Against God?

I (Randy, here) have been repeatedly asked when telling friends about the Dikiaos Project, "what is biblical justice ? Is that just a Christianized term for secular ideas of social justice?" Simply put, the Bible has some very specific and somewhat unique teachings related to how we live our lives and treat others. With that in mind, I thought I would outline a few of the main teachings of Scripture over the next few blog posts. So let's jump right in:

1. Biblical justice holds all injustices (sin) to ultimately be against God himself.

While from a secular perspective wrongs are more or less committed against their recipients, the Bible teaches that any time we lie, cheat, steal, wound, malign, misrepresent, and the like we not only do so against the direct recipients of these actions, but also against the God who made and loves them.

Several texts could be pointed to here, but let's keep it simple and just look at one:

James 3:9-10: With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

The book of James is deeply concerned with those things that divide people and cause us to mistreat one another. While this verse is often cited in reference to gossip and the use of dirty words, there is more to be seen than just that. James points out that because humanity is made in the Image of God (Imago Dei - a theme we will cover more in a later post) every person has an intrinsic worth. James points to the absurdity of a moth that can both worship God and wrong someone made in his image because the two completely incomparable. To wrong another human being is to wrong our heavenly Father.

Next time you spend time in prayer, consider meditating on this teaching and ask the Holy Spirit to show you any areas that you have offended the Lord through acts not specifically directed toward Him.

Grace and Peace,

Randy & Lindsay