Justice, Righteousness, and Christian Response

Much is being said in the realm of social justice right now, and much of what is being said is worth the discussion. As I have contemplated some of my own perspectives over the past several years, I’ve discovered that my default notions about justice are partially correct and partially not. I came to see that my notions regarding justice had been primarily guided by my culture. How my own society wrestles with justice has had a strong bearing on my own views. Some measure of this influence is inescapable, however, the influence can be moderated.  A serious look at the biblical examples of social justice sheds light on God’s heart for justice, which is becoming my primary concern. For the purpose of this writing, I am limiting our discussion to a narrow section of Scripture often overlooked by Christians. 

If you had asked me ten years ago if the Old Testament prophets would ever become a major voice in my life, I probably would have given you a doubtful reply, but what I am discovering is that the Old Testament prophets reveal the heart of God. They were speaking to a particular circumstance in a particular moment. If our circumstances reflect their circumstances, then their voices should be loud. Our first steps into matters of social response embrace the realities of justice and righteousness through the eyes of those biblical prophets. These two words, justice and righteousness, become our road map and the voices of the prophets are our navigators. 

The best Old Testament scholars caution us not to separate the words, justice and righteousness, too much. Often, this error stems from a neglect of reading the Old Testament. The vocabulary of Christians is dominated by our New Testament readings to the exclusion of Old Testament meanings. Keep in mind that New Testament writers used these words with established Old Testament meanings. Abraham Heschel writes, “It is exceedingly difficult to establish the exact difference in meaning of the biblical terms mishpat, justice, and tsedekah, righteousness. However, it seems that justice is a mode of action, righteousness a quality of the person” (Abraham Heschel, The Prophets, 200). Heschel further describes the words justice and righteousness. Here is a summary of his words: Justice has specific boundaries of legality and exactness. Justice focuses on the actions between people and matters of doing right within those relationships. Righteousness is rooted in the motivations of the people involved. Kindness and generosity ignite a burning compassion for the oppressed. Justice and righteousness are rooted in the same concept. While justice deals with doing right, righteousness speaks to the heart of doing right. 

A look at the prophet Amos gives a prime example for how these words interact. Throughout the book of Amos, God confronted the people of Israel for their repeated hostile actions toward those who were faithful to God, as well as, those who were in need. Amos condemned Israel for excessive affluence, oppression of the poor, and meaningless religious actions (Amos 4:1-5 & 8:4-6). God attempted multiple times to draw back the people of Israel into a holy relationship with him. Their refusal was demonstrated in their continued actions infringing upon justice and righteousness, and, here is what God said to Israel as a result. “’Behold the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will send a famine on the land – not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it’” (Amos 8:11-12, English Standard Version). God quit speaking to them! God said to Israel through Amos, “I am done listening. I am done speaking.” What a disturbing reality! The possibility of God refusing to respond to people should send shudders through us. This situation is not one we imagine as people formed primarily by New Testament writings, and that is a point of considerable reflection here. The fuller revelation of God in both testaments of Scripture aids us in imagining what God is really like. If the Old Testament reveals that God takes these concepts of justice and righteousness more seriously than we often do, then what happened to Israel in Amos’ moment could bring better clarity to us.

Both justice and righteousness had been lost in Israel. Justice, the keeping of right actions, and righteousness, the heart motivating those actions, had declined to the point that the most vulnerable people were afflicted by oversight, neglect, and abuse. Now, imagine how serious this situation was if God’s response was to fall silent to Israel’s prayers. God was serious about this particular set of sins among the people of Israel.

God told Israel to stop the religious gatherings and festivals. Stop all the activities associated with gathered worship. Stop the singing. Stop the solemn gatherings of reflection, and start overflowing with justice and righteousness. Remember, justice is about doing right, and righteousness is the heart of doing right. According to Amos, God would rather witness justice and righteousness lived within people than to hear their praises. The projected outcome was that until they acted with justice and righteousness, then God was done speaking to them.

This scripture is an example of how the prophets speak to us. Our current moment in history intersects with Amos in this place of injustice. If Amos’ circumstance was similar to our circumstance, then doesn’t his voice count? Shouldn’t his voice be heard? With as much objectivity as you can generate, answer this question: Who are the most vulnerable people in your culture right now? Be thorough in this part of your reflection. Vulnerability can be experienced in multiple ways by people in various settings. Vulnerability occurs due to economic, social, gender, and racial factors. Other categories of vulnerability exist as well, but hopefully these examples prime your thinking. This question prompts us to realize that people’s situations differ. The playing field is not the same for everyone nor are the rules. Some people are vulnerable for reasons they cannot control, and others have created their own vulnerability. Self-inflicted vulnerability may result from choices regarding finances, education, or morality. While these examples are in no way an exhaustive list, they demonstrate how our personal choices may result in socially unjust circumstances which are difficult to reverse. For whatever reasons people are vulnerable, the cause of vulnerability is not the issue. Justice and righteousness are the issues at stake.   The issue in Amos’ day, and in every age, is to listen to how God instructed the Israelite people to alter their course of actions and their motivators for those actions. 

Once we have formulated this list of potentially vulnerable people, Amos prompts us to consider how the words, justice and righteousness, shape our Christian ethic. These two words should create within us responses to vulnerable people. Unresponsiveness and abuse were the precise issues facing Israel in Amos’ day. The corrective words of Amos to Israel instructed them to change their positions regarding justice and righteousness. “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24). The words, justice and righteousness, prompt the same outcome; right actions toward people motivated by a right heart.

In my own life, I have chosen to invest in people on the fringes of society; those picking recyclables in trash dumps. That work takes me to desolate places where no human should be forced to live, and yet, people do live in trash dump communities. Whether for unjust social or self-inflicted reasons, they live, work, and die in the trash, and there is something that I can do about that. My own motivation to embrace this cause is prompted by the words of prophets like Amos. While the New Testament gives us strong reasons to love our neighbor, prophets like Amos clarify how followers of God live this justice and righteousness in broad social contexts. Those seeking to live justly and righteously are regularly afforded opportunities to impart these two gifts to others. How is Amos calling us to live? What changes would align us with these two words and God’s heart for people?