A Collection of 12 One-Minute Commentaries
To access additional Word Foundations articles on social justice, go here.
1.
What Do People Mean When They Talk About Social Justice?
Calvin Beisner and his teenage son A. J. frequently play ping-pong. Typically the score is lopsided, with one player beating the other badly. Some observers may object. Isn’t the winner being heavy-handed and hardhearted, callous and lacking compassion? Shouldn’t Beisner and A. J. simply add up the total number of points, divide by two, and assign the same score to each player? After all, both are made in God’s image. Leveling out the score would only be “fair,” rectifying the disparity between players and compensating for the strengths and weakness of both. Pride and feelings of inferiority would be eliminated, gloating and discouragement overshadowed.
In a booklet titled Social Justice: How Good Intentions Undermine Justice and Gospel, Dr. Beisner uses this unconventional approach to ping-pong to illustrate the politically correct idea of redistribution of wealth. Progressives call it social justice. Is it biblical? Tune in next time.
Calvin Beisner, Social Justice: How Good Intentions Undermine Justice and Gospel, (Burke, VA and Washington, D.C.: Cornwall Alliance for The Stewardship of Creation, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council, 2013), 1.
You can download this publication here.
2.
Does the Bible Advocate Redistribution of Wealth?
In his important booklet titled Social Justice: How Good Intentions Undermine Justice and Gospel,Dr. E. Calvin Beisner examines the modern appeal to social justice and the problems that arise from strategies implemented to practice it. Often proponents of social justice advocate policies that redistribute wealth to achieve “fairness” and “equality.”
Is redistribution of wealth a biblical concept? For example, did the early Christians practice it? Sometimes progressives contend they did by pointing to passages in Acts that describe charity in the early church. Beisner examines these and other passages and shows that the Bible doesn’tcall for wealth redistribution. Consider that Acts 2:44-45 and 4:34-35 describe voluntary giving, not the forced apportioning of resources. The Bible certainly encourages generosity among individuals, but it also affirms the concepts of private property and individual sovereignty. What does biblical justice mean? Tune in again next time.
Calvin Beisner, Social Justice: How Good Intentions Undermine Justice and Gospel, (Burke, VA and Washington, D.C.: Cornwall Alliance for The Stewardship of Creation, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council, 2013), 7-8.
You can download this publication here.
3.
What Is the Biblical Concept of Justice?
Social Justice: How Good Intentions Undermine Justice and Gospel by E. Calvin Beisner examines the modern concept of social justice and contrasts it to the biblical ideal. While Beisner offers many more insights than I can summarize here, his discussion of Hebrew and Greek words appearing in the Bible that relate to the idea of justice is vital. Hebrew words convey the ideas of adherence to God’s standard of ethics and morality, as well as referring to governmental processes and government in a broad sense. The Greek concepts include fairness and uprightness, as well as the idea of legal judgment or the dispensing of justice, righteousness, and fairness. On this basis, biblical justice means “rendering impartially and proportionally to everyone his due in accord with the righteous standard of God’s moral law.” Biblical justice isn’t about equalizing wealth, but about impartiality and making sure people receive what they rightly deserve.
Calvin Beisner, Social Justice: How Good Intentions Undermine Justice and Gospel, (Burke, VA and Washington, D.C.: Cornwall Alliance for The Stewardship of Creation, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council, 2013), 11.
You can download this publication here.
4.
The Purpose of Government
Most people today, including most Christians, believe government exists to meet the needs of its citizens. Scripture says otherwise. In Romans 13, when Paul directed the Roman Christians to be good citizens by obeying civil authorities, he explained that civil leaders affirm those who do right and punish evildoers. “Do you want to be unafraid of the authority?” Paul asked. “Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same” (v. 3). Peter echoed this principle in 1 Peter 2:13-14.
God established governments to promote and maintain order in society by punishing those who do wrong and honoring those who do right. This is not their only duty, but this task is primary.
This truth gives rise to some important questions. How are the people’s needs to be met? What happens when civil authorities don’t know right from wrong? In future commentaries, we’ll address such questions.
Romans 13:1-7
1 Peter 2:13-17
5.
Who Meets the People’s Needs?
While many believe government exists to meet people’s needs, Scripture teaches individual responsibility. So does history. Settlers in both Jamestown and Plymouth initially sought to produce food and wealth according to a communal system. Workers contributed the fruits of their labors to a “common store” on which all relied. This approach pushed both settlements to the brink of starvation. Yet when land was assigned and people could reap the benefits of their own work, the communities prospered.
The Bible commends reward for hard work among able-bodied people. Proverbs 14:23 says, “In all labor there is profit.” Paul told the Thessalonians that whoever wouldn’t work shouldn’t be allowed to eat (see 2 Thess. 3:10), and he told Timothy that “if anyone does not provide for his own,…he…is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:8). It isn’t government’s job to meet the people’s needs. That job belongs to the people themselves.
Genesis 2:15
Exodus 20:8-9
Proverbs 6:6-11
Proverbs 12:14
Proverbs 14:23
Ecclesiastes 3:13
Ecclesiastes 5:12
Romans 12:11
Ephesians 4:28
2 Thessalonians 3:6-12
1 Timothy 5:3-8
Alvin J. Schmidt, Under the Influence: How Christianity Transformed Civilization, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 211-212. This work has been rereleased under the title How Christianity Changed the World.
6.
When Government Can’t Do Its Job
Scripture teaches governments are to establish and maintain order by punishing those who do wrong and honoring those who do right (see Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pet. 2:13-17). However, when government doesn’t know right from wrong, it can’t do its God-given job.It won’t always get things wrong, but it lacks the foundation to consistently get things right.
