God's Character

God's Character

The Nature of Justice

Who is God?

That's a question that has boggled and busied mankind for millennia. What is God? What's he like? What does he want? Why does he do what he does? Why is there evil in the world if God is good? Questions, questions, questions. And not all of the answers are forthcoming.

Luckily for us, the Bible lays out many of the things we need to know about God right in front of us.

The Bible tells us that God is good, holy, righteous, just, gracious and loving (among other things – he has other attributes, but these are the ones most relevant to this discussion). No true Christian will contradict any of these traits of God's.

The Bible tells us that God is holy, which basically affirms, proves and supports his goodness. No conflict there. The Bible tells us that God is good, which kind of sums up his character and motives in itself. The Bible tells us that God is righteous, which tells us not only is God a moral entity, but that he is morally good and upright. The Bible tells us that God is just, and loving, and gracious. And this is where the conflict begins.

Calvinism defines Justice as “each receiving according to his merits,” and Grace as “someone not getting something bad that they deserve.” In Calvinism's definitions, it admits that this makes Grace and Justice incompatible. What's worse is that Calvinism admits that God doesn't always give each according to his merits – making him not completely just, really. So, modern Calvinists use the concept of “non-justice.” Non-justice, Calvinism says, is when God does something that isn't just, but isn't unjust either. Grace, it says, falls under this category. (Deuteronomy 32:4, among other passages, tell us that God is just in all of his ways. One of the most serious problems presented for the concept of non-justice lies in verses like Deuteronomy 32:4.)

[NOTE: I know that not all Calvinists agree on every single tenet of doctrine, and that not every Calvinist will feel properly represented by the concept of non-justice. If anyone feels I am misrepresenting their doctrine in its description here (though not the refutation), please feel free to let me know in a comment, and I'll gladly hear you out.]

But does Justice itself really leave any room for such a concept? Is there any righteousness outside of justice? Can God even express such contradictory attributes?

But let's concede “non-justice” for a moment. Even then, we still have God ignoring his own just character whenever it suits his fancy – in other words, God is only just most of the time, not always. Calvinism says that when God executes justice, he sends people to Hell (for something he ultimately caused, but that's already been covered). So when he spares people, he makes an exception in his just character. But also, justice is unloving in Calvinism. When God executes love, he spares the Elect and ignores justice. Calvinism sees beauty in this – the God that throws everything else aside to save his people. So the God of Calvinism is loving to some, and just to others – but he can't be both for both sets of people. The Calvinist definitions leave no room for it.

In order for God to be both loving and just toward the same group of people, as the Bible plainly teaches*, we must seek a definition that fits this model. And I believe good theology has done just that.

*[The Bible teaches that God is perfectly loving and perfectly just.]

Justice is to be defined as obeying and/or enforcing law. A just man is one who obeys law, and a just judge is one who both obeys and enforces it. “Justice is served” when a punishment demanded by law, for violation of law, is meted to the offender according to the requirements made by law. Justice punishes evil according to law.

[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/justice    <> Full Definition C]

If justice seeks to destroy, and love seeks to build, how can they be compatible?

The answer lies in a final question: Why do we have Justice in the first place?

We have justice because of love. Justice is basically a set of laws designed, not simply to combat evil, but to protect the people that we love – that often involves combating evil, but that's not all that Justice entails. Justice is not incompatible with love – in fact, love requires and conceives justice. Love that will not protect is no love at all, and justice is that protection.

But the question remains, as to whether it is truly just for God to show grace to us. Calvinism would say no, it's not just. But again, that leaves us with a God that picks and chooses when he wants to be just, and when he feels like doing something outside his own rules. If the expression of God's grace lies plainly within the bounds of Justice, however, then it would be just for him to offer Grace to us. It depends upon one's definition of Justice, and more importantly, upon God's definition of justice.

The most disturbing question that is raised by this concept is this: If God were going to operate outside of justice in order to save us, relying solely on the allegedly unmeritorious systems of grace, why do we see an atoning death on our behalf? If God were ignoring the rules of his own character, couldn't he just bypass the atonement bit, the part that Jesus was so nervous about? If God could just bypass things like this, if he could save us without justice, without rules, then why did he let himself be tortured to death for us? If God were willing to save us without justice, then it follows that he would probably be willing to save us without payment – it completely nullifies the cross. If God saved his Elect with no regard at all for justice, then Jesus died for nothing. If God ignored justice, then there was no need whatsoever for such atonement – but we know that because of God's just character, he refused to save us without satisfying justice. Justice demands payment for sins, and he paid the price. Now that justice has been served, and love thus fulfilled, love is free to save by grace through faith.

Justice proceeds from love. If God justly saves via atonement of crimes because he loves the criminal, then justice is entirely compatible with this salvation. The concept of non-justice is not only ridiculous, but also completely redundant. Justice does not mean merits – it means law.

In summation, Calvinism claims that God is perfectly just, perfectly righteous, perfectly gracious and perfectly loving, but the essence of Calvinism tells us that God is kind-of-just, kind-of-righteous, kind-of-gracious and kind-of-loving, and maybe not at all.