Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Jesus and the call to Justice: what does Justice look like in a NT world? Justice#4

Jesus and the call to Justice: what does Justice look like in a NT world? Justice#4

Last updated on: March 9, 2021 at 10:50 am by Rob Dalrymple

Jesus and the call to Justice: what does Justice look like in a NT world? Justice#4 2021-03-09T10:50:28-08:00 Rob Dalrymple

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Justice and righteousness

In my last post, I listed verses from Genesis to Zechariah that emphasize the call for the people of God to do righteousness and justice. (if you haven’t read that post it is highly recommended that you do so).
It is important to observe that the call to do righteousness and justice is not simply found in the wisdom of Proverbs. The call reverberates throughout the entirety of the OT.

The call to righteousness and justice begins in Genesis with the call of Abraham. Note that the reason why he was called to do righteousness and justice was:

“so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him” (Gen 18:19).

It is worth mentioning that the very next verse (Gen 18:20) connects that call of Abraham to do righteousness and justice with the cry of the oppressed in Sodom and Gomorrah:

“And the Lord said, ‘The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave’” (Gen 18:20).

The word “outcry” here indicates a cry of pain or help from those who are being oppressed. Consequently, we may affirm that Abraham was called to do righteousness and justice for the sake of the oppressed.

There is little doubt that the book of Exodus parallels the call of Moses with the call of Abraham. In Exod 2:23-25, Moses, like Abraham, was called by God to respond to the “outcry” of God’s people who were oppressed.

The pattern is established in Genesis and Exodus that God’s response to the outcry of the oppressed is to call His people to engage in doing righteousness and justice.[1] God calls Abraham, Moses, and us to be the means through which He brings righteousness and justice.

The call to do righteousness and justice continues into the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Its presence in the book of Deuteronomy is key. The book of Deuteronomy (name means: “the second law”) was central in the life of the people of Israel!

We should not be surprised, then, to find that the call to do righteousness and justice is a central theme in the historical books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. After all, it was in accordance with the Deuteronomic principles of righteousness and justice that the kings of Israel were expected to rule.

This leads us to the prophets who consistently implore the people of God to do justice. (The prophets were known as “covenant enforcers”; or simply stated: they made sure the people of Israel obeyed the law of the book of Deuteronomy).

The prophets warned the people of God of impending judgment if they failed to do righteousness and justice. And they reminded the people that their continued failure to do so would result in being cast out of the land.

And after the people were cast out by the Assyrians and later the Babylonians, other prophets arose to offer them hope of a restoration to the land.

Nonetheless, the people of God continued to come up short when it came to doing righteousness and justice.

Thus, throughout the OT there is a consistent promise that God would bring about a future king who will rule in righteousness and justice.

A Problem with contemporary discussions of Justice

One of the problems with contemporary discussions of justice among Christians is that they tend to ignore this vital OT background. So much of the focus in Christianity, especially evangelical Christianity, is on self that we have neglected the larger calling of the people of God. In doing so, we undermine the very fabric of the NT call upon the people of God.

It is abundantly clear that throughout the OT the people of God were called to do righteousness and justice. This included looking out for those who were disadvantaged: the widow, the orphan, the immigrant, and the poor.

This was, in fact, the distinguishing mark for the people of God.

How does this translate into the NT?

The question becomes how does all this translate into the NT? Why doesn’t Jesus continue the call to do such?

The answer is: He does!

After all, Jesus Himself said:

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill” (Matt 5:17).

As we continue reading through Matthew 5, we observe that Jesus cites several examples of what doing justice looks like: “do not murder”; “do not commit adultery.” Note, however, that in each instance Jesus does not merely affirm the abiding significance of the law, but He actually intensifies its demands for His disciples.

For example, with regard to the ethic of murder (Matt 5:21), Jesus does not simply affirm that murder remains a forbidden act in His kingdom, but, instead, He declares that in His kingdom hatred in one’s heart will be guilty enough to be thrown into hell (Matt 5:22).

In other words, prior to the coming of Christ one may have had hatred in one’s heart, which is where murder begins, but as long as one did not carry out the murder, you would not have been guilty of breaking the law.

Jesus comes along and intensifies the command for His disciples by saying that in His kingdom even hatred in the heart is no longer permitted.[2]

Similarly, with regard to the prohibition against adultery, Jesus does not abolish the law, but He intensifies it. He declares that in His kingdom having lust in the heart (which is where adultery begins) makes one guilty enough to be thrown into hell (Matt 5:28-29).

Jesus’ intensification of the law climaxes with His declaration on love: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:43-44).

Note that Jesus’ discussion of the law climaxes with His command to love!

This is truly radical. Our failure to see the radicalness of this is part of the problem.

Jesus’ declarations must be understood in light of the fact that His kingdom is the fulfillment of God’s covenant promises.

In Jeremiah 31, God promised that when His kingdom comes, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jer 31:33).

The prophet Ezekiel declared that the means through which God does this is by sending His Spirit: “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” (Ezek 36:26-27).

