(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better…and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see how)
Focus Question:
What’s the irony of social justice?
Intro:
Episode number 1200! Can you believe it? Not that it means anything in particular, but I know there are a couple of you that have been with me since the beginning. It’s pretty amazing that we could read the Bible 1200 days in a row, right? It shouldn’t be, of course, because we’re not amazed that we ate lunch 1200 days in a row, but still… Anyway, thanks to all of you, both old and new, who give me the privilege of serving you in this way.
Today’s focus question actually builds off our Wisdom Segment today…What is the irony of social justice? I hope you’ll stick around for that, in particular because we’ll not just look at the question, but give you some words you can use in conversation.
That said, we start with the NT, and today continues and finishes up John 1.
New Testament segment:
Passage: John 1:19-51
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 33
Words: ~789
Can anything good come out of Nazareth? In a way that’s sounds like Nathanael is saying, “Oh, you’re from the east side of town.” But as Craig Keener points out:
1:46. Nazareth seems to have been a very traditional, orthodox town; priests later considered it ritually clean enough to move there. But Nazareth was relatively small and obscure, with about sixteen hundred to two thousand inhabitants. It lay about four miles from the massive city of Sepphoris, which rivaled Tiberias (6:23) for its urban Greek character in Jewish Galilee.(1)
And Jesus responds, “Hey a dude in which there is no guile or deceit” which…
1:47. Jesus here makes a wordplay on the Old Testament Jacob, or “Israel,” who was a man of guile (Gen 27:35; 31:26).(1)
Ok, moving on to Jeremiah. Yesterday we heard of the consequences that would befall the unfaithful, the promise to a faithful group called the Rechabites, and now we’re back to Judah ultimately and finally rejecting God’s word.
Old Testament segment:
Passage: Jeremiah 36
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 32
Words: ~949
So now to Psalm 82 and our focus question for the day — What’s the irony of social justice? We’ll close up our day with that…and giving you a little nugget you can use in your own conversations.
Wisdom segment:
Passage: Psalm 82
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 8
Words: ~131
The bottom line:
You can’t reach much of the Bible without seeing clearly that God has a heart for the poor and downtrodden and oppressed. But I like the way John MacArthur puts it:
Justice is not a word that needs an adjective. And if someone puts an adjective on justice, they have something else in mind. ~John MacArthur
To me, there’s irony on a couple fronts. One, justice, by and large is about people. So saying “social justice,” is straight from the Department of Redundancy Department. Two, justice — plain and simple biblical justice — is what is right. Period.
So how might we tell the difference between biblical justice and something that comes from a non-biblical place? I’ll leave you with the way professor Thaddeus Williams put it in an interview with Sean McDowell (link in the show notes). He points out three things to observe. It’s not biblical justice it…
…ignores the sinfulness of the individual human heart
…argues that “power differentials” are bad and all hierarchies are evil
…interprets truth as simply a mere construct of those in power
1. …blames all evil on external systems of oppression while ignoring Solomon’s pride-deflating insight that our own hearts are full of evil and moral insanity (Ecclesiastes 9:3)…
A biblical worldview sees evil not only in “systems,” where we ought to seek justice, but also within the twisted hearts of those who make those systems unjust. Because evil resides in every human heart, all the external activism in the world won’t bring about any lasting justice if we downplay our need for the regenerating, love-infusing work of God through the Gospel.
2. …deconstructs relationships in terms of “power-differentials” and argues that all such hierarchies are evil and must be abolished in the name of “equality…”
A biblical worldview totally opposes the sinful abuse of power, but sees many hierarchies, like the parent-child, rabbi-disciple, elders-congregation, teacher-student relationships, as part of God’s good design for human flourishing.
3. …interprets all truth, reason, and logic as mere constructs of the oppressive class, if it encourages us to dismiss someone’s viewpoint on the basis of their skin tone or gender…
The Greatest Commandment calls people from every ethnicity and gender to love God with our whole minds, which includes the truth-seeking, reasonable, and logical parts of our God-given minds. A mind that loves the Father assesses ideas based on their biblical fidelity, truth-value, and evidence, not the group identity of those articulating it.(3) emphases and formatting mine
So where’s the irony in social justice? If it’s not biblical, it is not justice at all.
Remember, if it ignores personal sin, suggests that hierarchies are evil, or says that truth is a just a human construct, the warning light on your dash should come on.
What’s the irony in social justice? If it’s not biblical, it is not justice at all.
Love you!
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
(1) Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Jn 1:46–47.
(2) David S. Dockery, ed., Holman Bible Handbook (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 1992), 342.
(3) Thaddeus Williams as quoted by Sean McDowell, “How Should Christians Think About Social Justice?” (blog) March 23, 2018, https://seanmcdowell.org/blog/how-should-christians-think-about-social-justice.