Is it really the Gospel vs. Justice?
Is it really the Gospel vs. Justice?
Is this the question you’ve found rattling around in your head the last couple of months -- maybe years? If so, I hope this eases your mind and helps you see how they work hand-in-hand beautifully for the glory of God and the growth of His Kingdom.
In college, I worked for a Christian cheerleading organization. We packed up in vans and cars and drove from state to state to put on camps for private schools. Our goal was, of course, to provide quality cheerleading instruction, but it was also an outreach tool. Each morning and evening, we had devotionals with worship and teaching and fun skits. It was like a cheerleading camp with church camp tacked on.
What I remember clearly is when our mission was explained to us, leadership always said: the cheerleading is what gives us credibility and builds the relationships that allow us to share Christ.
That outward expression and competence is what earned us a way into the gospel. They worked together. It’s an idea I’ve carried into a lot of spaces in my life. Where can I be competent and service-oriented to earn the relationship that leads to spiritual conversations?
It’s not exactly a justice and gospel conversation, but it has some roots there. And I certainly no longer look at doing things well as merely a way to talk about Jesus. I see them now as an outpouring of God’s presence in my life. I do work well, take care of others, and share Jesus because of the Holy Spirit’s work in me. And I think the Bible makes it pretty clear this is the way of things.
What do “gospel” and “social justice” even mean?
That, my friend, is an excellent question. When people on the Internet begin slinging the terms around, the definitions come to mean any number of things. (So maybe that’s the first question for a discussion of this nature -- what are your definitions?)
For the purpose of our discussion, here’s how I will define them.
The gospel is the redemptive story of humanity that begins in Eden, where God made humans, placed them to be in fellowship with him, and humans colossally messed it up. We’re great at that. But Jesus makes it right. He took what we messed up and he bore it on the cross. In doing so, he hit reset on our relationship with God and took away the sins and mess ups that keep us from Him. Now we are active partners in how God is restoring humanity and the earth for eternity. The gospel is what we base our salvation on.
Social justice by our definition is this: the work of righting wrongs and creating equity on earth by actively serving and meeting needs individually and collectively. It often means serving the most vulnerable and marginalized -- like the poor, people of color, and others who suffer oppression. It is enacted in the way we individually treat others and give others as well as working against oppressive systems. This is our work as believers in the restoration of the world alongside God. It is how we bring “on earth as it is in heaven” into reality. It is not, however, something that must be done to obtain salvation. Rather, it is something we often feel compelled to do because of our salvation and closeness to God.
Why is there tension between these two things?
There will always be tension in something. That’s part of the curse of the fall. The way we interact with each other and the world has been tainted. It is through the work of the Holy Spirit alone that we can make a change, and that begins when he indwells us at salvation.
The tension, I believe, really comes from two main questions:
Which comes first or is the priority?
What is the best way to express our faith in the public square?
The first question is hard to answer. Because on the one hand, we know that spiritually our needs are great. They are deep, and they are unchangeable outside of Christ. Secondly, if you believe in eternal separation from God, there are more than earthly consequences to wrong spiritual paths.
On the other hand, we know that people are dying every day of real challenges. Can we even hope to help them spiritually if they have a physical need? This side puts physical needs first to gain trust, access, or time to get to share.
Both are true, and the tension is great. We balance it every day. The answer I’m afraid is: it depends. We have to be able to assess a person, a situation, and a need on the spot. That’s why the Holy Spirit is great.
The second question then -- what is the best way to express our faith in the public square -- is really a question of an expression of our values. How do we show that we’re different from the world? Do we legislate? Do we preach? Do we give? What do we do?
The hard part is that there isn’t one answer. We keep trying to pick a side. It’s THIS or THAT. But again, it’s likely all of the above all at the same time. There is no binary here. The way we show our differences is in word AND deed. This is not an either/or. When our hearts are changed, the way we show our heart comes forward.
Jesus said in Luke 6:45,
A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.
What we do and say, shows what’s inside. So instead of setting up this dichotomy, we need to actually embrace the tension because our world needs both and the way of the Kingdom requires both as well.
Spiritual Justice Has Been Given to All Believers
Remember when we talked about the fall and the curse? That happened because of sin -- disobedience to God. I often look back in disdain at Adam and Eve -- you had ONE job, right? But though we may entertain the idea that we would do better, it doesn’t change the reality that we were affected.
We committed a sin or “crime” against God’s commands or law. That sin had consequences. In order to achieve justice, it meant that we wouldn’t be able to be with God ever again. Not that close and not forever. But God paid the price through Jesus. Jesus was our “sub” who served our time and made it possible to wipe our slate clean. This is called “justification” -- the removal of our guilt and being made RIGHTEOUS or put right again. Better yet, it does so for all the sin we commit, past, present and future. We just have to accept it.
This is justice on our behalf. It allows us to reconcile with God and have fellowship with him. In fact, once you’re a believer, he LIVES IN YOU. That’s how close we are to God now. We are reconciled and now entrusted with sharing reconciliation with others. Here’s what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ...
Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” 21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin[e] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
We are now righteous AND entrusted with this message of spiritual justice. And with the Holy Spirit’s presence, we are now prompted to do God’s work in the world. We are part of the work of making the world whole.
Also Known as Justice
I once heard Tony Evans say, “Righteousness and justice are twin pillars.” Scripture makes clear that justice is a priority for God.
Did you know that there are at least 2,000 verses about what would be called “social justice” today in the Bible? The prophets from the Old Testament are full of verses about caring for the oppressed, forgiving debts, and resetting the priorities of care for our world and those around us. They called people back to God, and the way they were showing they weren’t close to God was their poor treatment of people individually or systemically.
Jesus’ life is also an example. In the early days of his ministry, when he would enter a city, he would first heal then he would preach. His first revelation of who he really was and subsequent conversion? A Samaritan woman -- a marginalized race and gender of the time. These were not small deals. They were big deals. It even seems like there was an expectation of collecting money to give to the poor based on some of the reactions you see about how people used their resources in the gospels. This was part of what Jesus’ ministry on earth looked like.
Then we move to some of what Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
We think of Micah 6:8: Mankind, he has told each of you what is good
and what it is the Lord requires of you:
to act justly,
to love faithfulness,
and to walk humbly with your God.
There may be tension, but there is no choice between justice and gospel. Loving others and loving God. Jesus even made this point with one of the stories you’ve probably heard the most. I’m taking this one from Luke 10.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.”[a]
28 “You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. 34 He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day[b] he took out two denarii,[c] gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’
36 “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
37 “The one who showed mercy to him,” he said.
Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”
It’s our job to balance this tension between the gospel and justice because Jesus did. To fight the narrative and the temptation that to do one is to reject or lower the other in importance. To allow the Spirit and our relationships to guide us in leaning into whichever side needs to win out in every moment because BOTH bring glory to God and life to those around us.
Our faith in Jesus and empowerment of the Holy Spirit are what enable us to breakthrough the barrier that keep heaven and earth from coming together. It now comes together IN us and THROUGH us, which means carrying the spiritual and physical justice to every part of the world we possibly can.
