God’s Justice Is Not the World’s Justice

“Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.” (Proverbs 28:5)

The modern social justice movement mirrors the concern of Solomon in the 1^st part of this verse. They don’t understand genuine justice. Social justice normally promotes projects like building wells, fighting poverty, after-school tutoring, bringing clean water to communities that need it, challenging racism, etc. All of those are good pursuits and have their place. The problem is this: they often take precedent over the clearly taught biblical mission that the church has.

For example, Jesus did not say in Matthew 16:18 that the gates of hell would not prevail against a famine-fighting institution. Paul did not say in II Corinthians 5:20 that we are ambassadors for those in poverty; instead, Paul says we are ambassadors of Christ. Jesus didn’t tell His disciples in the Great Commission to go and make police stations better; instead, Jesus said make disciples.

In their book on the mission of the church, Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert simplify the church’s mission.  “The mission of the church is to go into the world and make disciples by declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit and gathering these disciples into churches, that they might worship the Lord and obey his commands now and in eternity to the glory of God the Father.” (What Is the Mission of the Church?, pg. 62)

Social justice causes are NOT the primary mission of the church. And biblical justice – the way the Bible teaches it – is not the same as social justice. Biblical justice is a righteous cause. Moses told the people who needed legislation protecting the oppressed, “You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Deut 16:19-20).

Biblical justice – the way God executes justice – doesn’t encourage people to look for others to blame for their cause. God simply steps into a situation where someone has been wrongfully harmed and God judges. Why? Because God judges the sinner. God is Judge.

Social justice promotes a victim mentality, where people are told to find someone to blame or be offended by the smallest thing. But, to be fair, we are all victims … because of Adam’s sin. We have all suffered because of other’s sins, but then others suffer because of our sins. But we can’t blame Adam because we also sin. We live under the consequences of his sin, but we are judged by our own sins.

When you get into the habit of blaming people for your economic or social status, you will eventually find people to blame for bigger things – like personal sin. When you allow soft things in your life and blame others for your plight, you will blame the big things on others.

The soul who sins is accountable for their sins (Ezek 18).

The social justice movement is more than just doing good things for a community; in fact, it’s rarely that in its ideology. The social justice movement is promoting a false Gospel. It used to be called the social Gospel, but now its social justice. But believe me – social justice is a Gospel. An errant one!