I'm working on a lengthy project and I have the following as a part of it. Since I have some avid readers and clever theologians reading this, I'd like your input. What do you think of this concept, and do you see any mistakes in it? I'd especially appreciate the opinions of A-ron, Jordan, and Deanne but all are welcome.
"Since God is the source of everything in the universe, He must necessarily balance all in Himself. This means that if God is anything, He must be just. Justice is such a warped concept, however, that it seems to have taken on a negative connotation in our world. So in order to understand God's justice, we must redefine.
When we think of justice, we usually consider it in the context of some law having been broken. The perpetrator receives the correct punishment for the wrongs committed: that's justice, we think. But that's not it at all.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “justice” as: ”the quality of being just, impartial, or fair; the principle or ideal of just dealing or right action; conformity to this principle or ideal; the quality of conforming to law; conformity to truth, fact, or reason” and the same source says that “just” means “having a basis in or conforming to fact or reason; faithful to an original; conforming to a standard of correctness”. Doesn't it make sense that if God is the sole source of all that is in the universe (the “original,” as the dictionary says), He must, without exception, be faithful to Himself? Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 2:13 that “if we are faithless, He remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself.” (One version says “He cannot disown Himself.”)
In the same manner, how many people do you know that are out to “find” themselves? If anything, we want to be true to ourselves and the only way we can do that is to know who we are. It's our deeply-ingrained concept of justice that prompts this search for ourselves. We know that we are all originals, and we want to be true to that unique form.
Since God is Perfection embodied, He must conform to that concept and be just (a quick side-note: perfection and completion are often synonyms). This means that everything in God's creation, which He permeates, must also be perfect and if it's not, it must be separated from Him because if He endures what is not perfect, He disowns Himself.
So when we, His creation made in His image, break his rules, we must be separated from Him. We'll talk more about this later, but this is a good time to bring up the concepts of good and evil. Have you ever wondered how a child knows it's wrong to do something without ever having been told? Even a dog knows when he's doing wrong. This is because of the concept of justice within us. When we do something wrong (meaning: against the standards which God has set for us), we are going against the very fabric of our being, the very stuff we are made of. It rubs us the wrong way because we are not created for that purpose- we're in essence disowning ourselves.
That God is Justice speaks of His eternal Divine need to be true to His own nature."
3 comments:
Wow -
I'd never thought of it that way. It makes sense - and the part about "being faithful to the original" especially resonated with me!
You explained it so clearly - it makes sense and I think you're right on with this -
is this where mercy comes in? God forgives us and brings us back to Himself and to our true selves despite our disowning ourselves and Him through sin/ injustice?
i look forward to what the others will add to this conversation -
Most excellent! I enjoy how you discuss the less popular (and perhaps more important) aspects of justice. While justice can mean punishment for wrongdoing, it also speaks of God's righteousness and faithfulness. And in fact I'd say the punishment part can only come from God because He initially fulfills the just/faithful/correct part. I especially like the bit about being true to the original, that's a great way to look at it.
Since we, in ourselves, will never be just, perfect, or complete, the only way we can be conformed with God is by Him looking at Christ's perfection instead of our own.
Nice work, looking forward to reading more.
It seems odd that we all have a "deeply ingrained sense of justice," but at the same time, justice is such a warped concept among us that it needs redefining. When you speak of each of us being "an original" I assume you mean that we each are born with an original intrinsic makeup that God has given us, namely humanness, almost as though we are each a unique manifestation of a common platonic Form: Human. And this form is made in God's image, so it naturally hesitates to do anything contrary to the image of God within itself. This is the law of God written on our hearts, perhaps.
Why, then, is our concept of justice so warped? I think a discussion of the Fall needs to come in somewhere, otherwise it will be hard to explain why a child knows what is wrong even before being told, but an adult can go on doing wrong without the slightest sense of wrongdoing, and may in fact think he is doing right.
Also, you mentioned that people tend to think of justice as appropriate punishment for some crime. I don't think that's completely off base. The reason is because once something wrong has been done, a punishment acts to balance out that wrong and restore equilibrium. For this reason, it is good that you will talk more about the necessity of sinners being separated from God--for it isn't only separation, which could be accomplished by annihilation. It is also punitive, and the punishment is what maintains justice. So He cannot stop at separating Himself from what is imperfect, but must do something to remedy the imperfection. This, of course, is why God had to work redemption by means of a substitutionary atonement, so He could be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
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