(Continued from part four)

We now get to part four of Bob Vincent’s paper on our compassionate God and the suffering of men.

God and Justice

Justice is an interesting concept, and a key verse for understanding what the Bible means by it is Micah 6:8: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

This passage is very rich, and several Hebrew words stand out, but the word I want to pursue is Mishpat, often translated by “justice.” Two passages throw light on the underlying connotation of this interesting Hebrew word, Exodus 26:30 and 1 Kings 6:38.

“Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to the plan (Mishpat) for it that you were shown on the mountain.” (Exodus 26:30.)

“And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications (Mishpat). He was seven years in building it.” (1 Kings 6:38.)

Here we see that an underlying meaning in Mishpat is conformity to specifications: in these two cases, following the building plans. As we flesh out the meaning of Mishpat inductively by studying the various contexts where it is found, a picture emerges:  justice is conformity—in the case of morality, to the model of God’s own holy nature, his character as he has revealed it as the pattern for human conduct.  God reveals his own moral nature in two fundamental directives:  loving God with the whole of our being and loving others as we love ourselves.  These two directives are fleshed out in many commands; indeed, just as a door hangs and swings on its hinges, the entire Old Testament hangs on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:34-40.)

The Ten Commandments are not independent of God, as if he were bound by some abstract moral principle that is above him and separate from his existence; rather they refract the very character of God himself, his own morality. In effect, they codify, within the ethos and milieu of Israel in the Second Millennium before Christ, God’s own moral character. A beautiful analogy to this is found in how a prism refracts light into its various colors. These commandments are right simply because they are consistent with who God is. In other words, murder, adultery and stealing would not be wrong if they were not contrary to God’s own nature; were there no God, there would be no right and no wrong. As Dostoevsky said, “If God does not exist, then everything is permitted.”

This moral nature of God stamped on the human soul is part of what it means for us to be created in the image of God, an image that was radically marred, gnarled, broken and twisted in the fall, but not completely lost. In the fall man lost more than a gift of super added grace (donum superadditum.); rather, the totality of his being, including his intellect, was radically affected by sin.  Humankind is totally but not utterly depraved; man is not as bad as he can possibly be.  There remains in fallen man the shattered image of God, including moral judgment because humankind is created in the image of God and thereby finitely mirrors God’s own knowledge, righteousness and holiness. (Genesis 1:26; Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24.)  That is to say, even lost people have an innate, intuitive, instinctive sense of right and wrong, based not on experience, nor as an internalized parent—a Freudian superego—but as part of the very essence of what it is to be human.

This knowledge of the true God and of his character exhibits itself imperfectly in the human conscience: “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them . . .” (Romans 2:14, 15.)  This remnant of the image of God is why even non-Christian people struggle with a sense of indignation at the injustices all around them.

As odd as it may seem, the very reason why human beings recoil at some of the ways of God is because we are all created in his image. It is why humans not only fear hell, but also are revulsed by the very idea of the eternal, conscious suffering of sentient beings. Unregenerate humans act in defiance of God, judging him by their own independent, autonomous intellects and emotions.  Nevertheless, behind that rebellion is a testimony to the remnant of God’s own moral character stamped on the soul of every human being, a divine sense of right and wrong, Mishpat, justice, conformity to the specifications of the Builder.

The Lord Jesus, as the Second Adam, is pre-eminently Man in the Image of God, restoring what was lost to us by our first father. (1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Ephesians 4:20-24; Colossians 3:9-11.) In him, in the fullness of time, all believers will be fully restored to the image of God. Then, and only then, will justice be fully understood. Then, and only then, will justice truly be rendered:

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. (1 Corinthians 4:3-5.)

Until that Day, all justice in this world is at best a stab in the dark. For not truly knowing our own hearts, (Jeremiah 17:9.) we are incapable of rendering just judgment on others, not only humans, but first and foremost, on him who is the very Archetype of Justice. To sit in judgment of God is the most brazenly arrogant and naively foolish thing fallen man can do.

(to be continued)