If God is Not Just

"If God is not just what?" English is tough, isn't it? We use "just" for "merely" or for "righteous, equitable, full of justice." So what if God is not a just God? "Not a just God? Who would ever say that?" It's more common than you might think. Justice is "what is right." It is the balancing of the books. If Bob steals from Bill, Bob owes Bill what he stole ... and a little bit more for pain and suffering. That's justice. That's balancing the books. But there are those who claim that God doesn't do that. God just ... forgives. "God," they say, "is a God of grace and mercy," two concepts that stand in opposition to justice. Grace is favor you don't deserve and mercy is not receiving the punishment you deserve. God, then, to this way of thinking is not just; He's much nicer than that. So what if God is not just?

If God is not just, there are some serious ramifications. We all know, for instance, that the God of the Old Testament routinely struck down people for sin -- 3,000 here (Exo 34:2) and 70,000 there (2 Sam 24:15) and ... well, you get it. That's wrath. That's justice. We all know (incorrectly) that the God of the New Testament is a kinder, gentler God and doesn't care about sin anymore. But if that is true, then the requirement is that the God of the New Testament finally figured out that His prior behavior was wrong and He has reformed. So the God who declared "I do not change" (Mal 3:6) changes and the God of righteousness has not always been righteous. Which takes us to a second problem. If He does change, our Bibles are useless because they lie. If He does change we can't be sure of His promises. If He does change we can't be sure of much at all. If all this is true, then it turns out that Jesus is equally unreliable. Why did His gospel start with "repent" (Matt 4:17) if sin was not going to be dealt with (justice)? Why did He come to "give His life as a ransom" if no ransom (justice) was required? These are the kinds of inconsistencies, I suppose, you would expect if we can't actually trust our Bibles. There are more ramifications, but the final casualty, of course, is morality. Human morality only makes sense in a world where there is ultimate justice. If God is actually just, then we can be sure that, no matter what happens here, everyone will ultimately pay for their crimes, so to speak. But if that never happens because God is not a wrathful God and wouldn't be so mean, then why be good? In fact, how foolish would it be to not steal, not take what you can, not get away with what you can to benefit yourself if there are no consequences? Human morality requires a just God in order to make any sense or have any teeth.

Let's bring this down to earth, so to speak. God is said -- both Old and New Testament -- to be just and to be angry at sin. If that is true -- if God will always and ultimately balance the books -- what does that mean ... to me? It means that I can forgive. It means that I don't have to sweat it. It means that I can let injustice toward me go since I know that God won't. He will balance the books. He will make it right. And it means that my errors, my violations, my sins will not be overlooked, so I can be exceedingly grateful that Christ did come to give His life as a ransom. It is good news to me that "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa 53:6). It means that Christ did indeed bring good news of peace with a genuinely and rightly angry God. Without that, we will be in serious trouble ... if God is not actually just.