With the coming of Jesus and the sending of the Spirit our heart are circumcised—as Paul would say (cf Rom 2:29)—and are transformed so that, by His grace and through His Spirit, we too are being transformed.

In Christ and through the Spirit, we are called to not only not murder our enemies but to love them!

This is why Jesus emphasizes that obedience to the law transcends the mere appearance of obedience (i.e., not murdering someone), but begins in heart!

We may say then that righteousness and justice were the defining characteristics of the people of God in the OT. In the NT, we would say that love is a defining characteristic of the people of God.[3]

One of the major problems in contemporary debates in Christian circles regarding justice is that we have failed to recognize the necessary correlation between the two.

We affirm well that Jesus did not come to abolish the Law or the prophets (i.e., the OT as a whole). We must then recognize that the proliferation of the call of the people of God to do righteousness and justice is fully realized in Jesus’ call to love!

We may conclude (and I will defend this further in the next post) that Jesus takes the primary characteristics of the people of God—the call to do righteousness and justice—and absorbs them in his command to love.

What does love look like?

Though this may seem like a trite and simple question, I dare say that most Christians seriously underestimate the nature of love and what love really looks like it.

Simply put: love looks like Jesus! Jesus embodied love on the cross!

If the righteous are those who are willing to disadvantage themselves to advantage the community, then Jesus is the ultimate Righteous One.

The Scriptures call us to love! And that love looks like Jesus. It is a call to sacrificial living for the sake of the other!

Not only does the NT continue the call to do justice, but it stresses that we are called to do so in love: that is, in a manner in which we are willing to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of the other!

Who is the “other”? It is everyone.

But before we can tread down that path, we must establish more thoroughly the relationship between Jesus’ call to love and the OT call to do righteousness and justice. This will be the focus of my next post.

[1] See also, Psalm 34:17 and Deuteronomy 22:24, 27.

[2] Note: in the time before Jesus God did not want us to have hatred in our hearts either. The point here is that the Law did not punish one for such. The Law, as with the laws of any civil society, cannot regulate matters of the heart. With the coming of Jesus, however, that changes.

[3] We might make the argument that love was to be the defining characteristic of people of God in the OT and that the NT simply makes this clear.

Previous Post

December 22, 2020

What is justice? Justice#3

Next Post

January 5, 2021 Justice without Love is not Justice: Justice#5

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 000 1 Cor 11:17-34 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Peter 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 10 Commandments 2 Corinthians 2 John 2 Peter 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy 3 John 666 Abortion Acts 2:42 Ahmaud Arbery AIPAC All Saints Day America antisemitism BDS Beast Betting Bible Bible study Biblical Interpretation Biden Book of Acts Boycott Campus Protests Catholicism Ceasefire Chavez Ravine Christian Nationalism Christian Zionism Christianity Today Christmas Church Colossians Communion Convict Leasing Covid-19 Craig Blaising creation Crucifixion Daoud Nassar Deception Deconstruction Democracy Devotional guide Discipleship Easter Eden Education Election End-times Ephesians Eschatology Ethnic Cleansing Evangelicalism Evangelicals Evolution Fall Famine Fascism FIFA Freedom of Speech Galatians Gary Burge Gaza Gaza; Genocide; Boycott Genesis Genocide George Floyd Global Warming God's will Gospel Gospel of John Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Government Grace Great Prostitute Hamas Harris healthcare Hebrews HeGetsUs Holy Spirit Holy Week Honor Father and Mother ICJ Immigration Indigenous peoples day Iran Israel Israel Palestine Itamar Ben Gvir James Jesus Joel Willits Jude Just war Justice Kamala Harris Kingdom Of God Kings and Queens land of Israel Law (OT) Lazarus Les Miserable LGBTQ+ Love Luke Mahmoud Khalil Man of Lawlessness Mark Mark of the Beast Marriage Martin Luther King Jr Mercy Mexican Repatriation Military-Industrial-Complex Ministry Mission Money NAFTA Nakba Netanyahu New Creation New Testament Nicaragua Nicodemus Non Violence Occupation Pacifism Palestine Parable Paul Peace Pentecost Peonage Philemon Philippians Politics Poor Power Prayer Pride Month Priests Pro-life Propaganda Prophesy Prophet Qatar Queen Elizabeth Racism Reconstruction Redemption Reformation Resurrection Revelation Roe v Wade Romans Romans 13:1-7 Rome Russia Sabbath Samaritan Seals Sermon Settlements Slavery Spiritual gifts Taxes Tent of Nations Terrorism The Beast Theology Titus Torture Trump truth Ukraine Uncategorized Veteran's Day War Warsaw Ghetto wealth Wedding Women World Cup 2022 Worldview Worship Wrath Yemen Zionism

Select a Month September 2026 May 2026 February 2026 November 2025 October 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 August 2018 June 2018 May 2018 March 2018 September 2017 July 2017 May 2017 November 2016 October 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did God write the Ten Commandments with?

Select your answer to see how you score.

His finger A sword A chisel A pen

Support this
Column