We are again focusing on an aspect of the character of God as it is to be reflected in the lives of the people of God. Having been created in the image of God (Gen 1:26,27) and rebirthed into the likeness of the Son of God (Rom 8:29; 2Cor 3:18), it is both our duty and our privilege to model the character of God before the world. We have seen that this duty includes that we reflect the veracity of God by being people of Truth and that we mirror the goodness of God by both being and doing good. In this study, it will be our purpose to examine another of the traits or attributes of the character of God justice.
In referring to the justice of God, we are contemplating the fact that God is just and righteous in Himself and in all His ways. As we examine the words "just", "justice", "judgment", and "righteous" in Scripture, they will focus our attention on the particular aspect of the character of God we desire to study. In order to have an accurate understanding of the words important to our present study, let us look at the following definitions:
just, a.
- upright; honest; having principles of rectitude; righteous.
- equitable; impartial; fair.
- exact; accurate; precise; neither too much nor too little; neither more nor less.
- correct; true.
- deserved; merited.
- right; proper.
justice, n.
- the quality of being righteous; honesty.
- impartiality; fair representation of facts.
- the quality of being correct or right.
- vindictive retribution; merited reward or punishment.
- sound reason; rightfulness; validity.
- the use of authority and power to uphold what is right, just, or lawful.
judgment, n.
- in the Bible, justice; right.righteous, a.
- upright; virtuous; acting in a just, upright manner.
- morally right or justifiable.
- good, excellent, satisfying, pleasant, authentic, etc.
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd Ed., 1983.
Again, as in past studies, our purpose is not to look exhaustively at the character of God, but rather to look at His character only to ascertain the nature of our character as Christians. Since our character is to be a mirror image of God’s character, however, we must look first at our Father’s nature.
We certainly don’t need to take an inordinate amount of time to prove that God is just and righteous. Moses expressed this very well in His song, recorded in Deu 32, where he said in verse 4; "He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he." Notice that Moses refers to the character of God - "He is the Rock, . . . a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he" - and to His works - "his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment." It is precisely because one’s works are a reflection of one’s character, whether we are speaking of God or man, that we are here studying the character of God that is to be reflected in the life of each believer.
During the hour of Christ’s greatest turmoil on earth, we find Him taking comfort in the character of His Father as Christ prays, "O Righteous Father," Joh 17:25. We find the heavenly angels continually praising God by naming His attributes before Him; for example, see Rev 16:5, "And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus." Here again we see a linking of the character of God to the works He performs. It is because He is righteous that we can be assured that He will do righteously. "And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments." Rev 16:7. See also Rev. 19:2. The accuracy of the song of Moses can be seen from the fact that the very angels of God sing it around the throne of God: "And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." Rev 15:3.
So just and righteous is our God that we can always be confident that He does all things well - even when He executes judgment. Daniel had this assurance and could pray, "Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us; for the Lord, our God, is righteous in all his works which he doeth; for we obeyed not his voice." Dan 9:14. See also the Levite’s prayer in Nehemiah 9, especially verse 33. Even the heathen, when pressed to confession by the hand of the Lord, must proclaim the justice and righteousness of our God. Pharaoh confessed to Moses, "I have sinned this time; the Lord is righteous, and my people are wicked." Exo 9:27. Nebuchadnezzar, a king brought to despair by the hand of God, stated afterwards: "And at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. . . . Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment; and those that walk in pride he is able to abase." Dan 4:34,37.
Bildad of old asked, "Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?" Job 8:3. Abraham expressed his confidence in the God of all when he asked, "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" Gen 18:25. All men, whether in this life or the next, must assuredly answer, "Yes, the judge of all the earth always does right, for He is righteous."
Christ came to reveal the Father, and it follows that Christ had the same quality of character and works as the Father. During the trial of Christ, the wife of the judge warned him, "Have thou nothing to do with that just man." Mat 27:19. Pilot then, as he delivered Christ to the rulers of Israel for crucifixion stated, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person." Mat 27:24. As Christ gave up His life, it is recorded that "[n]ow when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man." Luk 23:47. And because of Christ’s sinless life the Apostle John, one of the desciples who knew Him well, could tell us who only know Him by faith: "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:" 1Jo 2:1.
If our Father is just and righteous, and if the Lord Jesus Christ reflected that righteousness during His earthly walk, what is to be our character and walk as those made in the image of God and destined to the image of Christ? Certainly we are to reflect His justice; we are to do right.
