Reconciling Christianity toward suspects and convicted
persons, yet at the same time pursuing justice for the offender and for the
victim is in itself recognizing that this is truly the epitome of the meaning
of justice found in the very character of God.
Justice, according to Black’s Law Dictionary (2011), is, “The fair and
proper administration of laws” (p. 426).
This vague definition, especially for the Christian, demands what is
“fair and proper,” but does nothing to explain what exactly that means.
Walter C. Kaiser (1983), offers this in regards to justice,
“Justice demands impartiality; not compliance with the masses or favoritism to
the poor, and would also be best served by extending that same impartiality
even to one’s enemies” (p. 110; see Ex. 23:1-9; Lev. 19:15; Deut. 22:1-3). This obviously moves us toward a more
biblically-informed approach to justice.
Christians are to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God
(Mic. 6:8). This means that justice is
commanded for the Christian. As such,
what does this justice look like?
Justice and righteousness are, according to Peter A. De Vos
(1973), “nearly synonymous” (p. 360).
This means that the righteousness
of the Lord is the justice of the
Lord. God himself is justice and
righteousness. Jeremiah 50:7 says, “All
that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, we offend not,
because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the
LORD, the hope of their fathers.” To
effectively administer justice, is to recognize that God himself has
established its basis. Kaiser (1983)
rightly offers,
What, then, I would ask, is God’s
honour apart from God’s justice? His
honour can be nothing but the reflex action or display of His moral attributes;
and in the exercise of these attributes, the fundamental and controlling
element is justice. Every one of them is
conditioned; love itself is conditioned by the demands of justice; and to
provide scope for the operation of love in justifying the ungodly consistently
with those demands, is the very ground and reason of the atonement—its ground
and reason primarily in the mind of God, and because there, then also in its
living image, the human conscience, which instinctively regards punishment as
‘recoil of the eternal law of right against the transgressor,’ and cannot
attain solid peace but through the medium of valid expiation. Thus has the law been most signally
established by that very feature of the Gospel, which specifically
distinguished it from the law—its display of the redeeming love of God in
Christ (p. 147-148).
It is clear from this explanation that God’s justice and
God’s love are mutually dependent.
As such, the Christian can rightly seek justice for the
offender and for the victim and at the same time seek God’s love in acting “Christianly”
towards the suspects and convicted persons.
For it is through God’s justice that Christ died to pay the penalty for
sin and our transgression against the holy God.
But, by God’s grace, it is through God’s love that this act satisfied
the penalty for our sins and thus made us righteous before the same God. As Psalm 89:14 says, “Justice and judgment
are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.” Christians can seek justice for the
transgression and still exhibit love and kindness towards the transgressor.
--Fanny
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References
Black’s law dictionary (2011) (4th
ed.). Bryan A Garner (Ed.). St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company.
De Vos, Peter A. (1973).
Justice. In Baker’s dictionary of
Christian ethics. Carl F. H. Henry (Ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book
House Company.
Kaiser. Walter C.
Jr. (1983). Toward Old Testament ethics. Grand
Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
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