Immanuel Kant was a philosopher in the late 1700's and early 1800's. His famous work, Critique of Pure Reason, argued that you can't prove by reason the existence of God. True or not, Kant went on to argue that without objective, ultimate justice, there is no basis for morality. And, he argued, objective, ultimate justice required a God ... like the God of the Bible. Fast forward 220 years or so, and we take another peek at the concept of "justice." The entire Trump scene has highlighted a dark secret in recent years. We call it "lawfare" -- using the legal system to take down political opponents. A perversion of justice, using the justice system.
Why did Kant argue for the need for ultimate justice? Because human justice can be perverted, twisted, abused. As it often is. It's interesting, too, that Paul says the righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel, because "righteousness" and "justice" are the same word in the New Testament. That "justice" includes God's wrath (Rom 1:18) and Christ's perfect sacrifice on our behalf, enabling God to be both just and justifier (Rom 3:24-26). Since "mercy" is the opposite of justice, Christ's shedding His blood on our behalf made it possible for sin to be paid (justice) and justification by faith to occur (mercy).
Here's the thing. Ours is an amazing position. John wrote, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). "All unrighteousness." Paul wrote, "For our sake He (God) made Him (Christ) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor 5:21). And we know, "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died — more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us" (Rom 8:33-34). Perfect justice meets perfect mercy for all time. That's a really big deal.
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