Justice has four dimensions:
1. Deliverance
of the poor and powerless from the injustice that they regularly experience.
2. Lifting
the foot of domineering power off the neck of the dominated and oppressed.
3. Stopping
the violence and establishing peace.
4. Restoring
the outcasts, the excluded, the Gentiles, the exiles, and refugees to the community.
Justice
is an important subject mentioned by Jesus in the New Testament. Skipping over
the biblical meaning of justice creates a vacuum. Many Christians see biblical
love as superior to justice and view it as an abstract principle. They ignore
the thousand biblical teachings on justice and believe it is inferior and
unimportant. They have no answer to the secular ideologies which tempt them to
do unjust practices. They become unbiblical and move in the opposite direction
from the way the bible says God is moving. We have to understand that there is not
split between Jesus and justice. Justice is one of the central virtues in
Jesus’ teachings.
God
cares deeply for the justice of the poor, the powerless, the outcasts, and the
victims of the violence. This theme is emphasized by the prophets of the Old
Testament and is continued by Jesus. Jesus came proclaiming the reign of God
and announced God’s justice as the deliverance of the outcast, the poor, and the
oppressed from the dominion of greed and concentrated power. Justice and
righteousness are what God wills and does. God enacts and carries out justice.
Even in the preaching of John, the Baptist, the deliverance of the poor from
the extortion of the powerful was the central theme. Jesus confronted the
wealthy for their greed and there are many parables spoken by Jesus regarding
it. Jesus taught that God cared deeply for the poor and the powerless. Jesus
enacted it and fed the poor and hungry and taught the disciples the practice of
sharing with those in need. Jesus often confronted the injustice of domination
and sought to bring out deliverance through the practice of mutual servanthood.
Jesus confronted anyone who would exclude enemies from the circle of love by
teaching that we should love not only our friends but also our enemies.
Confronting the exclusiveness of the Pharisee, Jesus called Matthew, the
tax-collector to be his disciple. Jesus’ practice of table fellowship with
outcasts and the unclean was a deliberate demonstration of his fundamental
disagreement with the central practice of the Pharisees.
Those
who do not suffer injustice frequently get lulled into a lack of concern for
those who do suffer it. At the heart of Christian discipleship is the
overcoming of the privileged lull. We need to enter into the pain and injustice
of the suffering world. When we see how Jesus fought for justice and died when
the powerful whom he was confronting for their injustice conspired to kill him
and the disciples betrayed him. We need to ensure that we are not hiding or
ignoring justice while focusing on love. We need to follow what the Bible
teaches us regarding justice.
ETHICS: The concepts involved
According to Bonhoeffer, the concept of state is foreign to the New Testament. It has its origin in the pagan world and its place is taken in the New Testament by the concept of government which holds power. The term “state” means an ordered community and the government is the power that creates and maintains order. The term “state” embraces both the rulers and the ruled while the term “government” refers only to the rulers. For the New Testament, it is an eschatological concept; it is the future city of God, the New Jerusalem, the heavenly society under the rule of God. The term “government” does not imply any particular form of society or any particular form of state and it is divinely ordained authority to exercise worldly dominion by divine right. The concept of government and not the concept of state can have a theological application. In using the term “church” and its relation to the terms “government” and “state” we have to distinguish between the spiritual office or ministry and the congregation or the Christians. The spiritual office is the divinely ordained authority to exercise spiritual dominion by divine right and it does not proceed from the congregation but from God. A clear distinction must be drawn between the secular and the spiritual authority but at the same time Christians are citizens and they are also subject to the claims of Jesus Christ. Bonhoeffer is arguing that the relationship of the spiritual office is different from then government for Christians.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Stassen, Glen H. and David P. Gushee. Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in
Contemporary Context. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2003.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Ethics. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1955.
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