“…with liberty and justice for all.”
I’ve repeated these words more times than I can count. Every morning, when I was a young elementary student, we were required to stand, place our right hand over our heart, and pledge our allegiance to the American flag. Rain or shine. Sleepy or wide awake. On an empty stomach or when it was happily filled. Daily, my undeveloped mind was required to meditate on these words carefully chosen to brand our country.
But if meditation was the point of regurgitating those words, it was lost on me. The repetition made it monotonous, and to be honest, I didn’t understand how the words affected my life. I didn’t comprehend all the benefits of living in a society that valued “liberty and justice”.
The national events that preceded my rote memorization of those words were paved by men and women, willing to give their lives to form and preserve a country where evil, power, and oppression could not go unchecked.
Little did I know, by the time I was a young woman, not only had my morals been shaped by these beliefs, but also, my life had been protected by them. The potential consequences that would rain down on any person who abused or seriously harmed me kept my life preserved from evil in its ugliest extremes.
I love liberty. I love justice. I’ve benefited from them greatly.
Sadly, my experience is not the case for everyone. Even in America, some human beings counted the consequences in place for hurting another human being and still committed a heinous crime.
Maybe they had given into one impulsive act that resulted in serious damage to an individual.
Maybe it was a preconceived idea, intentional choices were made to hurt someone, but they were ultimately willing to receive the ramifications for their behavior.
Or maybe, they inflicted a great deal of pain on someone and didn’t think they would ever get caught.
Serial offenders who successfully hide from the law are a threat to their communities. If these dangerous persons became the rule, instead of the exception, my worldview would have been terrifyingly different.
God’s Value of Justice
Living in a country that values justice seems to benefit its civilians, but what does The Bible say about it?
In Isaiah 1:17 it says, “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”
Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Psalm 82:3, “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.”
Proverbs, 31:8-9, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
In Luke 11:42, Jesus addresses the Pharisees behavior by saying, “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.”
Here we have evidence of both old and new testament passages speaking about the high value God places on justice. A quick Google search tells me there’s about 2000 more verses just like these! Google AI summarizes these passages by saying, “they emphasize the importance of fairness, compassion, and care for the marginalized, highlighting God’s commitment to righteousness and equity.”
Woven throughout scripture are instructions for those who fear the Lord regarding this important topic. Believers are told to “seek”, “uphold”, and “do” justice over and over again.
These commands require action.
We are to influence our world in a fair and right way.
But wait, wait, wait. Something seems to be missing in this perspective.
New Testament Contradictions?
What about in Romans chapter 12, when it says, “Do not pay anyone evil for evil…Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.” Is this conveying a different principle?
Most also know the well-known passage in Matthew 5:39-40, where Jesus states, “You heard that it is said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.”
How do passages like these impact a Christian’s belief about pursuing justice?
For me, reading these verses sends my brain into a tizzy. It seems like the ideas are opposed to one another. Are we supposed to be entrusting justice to God? Or be agents of it? Are we supposed to submit ourselves to abuse? Or protect the vulnerable from it? Do these verses draw anyone else into a place of spiritual paralysis?
We love having a God of justice. We sing about it in our hymns and worship songs. We are comforted to know our God is fighting against evil. But do we have personal responsibility or not?
Scripture says that taking revenge and “repaying evil for evil” is sinful. If we are to uphold justice, could there be righteous avenues to accomplish that task? Do we think requiring accountability, or preventing the natural consequences of someone’s actions, is evil? Do we believe that it is a sin to fight evil, where harm is severe or recurring?
As a parent, I could not possibly take on this perspective. To overlook every sin my child commits would surely create a monster in society. The Bible even says that a parent who does not discipline their children hates them, but shows love through correction(Prov. 13:24).
Even so, I’ve heard the argument that covering sin in our church leaders is the more loving thing to do. It’s how Jesus would want us to respond to someone’s sin. But is it? We’ve seen many examples of this play out in religious communities. Harmful behavior, even criminal behavior pops up, and hopeful wishes and empty apologies replace authentic accountability and serious consequences, enabling toxic actions to continue to wreak havoc on the Body of Christ. More and more we are seeing the damages of this kind of response.
My mind continues down all the bunny trails regarding this topic.
Like, how does the gospel message factor into this idea of justice? By choosing to follow Jesus, haven’t we acknowledged that instead of receiving the fair consequences for our sins, Christ instead paid our debt, and forgave us of all our wrongdoings? But forgiveness does not guarantee that we will not have any ramifications for our wrong behavior. So which is it? Does the Gospel complement or contradict God’s innate value of justice?
I did some research on the World Wide Web. Reading through this article from Got Questions was particularly interesting. It delves into the question, “If Jesus paid the price for our sin, why do we still suffer the consequences of our sin?” It elaborates on four different kinds of consequences we encounter when we sin, and why a world without them would lead to absolute chaos. It states that many of the cause-and-effect repercussions of this world are for our good, and proof of God’s love.
Hmm…
Stopping the Cycle
If avoiding disciplinary action is dangerous to our homes, communities, and world, why do we often take this route in our churches? What have or will our churches become?
Sadly, most victims are pressured to remain silent about their experiences within faith communities. They are charged with unforgiving hearts if they attempt to bring the darkness to light or seek any accountability. This actually compounds their trauma. It is the opposite of protecting the oppressed.
Perhaps we do this because there’s an assumption that only one victim or family has been severely affected. A cost-benefit analysis is done, in exposing ugly sin and executing discipline, versus, waving the wand of “turning the other cheek” and granting protection to the offender in the house of the Lord. Many times the latter principle ends up getting applied in hopes that the mistreatment will not continue.
We must understand the great risks of this response.
This unfortunate cycle refuses to acknowledge the increased likelihood of more serious harm happening to more precious souls. This is how abuse becomes systemic.
If we consider it to be holy and righteous to dismiss serious mistreatment from positions of leadership in the church, then why have church leaders been given a higher standard of conduct? What is the benefit of having a higher standard? What are the consequences of ignoring that standard? Did God know we would tend to dismiss the destructive sins of our pastors and elders and therefore, feel the need to include these strict character requirements?
Psychologist and abuse specialist, Diane Langberg says in her book, When the Church Harms God’s People,
“To ignore, hide, or excuse sin in an individual or the body of Christ is to work against him, for he came to vanquish the death-dealing sickness. Any pretense that sin is somehow tolerable infects and poisons the body of our Lord. We feed the cancer growing in his body every time we ignore, excuse, or hide the truth of sin in a person or an institution. We contribute to the damage of those made in his image when we justify what God calls evil in ourselves, in others, and in our systems.”
God, please help us to stop perpetuating abuse in any of its forms–spiritual, physical, sexual, or emotional! Forgive us for when we have. Grant us the courage to deal with sin in a way that does not cause further harm to those who are most vulnerable.
How about you? Do you think Christians have misunderstood the relationship between justice and forgiveness? Have you ever cast judgment on someone’s actions who was seeking accountability in light of harmful behavior? If it is righteous to minimize all serious offenses then do we truly believe a system of justice is better for our homes, churches, and world?
Next time I’ll be discussing the tools of justice that Christians might consider when facing serious harm in a religious setting. Will you share a comment on this conversation to reveal your understanding of this topic?
