Social Justice

[A Theology Paper from this semester's coursework.]
*Warning* This is a long entry for one blog post.
Read at your own risk.

Yesterday, almost 16,000 children under the age of 16 starved to death. Unfortunately, the majority of Christians in America don’t seem to give a damn about children in other parts of the world. In fact, the majority of Christians in America are more offended that I just said "damn" than they are at the deaths of nearly 10 million children a year from hunger. Despite the apathy of so many of Christ’s followers, God is working in this world.

The Bible demonstrates that God has a plan for the human race. Despite our own rebellion, God has chosen to love his creation and offer hope to the race he created. His plan spans from the beginning of the biblical narrative in Genesis, all the way to the events yet to come, described to us in the book of Revelation. His plan to redeem his rebellious race begins in the person of his Son. Jesus Christ entered into history roughly two thousand years ago, as God’s ultimate solution to the problem of human rebellion. He entered into the corrupted creation, took on human form, and began the work of reconciliation. God’s ultimate plan for redemption led Christ to Jerusalem, to the hill called Golgotha. On a Roman Cross, he took the punishment due the rebellious race, and paid the penalty for human sin. This event, the substitution of the perfect Son of God for a rebellious humanity, becomes for his followers the ultimate example of love. This love should motivate Christians to live lives of sacrificial worship. God has commanded that we worship in our actions, as well as in our words.
In modern times, two distinct theological movements have sought to bring justice to the oppressed of this world. The Social Gospel movement, theologically led by Walter Rauschenbusch, sought to apply progressive theology to the problem of social justice, and thus sought to preach a message of social reform without preaching about sin or repentance. In a similar manner, the Liberation theology movement sought to apply the teachings of Jesus, about the poor and needy, to the political oppression of the poor by capitalists in South and Central America. Under the theological leadership of Gustavo Gutierrez, they proclaimed the experience of political freedom for the poor as the primary message of Christ. As Gutierrez defined it:
“The theology of liberation attempts to reflect on the experience and meaning of the faith based on the commitment to abolish injustice and to build a new society; this theology must be verified by the practice of that commitment, by active, effective participation in the struggle which the exploited social classes have undertaken against their oppressors.”

Unfortunately, in their quest to right the many wrongs of their societies, neither movement remains faithful to the central message of scripture, that is, that Jesus Christ died on a cross to pay the penalty that sinners owed for rebelling against God. Both movements sought to focus the message of the cross on the moral example of a man willing to die for his beliefs, rather than on the payment for sin and crushing of evil that occurred at the cross.
Perhaps the most disappointing reality of modern Christianity is the lack of social action practiced by “conservative evangelicals”. Those who claim; first that the Bible is without error and second that Christ actually paid for sin on the cross, have neglected the clear call of scripture to worship God in all their actions.
It is the intention of this paper to demonstrate that the doctrines of Original Sin and Penal Substitutionary Atonement, coupled with the commands of scripture to worship God through actions, should motivate Christians to seek social justice, as one means of living out the Gospel. In order to better understand why the Atonement is so important in any discussion of social justice, it is important to examine the sinful nature of humanity and the initial rebellion that required atonement.

“In the Beginning” as the account goes, “God created the heavens and the earth.” And God created everything on the earth, and then he created man, “In Our image”. God created Adam to rule the earth and to bring glory to God. Then, evil entered into the earth, with the appearance of the serpent. Adam and Eve chose of their own freewill to disobey God’s command and rebelled against God’s supreme authority. Cornelius Plantinga defines sin as the “culpable disturbance of shalom.” To explain this definition, Plantinga goes on to say “shalom is God’s design for creation and redemption; sin is blamable human vandalism of these great realities and therefore an affront to their architect and builder”. Because humans freely and regularly rebel against God, one would expect him to punish them. And indeed, the account of Adam and Eve’s sin does not end with God simply looking the other way. God enters the garden and calls out to them. He reveals their disobedience and punishes them. He expels them from his presence, condemns them to work the land for their survival, and curses them for their disobedience. The earth it self is cursed by Adam’s sin, it is no longer perfect and pleasing to God. But God does not leave them without hope. In condemning the serpent for his deception of Eve, God promises that one of Eve’s descendents will crush the serpent’s head. As Old Testament scholar, G. Ch. Aalders noted, “If the enemy, whose ultimate defeat is announced here, is a personal being, then the force which would ultimately gain the victory over him must also be a personal being… This triumphant victor, of course, is our Lord Jesus Christ.” This passage is rightly called the “protevangelium”, for this is the first insight into God’s plan for redemption.

The extent of human corruption reaches into the very center of all human society. Not only are all individuals completely corrupted by sin, but also the corruption of each member contributes to the overall corruption of the society. Thus the Apostle Paul describes sinners in Romans chapter One.

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.