As we have noted in past studies, man is sinful by nature - a result of the sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden. Because of the broken relationship between man and God, man no longer reflects the image of God perfectly. This is why the Apostle Paul, quoting Psalm 14, said of man that "there is none righteous, no not one." Rom 3:10. Man cannot do justly because he is not righteous in heart. Try as we might, after doing the very best that we can humanly do, we must confess with Isaiah, "[W]e are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Isa 64:6.
Because we can never attain to the righteousness necessary to please God or atone for our sins, we must have help from a source other than our own feeble efforts or perish in our sins. It is from this condition that God rescues us by the blood of Christ and attributes His own righteousness to us. "For he [God] hath made him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2Co 5:21. It is only when we recognize our awful condition without Christ and come to Him in complete reliance upon His finished work that it can be said of us that "their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." Isa 54:17.
After this rebirth, this change in our relationship with and attitude toward God, we are free to practice justice. This justice cannot be seen; only its effects reflect its presence. We see that this is true of the Lord, and that it is true of regenerate man in the following passages:
Of God:
7. The Lord reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. 8. He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice. 10. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. . . . 16. The Lord is known by his justice; . . . Psa 9 (NIV)
Of man:
7. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 1Jo 3
and:
If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. 1Jo 2
These verses do not teach that God is just because He does justice; they teach rather that God does justice because He is just. In the same manner, I John is not teaching that man is righteous because he does righteousness; but that man practices what is right because he has been made righteous. Four times in the Scripture we are told that "the just shall live by faith." Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38. This phrase teaches us that those who anticipate being counted just before the Lord are those who, by faith, are relying upon the righteousness of Christ. Notice this in Romans 1:17 in the Amplified Bible:
For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith—disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith.
Rom 1:17.
I am particularly stressing that our righteousness must first come from God, because so much of what the Scripture says concerning justice and righteousness focuses on our deeds. As we begin to more perfectly reflect the justice of God in our lives, it will be seen in our actions. We can no more declare justice in our character apart from our works than God could be said to be just even though He always did wrong. A just character can only be seen by its just works. However, we must never fall into the trap of believing that we can earn God’s grace or merit His mercy by our right deeds. God will certainly reward our righteous acts, but only acts springing from a righteous heart are genuinely righteous.
Once we have established that we are rightly related to Christ - that we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ - how is that righteousness to be reflected in our lives?
Justice is uniquely concerned with our relations to God and to other individuals. The justice of God means that He deals with all things in strict adherence to a code, or standard, or law. It is in this sense that God acts as the judge of all, and finally calls man before a judgment seat to reward him according to that man’s conformity to God’s law. Even so, the justice that we are to reflect before the world as Believers is a strict adherence to the principles of God as set forth in His Word. We are to "do right" as opposed to doing wrong; we are to know God’s principles and follow them exactly. We are to practice justice, as opposed to doing things as we please; we are to be just - just like God is just.
Whenever the Scriptures speak of the actions of the just, it speaks of law. For the individual, the Bible demands that we:
. . . shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the Lord. Lev 19:35-37.
See also Deu 25; especially 13-16.
For the rulers of nations, the Scripture requires:
Thus saith the Lord God; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord God. Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. . . . And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs: twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh. Eze 45:9,10,12.
God requires that men and nations reflect his justice and righteousness. This may be seen from the texts below:
Men:
For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; . . . Tit 1:7-8
For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. Gen 18:19
Suppose there is a righteous man who does what is just and right: He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife or lie with a woman during her period. He does not oppress anyone, but returns what he took in pledge for a loan. He does not commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked. He does not lend at usury or take excessive interest. He withholds his hand from doing wrong and judges fairly between man and man. He follows my decrees and faithfully keeps my laws. That man is righteous; he will surely live, declares the Sovereign Lord. Eze 18:5-9 (NIV)
Nations:
For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widows, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever. Jer 7:5.
How do nations practice justice? By the individual actions of its citizens. When God purposed to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, he told Abraham of his plan. Abraham pleaded with God not to destroy the righteous with the wicked, and God agreed not to destroy the cities if 10 righteous men could be found. See Gen 18. When God’s people truly reflect the justice of God, that same justice will be reflected in the life of the nations. Moses was able to say to Israel on the eve of their entering the promised land, after the purging process of 40 years:
For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Deu 4:8,9.
When men who have walked in righteousness turn from their righteousness, God judges them for their sin - not their past righteousness:
But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. Eze 18:24
In the same way, nations that turn from the righteousness of God shall perish:
The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. . . . Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Psa 9:17,20.
