What does the Bible Teach about Injustice?

Today’s climate is heated with all kinds of debates and discussions about injustice, fairness and inequality. We live in a fallen world ruled by sin and one of the fruits of our sinful nature is the prevalence of injustice on the earth. You don’t need to look too far to find one form of injustice or the other, it’s in your face. As Christians in this world, we have opinions or at least perceptions about social issues and we feel the impact of these issues in our lives. Lately, I have seen brothers and sisters in Christ talk over each other and break ties because they disagree on how they perceive justice and injustice. Our ethnicity, race, culture, society, political affiliation, upbringing and discipline often determine how we approach or view societal challenges. Sadly, in a bid to “right the wrongs”,  we have become more divided and this is not what God wants for us and for the Church. Race fighting against race, ethnicity against ethnicity, gender against gender, country against country, and so forth. This reminds me of when Jesus said that one of the signs of the end of the age will be that “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (Matthew 24:7).

Injustice is simply defined as an unjust act or occurrence, it is lack of fairness in a situation. In our world, justice is driven by legislation and legislation is driven by the local system of government or simply put; “the powers that be”. We are unconsciously made to believe that the goal of legislation is to address injustice and to bring about equality, individual and societal transformation. Perhaps the intention is true—but how have we fared? We have failed to acknowledge that the hunger we feel for a just world originates from our heavenly Father. He is the perfect judge and true administrator of justice in its truest and purest form. Until our cry and effort at fighting injustice is God-centered, we will keep missing the mark and we will cloud our effort with our selfish desires. The biblical concept of justice is not revenge, retaliation, or vindictiveness. It is God’s righteousness, God’s love and God’s mercy and compassion.

God’s Righteousness: One of the characteristics of God the scripture teaches is His righteousness. We see God’s righteousness being validated and demonstrated in the gift of His son to us.  Romans 3: 25-26, NIV; God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—  he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. God’s righteous nature means that He has to judge sin but Jesus was judged in our place, He became a substitute for us. Therefore, we are not guilty and have been justified by His grace. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne (Psalm 97:1-2), it means that Justice is God’s nature.

The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.

–Psalm 33:5

God’s Love: We most times tend to think of justice only from the narrow perspective of “punishment”, therefore it might be inconceivable to some of us that God’s love and justice can coexist. Indeed, in our society, when the law is used to administer justice it often means some sort of punishment. If it is by the law, we will all be guilty and condemned sinners. But through God’s love, we are saved. The attributes of God’s Justice and Love works harmoniously. The death of Jesus on the cross is a perfect example of this. Jesus bore our responsibilities as perpetrators on the cross and simultaneously experienced our trauma as victims. In other words, there’s a penalty for sin (Justice) and there’s restoration for fellowship with Him (God’s love). God is love (1 John 4:8) and He created us to live lovingly with each other in this world. In the biblical concept of Justice, love must always be shown to all humanity.

God’s Mercy and Compassion: Few weeks ago, when we looked at kindness and compassion under the topic Recovering From Ruins – Part 3, we learned that being compassionate should not be a feeling, it should be our nature as it is God’s nature. Zechariah 7:9; This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Therefore, true justice is embodied by mercy and compassion. God is gracious and shows us compassion because He is the God of justice (Isaiah 30:18). We can’t practice true justice if we lack compassion and mercy for humanity. The compassion and mercy that flows from God to us in our weak and vulnerable state reflects how we should be merciful and compassionate to the weak and vulnerable.

As God's children, we cannot condone or close our eyes to injustice. It is at odds with the gospel we profess when we reduce the concept of justice or injustice to political affiliation, ethnocentrism, revenge, and retaliation. Share on X

What is our mandate?

God hates injustice (Isaiah 61:8), there’s no injustice found in Him, therefore we should hate injustice. If we have the nature of our Father, we cannot condone or close our eyes to injustice. It is at odds with the gospel we profess when we reduce the concept of justice or injustice to political affiliation, ethnocentrism, revenge, and retaliation. We are called to restore what is wrong to conformity with righteousness. How do we do this? By speaking up.

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 – Proverbs 31: 8 -9, NIV.

The oppressor and the oppressed cannot continue to occupy the pews in our churches while the assembly of God’s children shy away from addressing oppression and injustice. How we treat others is more important and acceptable to God than our sacrifices to Him. 

We shouldn’t be quiet and ignore injustice because we are not directly impacted. Injustice and oppression thrives on silence. When we speak up, we should speak from a place of knowledge and understanding. Take out time to listen to those who demand justice and are suffering the impact of different levels of injustice. When we speak up, it shouldn’t be from a place of self-righteousness but with an understanding of God’s righteousness, love, mercy and compassion to humanity, which extends to every tribe, race, culture and nation. Only by this can we truly take action against injustice. We should stand for what is right even when we are alone and the crowd or our tribe disagrees with us (Exodus 23:2). We cannot ignore evil, abuse, poverty, racial discrimination and so on, it should not be our nature. In a bid not to be seen as a “social justice warrior” or Marxist, some believers trivialize some forms of injustice they do not understand or they simply minimize them. This should not be so.

Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow

– Isaiah 1:17, NIV

God spoke to the people of Israel through prophet Amos saying; “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! (Amos 5:21-34, NIV). In their midst were those who corrupted the legal system (Amos 5:7), those who hated people that stood for justice in the court and told the truth (Amos 5:10) and those who levied oppressive taxes on the poor and on their harvest (Amos 5:11). While all kinds of evil and injustice was condoned in their midst, they were busy worshiping God. God rejected their offering and worship because they did not deal with injustice and oppression among them. The oppressor and the oppressed cannot continue to occupy the pews in our churches while the assembly of God’s children shy away from addressing oppression and all forms of injustice. How we treat others is more important and acceptable to God than whatever sacrifices we offer to Him (Proverbs 21:3). If we are truly children of God, we must address injustice; we must speak for the weak, oppressed, vulnerable and we must do so on the foundation and understanding of God’s righteousness, love, mercy and compassion.

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