Just Like God

Justice is a familiar term for us. We have officials of justice, departments of justice, justice of the peace. We call for justice for the oppressed. It is something we all crave and view as right and good. Like love, it is something we value and generally believe we should express or strive for. In that way we can see how humanity stems from God, the Author of justice. But in order for us to biblically display justice, we must understand God’s justice.

By definition, just is a state of rightness, righteousness or legal uprightness. But biblically, this means justice is defined by the Bible’s standards of what is right, not the world’s. We don’t have to look far to see where the world has perverted justice, so that what is praised as “right” is actually wrong.

Deuteronomy 32:3-4 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

For I proclaim the name of the Lord;
Ascribe greatness to our God!
The Rock! His work is perfect,
For all His ways are just;

A God of faithfulness and without injustice,
Righteous and upright is He.

Isaiah 30:18 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him.

God is a god of justice. All of His ways are just. He never does anything wrong or unjust. That is part of His nature. He cannot do anything unjustly or wrong. In that way, He is just in condemning sin. Because He is the Creator of the world, the Author of truth, and the Just Judge, He not only decides but defines what is right and what is wrong. Sin is anything that misses the mark of His perfection, and it is opposed and offensive to His holy nature. His holiness and justice demand that He punish sin. He would not be just or holy if He did not.

Some might say that He is unjust because of the suffering He allows in the world, but in truth He is not. Sin requires punishment. All of the suffering in this world is the result of sin, directly or indirectly, even storms and acts of “nature” are the result of sin in the world. God is just to allow suffering because it is the consequence of sin. Again, some would say that it is unjust to allow the innocent to suffer the consequences of another’s sin, but really there is no one truly innocent, not even an infant.

Romans 3:10, 23 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

as it is written,

“There is none righteous, not even one;”...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Psalm 51:5 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.

We are all born sinful. Children don’t have to be taught how to be selfish or mean. They don’t have to be taught how to be angry when they don’t get what they want, even infants portray that. We are all guilty and worthy of punishment. Nothing we go through is worse than we deserve. In truth, we deserve eternal punishment. He is just to condemn us. But it doesn’t end there.

Isaiah 42:1-4 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;
My chosen one in whom My soul delights.
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry out or raise His voice,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed He will not break
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;
He will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not be disheartened or crushed
Until He has established justice in the earth;
And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.

These verses are a prophecy foretelling the coming of the Messiah, God’s chosen One who would bring salvation and justice to the world. Note that He will faithfully bring forth justice to the nations, yet He came to bring salvation and forgiveness of sin. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, He accomplished both condemnation and forgiveness of sin; forgiveness for those who repent of their sin and condemnation for those who do not.

1 Peter 3:18 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

1 John 1:9 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Other translations say that God is “faithful and just to forgive”. He is just in forgiving our sins because of Jesus’ sacrifice. Jesus paid the full punishment for our sins, because of this God can legally, justly forgive our guilt and consider us righteous. He is just to do this.

Micah 6:8 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?

As with holiness and love, God requires that we be just as He is just. We are His ambassadors to the world. It is through us that others see what He is like. We must be a true representation of Him. He calls us to act in justice, to see as He sees, to be true and right and not pervert what is right and just.

Do you seek God’s kind of justice? Do you call what is wrong wrong or do you compromise with the world? Will you commit to doing justice God’s way?