Because of Adam’s sin, the whole human race is damned in the sight of God. But as Plantinga reminds his readers, “To speak of sin by itself, to speak of it apart from the realities of creation and grace, is to forget the resolve of God.” His point is not to be missed. Though conservatives must rightly defend the doctrine of sin, to divorce it from the doctrine of salvation and reconciliation is to deny the redemptive plan of God.
The Missio Dei, the “Mission of God” has been demonstrated from Genesis to Revelation. Time and again in scripture, God provides people and/or events to accomplish his purpose in reconciling humanity to himself. He chose a people (Israel) to carry out his mission. He chose specific individuals to do particular things, to accomplish his purpose. And perhaps the greatest accomplishment of God’s mission came in Bethlehem, when God himself entered human history. The miraculous nature of the incarnation should not be forgotten. As Lewis and Demarest remind their readers, “The focus of Christian confession, then, is the Christmas event – the fact that the transcendent God has visited and redeemed his people in Jesus of Nazareth.” It is this fact first which motivates Christian service; that Almighty God stepped down, from the perfection of Heaven into the corrupted Creation, in order to demonstrate his love for his people. His love would be clearly revealed in the thirty-third year of his life, on a tree outside Jerusalem.
Wayne Grudem summarizes the events of the incarnation and the cross this way. “The atonement is the work Christ did in his life and death to earn our salvation.” In this he reminds his reader that Christ did more than simply die for his people, he also fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law in his people’s place. N.T. Wright argues that, “The Cross becomes the sign that pagan empire, symbolized in the might and power of sheer brutal force, has been decisively challenged by a different power, the power of Love, the power that shall win the day.”
It was the Love of God coequal with the Justice of God, which motivated Christ to go to the Cross. Because God loves humanity, his plan has been to redeem them since the fall. But because humanity has openly rebelled against Him, God has rightly chosen to demand a payment for their crime. Thus in the cross, the Love of God is perfectly demonstrated with the Justice of God. John Stott faithfully demonstrates the two truths working together.

How then could God express simultaneously his holiness in judgment and his love in pardon? Only by providing a divine substitute for the sinner so that the substitute [Christ] would receive the judgment and the sinner the pardon. We sinners still of course have to suffer some of the personal, psychological and social consequences of our sins, but the penal consequence, the deserved penalty of alienation from God, has been borne by Another in our place, so that we might be spared it.

And thus, God’s mission of Reconciliation pivots on the personal self-substitution of God himself, in our place, for our sins. God’s Love and Justice were equally and sufficiently satisfied in the death of Christ on the Cross. On the personal level, it is the Love and Justice of God which should motivate lives of Christian worship.

The life of a Christian should be a life of worship. As Jesus told the woman at the well, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” For Christ has commanded his followers to live lives of worship. As Paul said in Romans 12, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” In addressing this passage, F.F. Bruce notes that the work of Christ transforms the ritual acts of the Old Testament into spiritual acts for the New Testament believer. Even as spiritual worship occurs, the sinner is being transformed to be more like Christ. This worship is also evidenced in the Letter of the Apostle James.

Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

The command seems to be quite clear, listen to the word, and live out what the word commands. As Douglas Moo put it, “And so, James insists, listening to God’s word must lead to ‘doing’ it. Only then are we truly ‘accepting’ the word.” And this is demonstrated in verse 27, where James illustrates one of the ways that Christians are expected to live out their faith, by caring after those who are unable to care for themselves.
In the Old Testament, especially in the prophets, God commands his people to worship him rightly. Throughout the Pentateuch, and the Prophets, God consistently commands respect. Several times in Isaiah, he commands his people to live out their faith in God, not to merely do the symbolic gestures required of them. In Isaiah 58, God chastises his people for fasting with the wrong attitude.

Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God…
Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am.
If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.

This passage has oft been misused by those who seeking the primary point of the gospel the freeing of people from oppressive social structure. However, it is important to note that this passage is still an important part of Christian worship, even if its message has been abused in the past. The importance of this passage is demonstrated by J. Ridderbos, when he states, “The Lord now confronts Israel with another ideal – the practice of justice and mercy. This is the fast that pleases the Lord… The essence lies not in the externals, but in the conversion of heart and life”
More than a plea for justice, though it is that, God is pleading with the people of Israel to demonstrate their humility in acts of justice and mercy, rather than in parades of mourning. And this is a message of the entire Bible. God calls people to demonstrate that they have been changed by the love of God, by living out the love of God in the world. Worship for the believer means actively living out the Gospel in everyday live.
One of the most neglected aspects of living out the Gospel comes in the form of social justice and mercy. Despite passages like Isaiah 58 and even the Love Commands in the New Testament, there are many horrible things going on around the world which we as Christians are ignoring. Conservatives have not dealt with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we have not dealt with genocides in Rwanda or Darfur; we have almost totally ignored the international sex trade. These are issues that Christians need to deal with. We do not need to deal with these issues because of some sense of liberation, but because dealing with these things is an act of worship.
As Tim Keller expounds in his work, Ministries of Mercy, “ Mercy to the full range of human needs is such an essential mark of being a Christian that it can be used as a test of true faith. Mercy is not optional or an addition to being a Christian. Rather, a life poured out in deeds of mercy is the inevitable sign of true faith.”
This is the call of the Missio Dei, to live out the Love of God for the world around us. Only in understanding human separation from God and His plan for reconciliation, accomplished in the cross can a Christian truly appreciate the biblical mandate for social justice. God does not call his children to social justice simply because he favors the poor, but because he expects those whom he has redeemed to overflow with gratitude and love for the world around them. He expects that those who were, formerly, outcasts without hope, will demonstrate the sacrificial love that God has demonstrated to those who are hurting. The paradigm is simple, God entered a horrible realm, the earth, and sacrificed himself to save a hurting people. Likewise the Christian should sacrificially enter into situations that are hard, and demonstrate the redemptive love of God to hurting people. Where God saved us, we must demonstrate that salvation. It is this mandate which motivates Isaiah, James, Paul and the other authors of the Bible to demand that the followers of Jesus Christ live out their worship in deeds. Thus, the doctrines of Original Sin and Penal Substitutionary Atonement, coupled with the commands of scripture to worship God through actions, must motivate Christians, biblically, to seek social justice, as one means of living out the Gospel.

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