Biblical Justice (3)
“When you lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you.” Deuteronomy 24.10, 11
A jewel of five facets
In Biblical terms, justice is simply the character and works of God lived out within human communities. A just society is one that reflects in its public policies and personal practices the wisdom, beauty, goodness, truth, and love of God.
We might think it strange to turn to the Law of God for insight to the practice of justice. However, the Founders of this country did not think so. Many of the law codes of the American colonies included excerpts from the Law of God, copied verbatim or paraphrased as needed. Our forebears understood that God’s Law points the way to justice. If we would understand justice, therefore, we need to look a little more closely at the Law of God.
Justice as encoded in the Law of God is a jewel of five facets. The first and most basic of these we may refer to as obligatory justice. In the exercise of obligatory justice, we give to others the dignity, respect, care, and love they deserve by virtue of their being human beings and the image-bearers of God.
Paul summarized this sense of obligatory justice nicely when he wrote, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Rom. 13.8).
Respect and love
Our text (Deut. 24.10, 11) offers an example. The specific situation may not apply in our day, but remember, we’re looking for principles of justice which we can use for all kinds of grace exchanges in the Kingdom economy.
In ancient Israel, making a loan to someone did not give the one who made the loan the right to violate the privacy, threaten the dignity, or impugn the honesty of the borrower. If the terms of the loan included a pledge, the one making the loan was expected to trust the good and honest intentions, as well as the word, of the one receiving the loan, and to wait outside his home for him to bring the pledge out to him.
We owe a good many things to all our fellow human beings. Together, these make up the various obligations of neighbor-love. We owe them honesty, truth, and fairness in contracts, wages, and communications; respect and care for their persons and property; due process in civil matters; and the demands of grace and the protections of justice. We are our neighbors’ keepers, and whatever love requires of us, we must be ready to perform.
It is not the place of public policy to require neighbor-love. Much of what constitutes obligatory justice will be practiced as civility, out of a sense of gratitude to God, obedience to His Law, and compassionate concern for our neighbors. All true justice flows from a heart transformed by grace. So while we cannot require justice by law, we can prescribe it. And, whenever clear transgressions of obligatory justice are committed, we might hope that moral consensus would seek redress. In certain situations—for example, slander—it will be the role of public policy to redress the injustice.
Enforcing justice
How would a man be judged in ancient Israel who did, in fact, enter his neighbor’s home and search all through it to find the pledge his loan required, while his neighbor stood by, humiliated? It’s not clear. Certainly, such a violation of the dignity of one in need would have been looked upon with concern, if not disapproval. The person who openly flouted this basic requirement of justice might find himself reproached or shunned for his behavior. Moreover, it’s possible that such a breach of obligatory justice would have come before the judges and officials of the community for a ruling. We would only be speculating to describe how local judges might have corrected the injustice—the slighting of a neighbor’s dignity—such an unlawful action would have created. At the very least, an apology might be required. In the church, some application of discipline might be in order.
In ancient Israel, local judges had the power and the responsibility to encourage obligatory justice. They might do this most effectively by the example of their lives and by the way they conducted the business and concerns of their community. We can be sure that God-fearing priests and prophets would have weighed in wherever obligatory justice was lacking (think: Nathan to David).
The neglect of obligatory justice can lead to all manner of socially disintegrative behavior: lack of respect for parents, teachers, and others in authority; dishonesty in transactions; flash mobs; property transgressions (graffiti, breaking windows, etc.); computer scams; and more.
When a lapse of obligatory justice comes to light, even at a seemingly small and insignificant level, other facets of the practice of justice may come into play. For when obligatory justice is violated, restorative and retributive justice may be required. These facets of the jewel of justice exist because obligatory justice very often does not.
But first let’s see if these aspects of justice might be avoided through the practice of preventive justice.For reflection
1. Why do we say that love is something we owe to others?
2. Think about your day yesterday. What opportunities for practicing obligatory justice—loving your neighbors and respecting the image of God in them—were presented to you? On a scale of 1 to 10, how did you do?
3. Suggest some ways that Christians might become more mindful about the practice of obligatory justice. Such as, praying for your neighbors.
Next steps—Demonstration: Make a list of the people you typically encounter each week—at home, work, or church, throughout the community. As you pray over the list, jot down some ways you might demonstrate obligatory justice with them. Then begin working at this facet of justice, asking God for grace to help you.
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest this week: Our daily Scriptorium column is focusing on Ephesians 4. This week in our Read Moorepodcast we begin a look at three brief and related books, beginning with The Gospel of the Kingdom. Our Crosfigell teaching letter continues our study of the life of Brigit, a contemporary of Brendan. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
