God is Just

“He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he” (Deut 32:4).

The only thing finite about God is his patience. His holiness, wisdom, and power are without bounds. His love never ends. But the day comes when he says to the sinner, "That's quite enough." And then it's time for justice. God is just.

Tony Evans says, “Justice is the equitable and impartial application of God’s moral law in society.” It’s applying the same rules fairly to everyone.

When speaking about God, this means that God will do what is right, that he wants to see right done by others, and he will make it right when they don’t.

What is “right?” Whatever conforms to God’s character. God will always act consistent with his character, and he expects us to do the same. He wants us to treat people the way they ought to be treated. And when we do not, we can expect consequences.

After idolatry, the thing ancient Israel was chiefly punished for was mistreating the weak. They were supposed to protect the poor and the alien, the widow and the orphan. Instead they made the poor poorer and defrauded the widow. Instead of treating everyone as equal before the law, they showed favoritism to the rich (eg, Amos 2:6-8). And God brought the punishment for this down on the entire nation. That was justice.

It is good that God is just. God promises that he will make everything right for us. That means for every time someone has wronged you, justice will be done. Have you been robbed? Have you been maligned? Have you been hurt? Justice will be done.

But that also means every time we have wronged someone else, justice will be done.

That’s kind of a scary notion, but we wouldn’t want God to be any other way. Would we want God to wink at sin? If what you do to someone else isn’t that big a deal, then what if God doesn’t think what someone did to you is that big a deal? If God weren’t just, he wouldn’t be holy, and he wouldn’t be loving. His purity requires a hatred of sin. His love requires wanting his people to be holy and wanting them all to be treated rightly.

When God’s holiness is stirred into action against sin, we call it “wrath.” The justice of God is inseparable from his wrath because injustice requires recompense. And that’s what we want. We want to know that people who mistreat children are punished. We want a world in which people who steal from the poor are repaid for their heartlessness. And God promises, whether in this life or the next, he will make it right.

God’s justice would be terrifying if it weren’t for his holiness and love. And we shouldn’t think of these as different aspects of God’s character that war against each other, things he must keep in balance. Theologians refer to the “simplicity” or “unity” of God. This means neither God nor his character is made of parts. There is one divine nature. When we see it from this angle, we call it love; from that angle, we call it justice. But God is always simply God. So we don’t have to worry that one day God’s justice will outweigh his love or vice versa. God will always act with a holy love and a loving justice.

But what about mercy? God is full of mercy. For the believer, justice has been served. Christ has received the justice our sins deserve. Though we may be chastened in this life to make us more like Christ, we don’t have to fear God’s eternal justice.

To the unbeliever, God is patient “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief” (2Pet 3:9-10). God gives people chance after chance, but, as CS Lewis put it,¹ the day will come when in his knowledge he says there’s simply no point in continuing.

So how do we respond to God’s justice?

First, rejoice in it. God will make every wrong done to you right — whether it’s through the justice of the cross or through justice to the offender.

Second, rejoice in the cross, that we do not have to fear God’s justice. As Jen Wilkin says, “God is not only faithful to forgive our sins, but also just. Because Christ was punished in our place, God would be unjust to punish us for a sin that has already received its recompense. How precious, then, does the spilled blood and broken body of Christ become in our estimation?”²

Third, live like people who serve a just God. “Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear” (1Pet 1:17). So “act justly and ... love mercy and ... walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

Next, leave room for God’s justice. “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Rom 12:19). Vengeance is God’s job, not yours. Your job is to imitate the grace shown to you in Christ Jesus.

Finally, warn people. “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others” (2Cor 5:11). People need to know that God “has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).


For more on this topic, see “The Wrath of God” in Theology You Can Count On by Tony Evans

1 The Problem of Pain
2 In His Image: 10 Ways God Calls Us to Reflect His Character

Image credit: Gavel sculpture, Friscocali


Part of Christianity 101