Many of our elected and appointed leaders aren’t just confusedabout right and wrong—they turn morality on its head! Examples include homosexuality, which is celebrated as an “alternative lifestyle,” and the claim that women should have an unfettered “right to abortion,” increasingly at taxpayers’ expense! Isaiah wrote, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good, evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isa. 5:20; also see vv. 21-25). Next time we’ll consider how we got to this point.
7.
If It Sounds Good—Beware!
The sexual revolution of the 1960s didn’t just change people’s thinking about sexuality; it brought about a shift in perspectives on right and wrong. People today don’t see truth, right, and wrong as things to be discovered;they believe each person can createhis or her own truth. This is relativism, which says all opinions are equally valid. This sounds good, but it is fatally flawed. Christians believe in absolute standards of right and wrong, standards determined by the character of a holy God. Believing in absolutes necessarily means believing all opinions are not equally valid. Relativists reject this perspective outright, so they don’t really see all opinions as equal, either—but they pretend to anyway, using “tolerance” as a mantra. So, modern “tolerance” leaves no room for a belief in absolutes. Christians are called on to be good citizens, even in this climate. More on this next time.
Josh McDowell discussed the nature of truth on the Focus on the Family radio broadcast, May 22-23, 2007
8.
Good Citizens
During the days of the early church, government often oppressed Christians. Still, God inspired Paul and Peter to tell their readers, including us, to be good citizens. This means more than just paying taxes and obeying the law. We are to pray for our leaders, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence,” showcasing Christ so people might be drawn to the truth and accept it in their lives (see 1 Tim. 2:1-6). Moreover, especially in a free country like ours, Christians have a duty to contend for what is right in the marketplace of ideas. This includes voting according to biblical values. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The church…is not the master or servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool.”
Romans 13:1-7
1 Peter 2:13-17
Martin Luther King, Jr. quoted by Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace?,238. See http://communityofjesus.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/martin-luther-king-jr-on-the-church-as-the-conscience-of-the-state/.
9.
Unsustainable
The idea that people can determine truth for themselves isn’t new. The last verse in the Book of Judges says, “In those days…everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 21:25; see also 17:6). This describes modern America. To many, doing what is right in one’s own eyes means true freedom; but when practiced widely, it represents a national pathway to tyranny.
Robert Winthrop, Speaker of the US House of Representatives from 1838 to 1840, said, “Men…must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.” In its call to right living, Christianity restrains people from using their freedoms in ways destructive to themselves or to societal stability. Pray that a national spiritual awakening will reverse America’s course.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Charles_Winthrop
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/robert_charles_winthrop_564208
10.
When Man’s Law and God’s Law Conflict
Christians are commanded to be good citizens, but the Bible also is clear that God’s law trumps man’s law every time. In both the Old and New Testaments, God blessed His people when they defied manmade laws and refused to compromise their allegiance to Him.
This doesn’t necessarily mean Christians must frequently disobey civil law. If we can’t flee, which is what our forebears did when they sought religious liberty in the New World, we can work for change. In America, thankfully, citizens still can challenge unjust laws. Yet once all avenues are exhausted, if the state still directs us to violate our consciences, we must obey God. This premise is at the heart of the Manhattan Declaration, which upholds three issues as paramount in our culture—life, marriage, and religious liberty. These are non-negotiable. If you haven’t done so already, read and sign the Manhattan Declaration at www.manhattandeclaration.org.
Exodus 1:15-22
Daniel 3
Daniel 6
Acts 4:1-31; 5:17-32
http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/
11.
Calling America Back to a Founding Principle
In his monumental work How Should We Then Live?, Francis Schaeffer observed that one of the principles that came out of the Reformation is the truth “that 51 percent of the vote never becomes the final source of right and wrong in government because the absolutes of the Bible are available to judge a society.” America’s founders recognized this, but consider how far we’ve departed from it and the price we’ve paid for doing so. Schaeffer continued, “The ‘little man,’ the private citizen, can at any time stand up and, on the basis of biblical teaching, say that the majority is wrong.” Even though our society no longer recognizes this truth, we as Christians in America desperately need to rediscover it and call our nation back—winsomely and in love, yes, but also with authority and clarity. Will you be among those who are willing to take such a stand?
Francis A. Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live?, (Old Tappan, NJ: 1976), 110.
12.
Real Freedom is Grounded in Truth
At 8:39 p.m. on July 16, 1999, John Kennedy, Jr., his wife, and his sister-in-law departed in a single-engine plane from Essex County, New Jersey, to attend his cousin’s wedding the next day. Sadly, the aircraft crashed and none survived. Vertigo, a condition in which the pilot’s internal system of balance is thrown askew, making it impossible to sense the position, speed, and trajectory of the plane, likely was a factor in the crash. To overcome vertigo, a pilot must exercise an iron will to rely fully on the plane’s instruments, which don’t mislead.
Many people today have something we might call “spiritual vertigo.” They base all kinds of decisions on feelings. In life, Scripture can be likened to a plane’s instruments. Following God’s Word ensures a safe flight and a safe landing—but we must refuse to follow feelings and must swim upstream against today’s cultural tide.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy,_Jr.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy,_Jr._plane_crash
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jfk-jr-killed-in-plane-crash
http://www.logisticsonline.com/doc.mvc/Spatial-disorientation-cause-of-Kennedy-plane-0001
All commentaries have been written by B. Nathaniel Sullivan.
Copyright © 2014 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.