This is what the Lord says: "For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath, They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the house of their god they drink wine taken as fines. Amo 2:6-8
Having seen that the justice of God is reflected in the character of His people by their adherence to His standards in their relations to one another, we can now look at some of the promises of God to those who are just. God’s promises to those who meet His criteria of justice are all encompassing. As an example, let’s examine the 10th chapter of Proverbs, skipping over the warnings to the foolish and unjust:
A wise son maketh a glad father. Righteousness delivereth from death. The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish. The hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathereth in summer is a wise son. Blessings are upon the head of the just. The memory of the just is blessed. The wise in heart will receive commandments. He that walketh uprightly walketh surely. The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life. Love covereth all sins. In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found. Wise men lay up knowledge. The labour of the righteous tendeth to life. He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction. He that refraineth his lips is wise. The tongue of the just is as choice silver. The lips of the righteous feed many. The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. A man of understanding hath wisdom. The desire of the righteous shall be granted. The righteous is an everlasting foundation. The fear of the Lord prolongeth days. The hope of the righteous shall be gladness. The way of the Lord is strength to the upright. The righteous shall never be removed. The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable.
We see in this passage that the righteous are blessed in their memory, labor, mouth, tongue, lips, desire, wisdom, and strength. In other passages, we are told that they are blessed in their paths, Pro 2:2; house, Pro 3:33; they know the Lord’s secrets, Pro 3:32; have life eternal, Mat 25:46; are heard in prayer, Jam 5:16; are blessed in death, Num 22:10, Pro 14:32; and are given a crown, 2Ti 4:8. Even these blessings only begin to tell of God’s promises to the righteous. See also Psa 34, 37; Pro 11, 12.
When God chooses to bless a group of people, He does so by sending them a righteous person. To a nation, God said through David, "When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth." 2Sa 23:3,4. It was said of David that he "executed judgment and justice unto all his people." 2Sa 8:15. Later, the Queen of Sheba said of Solomon, " Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: Because the Lord loved Israel for ever, therefore made He thee king, to do judgment and justice." 1Ki 10:9. And it was later said of another who sits upon that same throne, "Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever." Isa 9:7. To His church, God sends men who are "just." Tit 1:8. Even to an individual, God may send a special blessing in the person of a righteous man; "Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward." Mat 10:41.
Throughout Scripture, it is an indication of the curse of God for men of righteousness to be removed. These men of principle are not removed due to any wrong in them, but, in the words of Isaiah:
The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death. Isa 57:1 (NIV)
Why is God so concerned that we be righteous; that we be rightly related to his law and to all men? From the beginning of history, God’s people have stood in judgment over all men. From the time Cain killed Abel because of Abel’s more excellent sacrifice, our justice and righteousness has been a judge of the wickedness of the world. See Heb 11:4. We - as those in the image of Christ, as those who are in the world as He was in the world - are convicting the world of sin just as Christ convicted the world of sin. "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin." Joh 15:22. Even as the priest of old was to take the breastplate of judgment containing the Urim and the Thummim upon himself and bear the judgment of Israel upon his heart continually, we are to bear constant judgment of the world. Just as Israel was told, "Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not," Mal 3:18; we are told of our duty to judge all things:
I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. . . . And he [the wicked one] shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Dan 7:21-28.
We are to rule and reign with Christ over a dominion of righteousness.
Finally, those who reflect the justice of God in their lives need have no fear of judgment, either from God or from others. We are to be those who understand and walk in God’s ways:
Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness; judgment, and righteousness, in the the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Jer 9:23-24.
Therefore, it should be said of us:
Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein. Hos 14:9.
If we can glory in our knowledge of God and His ways, and if we are careful to walk in those ways, then we can pray:
Then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness. 2Ch 6:23.
Isaiah declared, "Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings." Isa 3:10. Even when it appears that no one cares how we live or act, we can rejoice with Isaiah, "Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God." Isa 49:4.
Let us always be careful to do justly, for "[t]o do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice." Pro 21:3. And in this is our whole duty to God and man summed up:
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Mic 6:8
As those reflecting the image of God, let us be True in character, Good in deed, Just in relations, Wise in understanding, Holy before the Lord, and enabled by His Power.
mp 10/26/86
Note: For a quick study of the relationship between justice and knowledge, see the following: Psa 9:16; 37:30; 119:66; Pro 1:3; 11:9; 24:23; 28:5; Ecc 8:5; Isa 53:11; Luk 1:17; Phi 1:9.