give us some foundations of biblical justice that we can use to examine the social justice movement. Now we move from the law to the gospel. God’s law gave us principles to build on and live by. The Gospel will frame our understanding of justice as we seek to live out Christ’s work of joining us together as members of His body.

O Foolish Social Justice Warrior

A central concept in the current debate is the distinction between Law and Gospel. It is common to hear Evangelical social justice advocates label this issue a “Gospel issue.” In doing so they have abandoned the biblical distinction made between Law and Gospel. 

Perhaps the place Scripture addresses this most thoroughly is in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Paul writes this letter at least in part to rebuke the believers in Galatia for listening to, and in some sense following, these false teachers promoting a false gospel. Paul says in the first chapter; “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel --- not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” Paul is clearly frustrated at their willingness to tolerate this false gospel. His reaction is so severe because they should know better. What is the false gospel being taught in Galatia? It is not an entirely different message of salvation, one where working hard and doing your best can earn one’s way into heaven. No, it is a seemingly slight addition to the true Gospel. Paul rebukes the false teachers not for offering an entirely different method of salvation, but for thinking they could add a little bit of works to the Gospel. These false teachers were a group of Jews that had come to Galatia and attempted to convince the Christians there that faith in Christ was not enough. 

They didn’t deny that faith was required, they just wanted to add in circumcision as well. They attempted to add one work of their own to Christ's work on the Cross. 

The result of this addition is that salvation would not be by faith alone, but by faith plus works. Paul is adamant that any addition to the Gospel is a corruption of the Gospel. He finishes his rebuke of the Church in chapter five by saying “if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.” (5:2) Scripture presents a hard distinction between the Law and the Gospel. Any additions made to the Gospel in an attempt to expand it, actually destroys it. 

This is exactly what social justice advocates in the Church are doing when they attempt to add one of the various works tied to social justice. These works are often things such as giving to the poor, advocating for equality in education opportunities, equal access to healthcare, and monetary redistribution. 

The point isn’t whether the work itself is good or bad. Rather it is that any attempt to make any work, even a good one, part of the Gospel is actually a false gospel, and therefore one that cannot save.

After Darkness, Light

           We covered a lot of ground in this first article and if you are new to the concept of social justice, I suspect it still seems about as clear as mud. This topic is not a simple one, so some background is required. It is common for many facing this issue the first time to struggle to get a grasp of it. I believe this is because social justice has as many forms as it has advocated. Lack of clarity is also the result of the method of debate adopted by many in the social justice movement. Ambiguity and misunderstanding are the inevitable result of the twisting and contorting of terms that are common among social justice advocates. 

This article and the next are really addressing one topic and should be taken together. In this post, I have attempted to lay a foundational understanding of justice as well as describe some major features of biblical justice. In the next article, I will more fully describe the social justice movement and examine it biblically by comparing it with the principles we established above. Stay tuned.