Justice. The term “justice” often invokes scenes from a courtroom. Judges in black robes, and prosecutors in suits ensuring criminals are “brought to justice.” Victims seeking justice. A fair and impartial jury, determining the guilt or innocence of the accused. And of course, the guilty taken away, bound, and imprisoned to serve a just sentence. Even in non-criminal cases, we often think of justice as making the wrongdoer pay their fair share.
But justice is much more than a system of assigning penalties and rewards. As a government attorney working on non-criminal issues, justice is something I strive to uphold in all my interactions, not just when I’m in a courtroom. I primarily advise my clients on what they must do, what they can do, and what they cannot do. In my work, justice is finding not only the right answer based on the law, but also the fair answer based on the circumstance. This has always been at the core of what I understood justice to be—doing the right thing, in the right way.
I know that sometimes my clients, and our government, fall short of even my ideals of justice. Sometimes people who have committed violent acts are never even brought into the courtroom, because prosecutors choose not to press charges. Sometimes penalties are never paid, because the guilty company is bankrupt, or the law is too favorable to one group. We have all seen examples of some form of injustice—people doing the wrong thing and getting away with it, or people doing legally allowed things in an unfair way. Unfortunately, human laws and human governments can never perfectly mete out true justice. This is largely because our government and our justice system are part of a broken world, run by broken, sinful people, just like you and me.
Even so, as believers we know that Jesus loves justice and is just (Psalms 11:7, 50:6; Isaiah 9:7, 42:1). Therefore we, as his image bearers, should pursue justice. But what does it look like to pursue true justice in a broken world?
Sometimes I see the call to pursue justice used as a sword and rallying cry to fight for “our rights” and freedoms. I see stories of religious organizations fighting a culture war to “save Christmas” by demanding that cities include a crèche in their holiday displays. More recently, I’ve read stories about churches demanding the “right” to gather without face masks, and flouting rules limiting gatherings during this pandemic. The call from the church to defend “our rights” is so constant that there are law firms that specialize in defending, and instigating, cases to protect “religious freedom.”
As important as the rights of religious freedom are, I don’t think this inward focus on the rights of the church is really the kind of justice God is primarily concerned about. To find out what God’s idea of justice is, we need to look at his Word.
One of my favorite ways to start digging into what the Bible says about a topic is to do a word search. I like to use biblegateway.com because it’s free and simple, but there are many resources out there that can help you search for a word throughout the Bible. When I search for a word, I like to search a few different translations and compare results. In this case, “justice” pulled up 130 results for the New International Version, 173 from the New Living Translation, 153 from the Christian Standard Bible, and 138 from the English Standard Version. These varied results tell me that there are probably different words being used to convey part of the idea of “justice,” and possibly different words in the original Hebrew or Greek that get translated into “justice.”
In this case, both of these are true. In Hebrew[1], there are two primary words that convey these ideas of “doing what is right.” The first is tsedeqah, the Hebrew word for “righteous.” The second is mishpat, the Hebrew word for “justice.” Mishpat can refer to justice that makes wrongdoers pay, but it can also refer to the kind of justice that brings justice to those who are being taken advantage of. Different translations may use “justice,” “just,” “justly,” “right,” or “righteousness” to translate these two words in different contexts.
But whichever word is used, and whichever translation you search, there is something striking about the list of verses you will find searching for “justice.” There are several verses where the author is asking God for justice. But the majority of the verses you will find concern God’s desire to provide justice where it has been missing, or instructing his people to seek justice for others, especially those who cannot easily seek justice for themselves. Psalm 140:12 says God himself secures justice for the poor and needy. In Isaiah 1:17, God is telling a rebellious nation to learn to do right by seeking justice for the oppressed, orphaned, and widowed. In Zechariah 7:8-10, God reminds the people that his instructions were to administer justice and not to oppress the widow, orphan, or foreigner, but they have failed.
Throughout his Word, God seems more interested in having his people provide justice to others. Micah 6:9 sums this up well, stating:
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
The pursuit of God’s justice isn’t primarily about ensuring we receive justice from the courts of the government. Instead, it’s about ensuring we act justly and fair toward others. This pursuit also requires that our treatment of others is merciful, especially those who are vulnerable, disadvantaged, or oppressed. This pursuit requires daily help from a just and righteous God who, incredibly, has offered to walk alongside us as we pursue and bring his justice to a hurting and broken world.
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[1] I am no Hebrew scholar. This discussion of Hebrew is taken largely from the Bible Project’s discussion on Justice.
Marta DeLeon is a full-time attorney and the Interim Director of Children’s Ministry at Lifeway Church. When she’s not practicing law or playing working in KidVenture, you can often find her in Alaska with her family, crafting, watching anime, working on a Lego set, or perusing fantasy fiction.