Redefining Justice - Ron

"In the little world in which children have their existence...there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt as injustice" (Dickens, 1861, 1:86).  Little Pip, the narrator of Dickens's Great Expectations said this. We know this to be true. If you have children, you can probably remember vividly the last time cries of, "That's not fair," echoed through the house. And if you are honest, you can vividly remember the last time that same refrain echoed through your own heart and soul. 

Before we can understand how justice must be redefined, we must comprehend what is the reason we care so much about it. Simply put, only those with a certain kind of worldview should care about justice at all. Don't get me wrong, though: everyone cares about justice. The issue is that not everyone should care about justice. 

If your entire biological worldview says that humans are just more highly evolved animals--a combination of cosmic chance, survival of the fittest, and natural selection--then you have no reason to expect justice. In actuality, you have no concept of justice nor any framework for it. After all, the story of humanity, according to your own worldview, ends as nothingness. Not even a story. Forever. Fun fact: some of the gravest injustices humanity has ever known could actually be considered survival of the fittest just doin' its thang.

Only overtly religious worldviews should care about justice. Specifically, only those religious worldviews that believe in a transcendent creator that is both moral and powerful should care about justice. Christians, for example, should care about justice for at least two reasons. One, we are made in the image of God and He is just. Two, God cares about justice so much that His Son was crucified. 

"But, oh," you say, "Jesus died for me because He loved me so much!" 

I would counter that argument with the words of Nathanael Vincent, a Puritan preacher, who wrote "the justice of God arrested Christ, and cast Him into the grave as into a prison" (Rushing, 2016, quoting Vincent, 1659-1689, III: 300-302). As Paul said, "where sin abounds, grace does much more abound" (KJV, 1985/1611, Romans 5:20), but grace alone creates injustice. While "the handwriting of the ordinances" against me were nailed to the cross (KJV, 1985/1611, Colossians 2:14), so was Jesus, Who was "made to be sin for us" (KJV, 1985/1611, 2 Corinthians 5:21).

I am saying that those who hold to an evolutionary worldview have no reason to expect justice and so are inconsistent with their own worldview. They are being totally consistent with their actual beliefs, however, because Romans 1:19-20 says that every person knows God exists. "God by his general revelation has set eternity in the heart of man (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Therefore, to deny that is just to deny it—that by nature we are both invaded by God and we are surrounded by God. Therefore, we can run, but we can’t hide. The fact is that we know, but we choose not to know" (Begg, 2018). Those who care deeply about justice are acknowledging a fundamental truth about their Creator and their belief in Him.

With that out of the way, I can attempt to recapture what justice actually means. We hear the word so often, don't we? We see it in opinion pieces: "One year later, we are still waiting on justice for Breonna [Taylor]. Let us commit to...recognizing each other’s humanity by calling for and supporting justice..." (Judge, 2021, n.p.). We see it in news articles, such as the CNN article which quotes the not-quite-yet-President Biden's speech from the funeral of George Floyd: "Why does justice not roll like a river or righteousness like a mighty stream? Why? Ladies and gentlemen, we can't turn away. We must not turn away" (Levenson et al., 2020). We even see calls for justice turned into petitions signed by thousands of people (Jayasuriya, 2020).

Does this mean that all of these people have a solid understanding of what justice means? It does not. Most people think that justice has only been done if they agree with the outcome. Let us just take one circumstance that had major repercussions around the United States, the killing of Trayvon Martin. In an incredibly interesting piece, Ta-Nehisi Coates (2013) writes, "This is not our system malfunctioning. It is our system working as intended" (n.p.). She goes on to make the case for the following two points: "The first is that based on the case presented by the state, and based on Florida law, George Zimmerman should not have been convicted of second degree murder or manslaughter. The second is that the killing of Trayvon Martin is a profound injustice" (Coates, 2013).

The entire point essentially runs like this, "Okay, technically justice was served, but only because the system of justice is built on injustice." Which may or may not be true. Regardless, the genius of the piece is in the unwritten admission that recognizing injustice is so much easier than recognizing justice. Technically, Casey Anthony received justice when a jury of her peers found her innocent. It doesn't matter that her daughter's killer was never found, or that the jury of her peers are the only people on the planet that found her innocent. Justice, according to the law of the land, was carried out. 

The Hebrew word translated justice in our English version of the Old Testament carries the idea of being objectively morally correct. It may surprise you that the word justice is not found in most English translations of the New Testament, but the idea is there. In Luke 18, the widow woman is seeking justice when she says, "avenge me of mine adversary" (KJV, 1985/1611, Luke 18:3). What does this mean? She wants vindication. And so do we all, but none of us are wholly objective or capable of being so. Except, of course, One Who is transcendent and moral and powerful. Except for One Who will judge the world in righteousness (Psalm 9:8, 96:13, 98:9; Acts 17:31).

The textbook, Biblical Worldview (Ward, 2016), says that we have three options when it comes to injustice:

1. Achieve justice yourself by taking revenge.
2. Let God bring about justice (Romans 12:9).
3. Let God do it through government (Romans 13:4) [emphasis in the original].

One of these options is patently unbiblical. Unfortunately, that is also the option that most choose. Injustice is going to be with us. Whether it is a killing, a politician ignoring her own Coronavirus restrictions, or someone getting the promotion you wanted, "that's not fair!" is going to scream in your head time and again. How a Christian responds to these situations, I think, is what must set us apart.

So, I guess this post hasn't actually been about redefining justice. Or maybe it has. The Bible has much to say about the term and even commands us to "do justly" (KJV, 1985/1611, Micah 6:8), so I am sure Stephen and Ben will flesh it out better. 

I guess I just figured that a good starting point would be understanding why justice matters so much to us, and then understanding that many times we don't actually know what real justice looks like. In those times, we have to trust in the One Who does.

References:

Begg, A. (2018). The sword of the Spirit - Part one [Sermon]. https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/sword-spirit-part-one/

Coates, T. (2013). Trayvon martin and the irony of American justice. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/07/trayvon-martin-and-the-irony-of-american-justice/277782/

Dickens, C. (1861). Great Expectations. James G. Gregory, Publisher.

Jayasuriya, D. (2020). Sign the petition: Justice for Trayvon Martin. Change.Org. https://www.change.org/p/jeff-triplett-justice-for-trayvon-martin

Judge, D. (2021). A year later: Still no justice for Breonna Taylor. Center for Constitutional Rights. https://ccrjustice.org/home/blog/2021/03/15/year-later-still-no-justice-breonna-taylor

King James Version Open Bible. (1985). Thomas Nelson, Inc. (Original work published 1611)

Levenson, E., Lemos, G., & Vera, A. (2020). The Rev. Al Sharpton remembers George Floyd as an “ordinary brother” who changed the world. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/09/us/george-floyd-funeral-tuesday/index.html

Rushing, R. (2016). Voices from the past, volume 2: Puritan devotional readings. Banner of Truth.

Ward, M., Jr. (2016). Biblical worldview. Bju Press.