I am dedicating this blog to the discussion of justice.  Justice is, arguably, the highest and most important social/political virtue.  However, as a social/political virtue, justice is not a stand-alone, a starting point.  It is a concept arrived at after many points of metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics are set.  Justice is a derived concept, a function of one’s beliefs in the even more basic areas of life.

Because this is true, it is incumbent upon someone commenting on the issue of justice to be explicit regarding their fundamental beliefs.  Therefore, the following statement is in order:  I am a Christian, believing the only absolute truth is found in the Bible.  Additional truths can be deduced from the Bible, according to the accepted rules of logic and reasoning, and others may be inferred from our understanding of the reality around us.

How we live, the actions we take, are of primary concern to the Christian.  This is true of actions we take in both a personal and a social setting.  The Bible uses the same word for both “righteous” and “just.”  This in itself is an indication of the high value the Bible places upon justice.  Just as “without holiness no one shall see the Lord,” so also, “faith without justice is dead.”  (The Bible’s word is “works,” but the substitution of “justice” is clearly sanctioned by the context.)  For a Christian, justice defines both belief and actions approved by the Bible and is therefore a concept mandated by God.  Christians are called to live justly.  It is the type of action God expects of his people because of their salvation.  Justice is, simply, love in action.  To ignore justice is to fail to live up to God’s calling.

The pursuit of justice has ramifications in many areas of life.  Philosophically and historically, a just society has tended toward political and economic freedom with minimal involvement from the forces of government.  The result has been the most free, the most creative, the richest and most benevolent society in history.  The shift away from justice as defined by the Bible – a shift which really picked up steam around the turn of the last century – has led to a society increasingly beset by “soft” tyranny, poverty, and despair/ennui.

The obvious way forward is a return to Biblical principles.  Many voices are calling for this return, but almost all fall short in one area – interpersonal relationships between groups of people, i.e. justice.  Voices are calling for righteous living, but few call for just living.  For many Christians for many years, answers to political or economic issues were not informed by Biblical principles.  Hopefully, that is starting to change; I’d like to add my voice, however insignificant, to that conversation.