At the center of Christianity is the study of God himself. Knowing God for who he is, according to the Bible, is a pillar of the faith. Throughout Scripture, God reveals his own various attributes that help us define who he really is and what he is like. For example, in Exodus 34:6–7, God reveals himself to be “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
One of the most overlooked attributes of God is his justice. God is a perfectly just judge, and Moses described him saying, “all his ways are justice” (Deut 32:4). God is perfectly fair; he is the standard for right and wrong, and out of love, he ensures that wrongdoing is given its right consequence.
In our day, this attribute of justice is often looked at in a negative light. People critical of Christianity often point to God’s justice as a problem, evidence that God is angry or mean. However, the Bible paints a different picture of divine justice. Scripture speaks of God’s justice being a comfort.
God’s Protection
In a song of desperation the psalmist writes, “I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy” (Ps. 140:12). This particular psalm is a song of deliverance. It is about a man crying out for comfort from God in the midst of an extremely difficult situation. The writer feels as though evil is surrounding him. Looking for comfort, where does the psalmist turn? He turns to the justice of God.
After spending the first eleven verses of the song explaining his desperation and the wicked people that are surrounding him, he then turns to what he knows is true as a blanket of security. At the end of the day, God himself shall uphold the broken and the afflicted by executing justice. It is God’s promise to give evil and evildoers what they deserve that anchors the soul of the afflicted.
This principle is beautifully summarized by the writer of Proverbs: “When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers” (Prov. 21:15). For the people of God, justice is not scary. A right understanding of justice certainly gives us reverence and a holy fear of God, but as believers, this is also a source of security in times of suffering and affliction.
When evil things happen to us, or when we watch terrible events unfold on the news, we can be sure that God will ensure that justice is given. Both the one who is wronged and the wrongdoer shall get what they deserve from the hand of God. This is an immense comfort.
Lightening our load
Because God sees all things and promises to right the wrongs of this world, the Bible teaches us to avoid taking vengeance on our own. Ultimately, God will vindicate our cause.
Paul writes in his letter to Rome, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Rom. 12:19). The apostle takes this principle of God’s justice and draws out a very important implication. If God is truly just and will fight our cause, then we no longer have to carry the load of justice all on our own.
This principle shows up again at the end of the Bible. As John intends to encourage the church, he describes the vision he sees of the last days, when time itself comes to an end. God will live with humanity again, and “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4).
Knowing that God is just, and promises to uphold the cause of the downtrodden, leads us into a life of comfort and radical love for our enemies. Notice that we do not love our enemies because they do what is right, but because we know that God has taken the mantle of vengeance and justice off our shoulders. One day, on the last day, God himself shall wipe away our tears, do away with our pain, and give the wrongdoers what they deserve.
Loving Justice
So, as sons and daughters of God, we ought to be radically kind and loving to people in our lives, even when they wrong us. We find comfort not in our ability to retaliate or demand what we are owed, but in the justice of God that is perfect and unchanging.
This does not mean that Christians avoid doing justice in this world. The Bible is clear that God’s supreme justice does not lead us to abandon appropriate consequences for wrongdoing, protection of others, or accountability for evil (Mic. 6:8; Isa. 1:17). We still aim to do what is right and uphold righteous standards, but we do so recognizing that God’s final judgment is our ultimate hope. The justice we find in this life is a foreshadowing of the true justice to come.
When we see God’s promise to deal justly in all things and have been covered by the blood of Jesus, then this attribute of his becomes our safety. God is just, and he is for us.
