I often hear Christians these days disparaging the notion of “social justice.” And I wonder if they know what they are criticizing.
Sure, I recognize that historically the “social justice” movement was largely connected with biblical liberalism, which in many ways sought to seriously undermine elements of the biblical story.
But what is not seemingly understood by conservatives who lambast social justice today is that many evangelicals and other conservatives have seen the good (and even biblical) elements of social justice and have rightly adopted them into their understanding of Scripture and the mission of the Church. And they have done so without adopting the biblical liberalism that was a part and parcel of the early social justice movement.
In other words, many conservatives today are both advocating for social justice and a high view of Scripture.
It seems to me that those conservatives who continue to rail against social justice are simply criticizing social justice itself. And I cringe when I hear this because I fear that they are in effect condemning the teachings of Jesus Himself.
Over the next few posts, I intend to address Jesus: both who He is and what He has done. But first, I would like to very briefly set the context for understanding Jesus by looking at the OT and the establishment of Israel as a nation.
Abraham, Israel, and the people of God’s call to “do justice”
Simply put, the nation of Israel was established by God to be a society of people that ruled in His stead just as Adam and Eve were called to do.
This is evident in the words to Abraham:
“For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice” (Gen 18:19).
The call to be a society predicated on justice is inherent to the formation of the people of Israel. This is also seen in the call of Israel and the giving of the 10 Commandments.
In many ways, Exod 19:5-6 functions as an introductory charter for the establishment of the nation of Israel:
“Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel
Note, that the call for Israel was to be kings/queens and priests for the Lord: This is precisely what Adam and Eve were to be!
This opening affirmation of the role of the people of God is then followed by the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20).
What is critical for our understanding of the 10 Commandments is that they were given to protect the poor, the oppressed, and the powerless.
Think about it: who needs laws saying, “do not commit adultery”; “do not murder”; “do not steal”; “do not lie”; and “do not covet”?
The king certainly doesn’t! If anyone even conceived of committing such crimes against the king, they would be hanged!
Is not the greatest example of coveting, adultery, and murder in the Bible found in the actions of King David? (2 Samuel 11-12). He raped a woman, got her pregnant, and called the husband home to cover it up—which didn’t work because the husband (Uriah the Hittite—note Hittite) was more faithful to the laws of ritual purity which forbade sexual relations while fighting in a holy war than David himself—and then had Uriah sent to the front lines to die. And he didn’t spend a second in prison! No one even dared to charge him with a crime, let alone accuse him.
Or what about the stealing of Naboth’s vineyard and the subsequent murder of Naboth by King Ahab and queen Jezebel? (1 Kings 21). The king got the land that he wanted (Naboth’s vineyard) and Naboth got killed!
Kings and those in power do not need laws against murdering and stealing because if someone does it to them they will have them arrested and killed!
It is the poor and powerless who need laws to protect them from those in power.
(of course, there is often that one minor problem in implementing the laws: namely, that those in power usually control the judiciary!)
NB: this is a vital part of the context in which Paul addresses the Corinthians and exhorts them not to take matters of the church to court (1 Cor 6:1-8). The courts were rigged so that the rich and powerful won virtually every time. Paul’s advice is such that you won’t find justice in the courts, but we should in the church!)
I could go on and cite the laws of gleaning and how they were designed to provide for the unfortunate (Lev 19:9-10).
Or how the Levirate laws of marriage—in which one brother had to marry his brother’s widow in order to provide a male heir for his deceased brothers—were intended to preserve a family’s lineage and ensure that the land remained within a family in order that one family, clan or tribe did not acquire more land than others, thereby making them more powerful (See Deut 25:5-10).
Or how the law of Jubilee ensured that land was returned to each family every 50 years so that one family, tribe, or clan did not become more powerful than others (Lev 25:1-22).
That the nation of Israel was established by God to be what Adam and Eve were created to do, namely, be a people that ruled for God with justice, is evident in the famed Micah 6:8 passage (which if you grew up in the church in my day, was sung):
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God
Why then do we resist social justice?
My point is that advocating for social justice accords with the biblical mandate. Consequently, when I hear evangelicals disparage social justice today, I immediately wonder if they know what they are speaking against. In fact, to be honest, I wonder if they realize that what they are criticizing sounds more like Jesus than they do.
I recognize that this last point may be a bit harsh, but I think we need to take a hard look here (in other words, I am not taking it back because I think it is true).
Jesus criticized the religious leaders of His day for their failure to do justice! They were more concerned with external obedience to the law than they were with doing justice—the very thing the law was designed to do).
I could chronicle story after story in the Gospels in which this is the context in which they must be read (and maybe I should in future posts).
Here are just a few examples:
- The story of the widow’s mite (Mark 12:41-44) is not an account of Jesus’ praising of a woman for her faithful giving (though He is certainly not condemning her). Jesus is quite upset (can I say “ticked” in a blog post?) because the religious leaders were making a woman tithe who didn’t have enough money for a loaf of bread. That is why in the verses immediately prior to this account Mark quotes Jesus as saying, “Beware of the scribes . . . who devour widows’ houses” (Mark 12:38-40).
- Or how Jesus justifies the disciples eating heads of grain on the sabbath—which was a violation of the Pharisees’ interpretation of the Sabbath law on working—because they were hungry (Mark 2:23-38). The Sabbath was not meant to make people starve for a day because they were not “allowed” to work.
- Or how the “rich young ruler” (Mark 10:17-22; note: Matt says he was ‘young’ Luke says he was a ruler; all three Gospels agree he was rich) is not a simple story of a person who was wealthy and refused to give his possessions away, but about a man who became rich at the expense of others and refused to return what he had taken (especially land) from the very one’s he had taken it from! (see determinetruth podcast Apr 5, 2022, for more details).
And I could easily go one for a LONG time. Virtually every story in the Gospels is about Jesus bringing in the great restoration which was predicated on justice. (here is part 1 of 5 podcasts we did on the Kingdom of God and Justice; and here is the link for part 1 of a series of blog posts I wrote on the Kingdom of God and Justice; search “justice” on the determinetruth blog post site for more).
NB: I highly recommend you register for the upcoming webinar on peacemaking this Thurs (Feb 16, 2023). Register here: even if you cannot make it at the scheduled time you will be able to view the event at a later time.
Finally, we will take a break for the next few weeks from posting while we travel to India to lead a series of pastor’s conferences in Punjab, Delhi, and Hyderabad India. We appreciate your prayers. If you are able to contribute and help cover our costs for the trip you may do so by following this link.
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