by I received a thoughtful challenge to the suggestion in my post below (“Glen Beck’s and Jim Wallis’s Dueling Boycotts”) that the church should be concerned with justice issues. It read as follows:
“I believe Christ commands us to love [the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner] in tangible ways, giving sacrificially of our own resources to those who are in need. I also believe we should hold those in the body of Christ accountable to those who are in need, so I have no problem with pushing those in the Church to do justice in their own lives.”
“My point is simply that I believe God calls us to act justly ourselves and hold those within the Church accountable for doing the same, but not to force those outside the Church to behave justly. I believe this is especially true when compelling non-Christians to act justly requires harnessing the coercive power of the state. I think to make the claim that God calls us to make earthly governments behave justly requires an explanation for why neither the Lord nor the early Church attempted to resist the unimaginably evil earthly powers of the first century. To me, there is a ready explanation in the fact that those who influence earthly powers are citizens, not aliens. We, however, are not citizens, but aliens.”
“[W]e’re called to lead a quiet life, minding our own business, and letting ourselves be wronged rather than standing up for our ‘rights.’”
The challenge raised here is one I take to heart, for I believe, as Dallas Willard has suggested, that the central question for the Christian at all times should be, “What would Jesus do if he were me?” Neither Jesus nor the early Church sought to influence their government, but they were not in our circumstances. The question for us is, “What would Jesus do if he were a twentieth century American, with all of the opportunities that we have?”
Jesus taught that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. As we look around that world at the condition of people who are under tyranny or in nations where the rule of law has broken down, it is apparent that one of the most loving things a person can do is to see that citizens are ruled by just laws. The early Church was not in a position to influence the Roman Empire. I suspect that if it had been, it would have pressed the Empire to act justly.
There are role models for us elsewhere in the scriptures. The Mosaic law and the sermons of the Prophets were full of admonitions to treat the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the foreigner justly.
Isaiah’s prophesies, which Christians believe refer to Jesus, identify justice as one of Jesus’ primary responsibilities:
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,�
my chosen one in whom I delight;�
I will put my Spirit on him�
and he will bring justice to the nations. . . .
“In faithfulness he will bring forth justice….”
“[H]e will not falter or be discouraged�
till he establishes justice on earth.” Isaiah 42:1-4 (NIV).
It seems that Christians should join Jesus in one of the central causes for which he came.
Let me add that the question of what is justice is often a difficult one. In my view, Christians of both the right and the left are too quick to put on the mantle of the prophets. But we should wrestle with the question “What is justice?” not whether it is any of our concern.
“The early Church was not in a position to influence the Roman Empire. I suspect that if it had been, it would have pressed the Empire to act justly.”
There are some records of early Christians pressing the Roman government for justice, even during times of persecution.
For example, Justin Martyr’s First “Apology” is actually a legal petition presented to the authorities in the mid-second-century — concluding with a citation to legal authority for toleration of Christians — seeking legal judgment and developing standards of legitimate judicial action over against the mere violence of irrational tyranny and lawless prejudice.
Justin’s First and Second Apologies also exemplify how a legal advocacy for justice need not inappropriately coerce those outside the church to conform to Christian standards. Justin compels no one, but he does present a compelling Christian vision for legal justice.
Thanks to Eric Endow for this important reference to Justin Martyr. When I referred to “the early Church” I meant the New Testament accounts of the early Church (in other words, the earliest Church). Even there we have the record of Paul using legal procedures to appeal his case to Rome. But we don’t have examples of the New Testament Church appealing to the Roman authorities to behave justly toward others. That came as the Church developed influence.
Apparently I am working my way backwards through this wonderful blog. My apologies if this seems strange.
Given my comment on the later post about sin’s relationship to addiction, the question of using the coercive force of the state takes a different tone. If we look at a drug addict in a treatment center, they are subjected to a number of both implicit and explicit coercions.
Consider now the hoarder of material wealth. Can we not also coerce such an addict of vanity and covetousness both implicitly and explicitly for their own good?
Understand, I have always been against such things, but there is a reasonable consideration here. So many say, “If you give the poor food and shelter, you are setting a moral hazard for them.” Yet few are concerned for the moral hazards of having ten lifetimes of disposable wealth.
I was reading Deuteronomy the other day and ran across a curious section (chapter 15) on the matter of the year of Jubilee. Here the Lord warns folks to not be tight fisted with those who are in need when Jubilee is near (when the wealthy person knows that the debt will likely be forgiven and never repaid). There is no correlating warning to the poor against taking advantage of this.
From the perspective of covenant justice, justice flows downhill. God gives to all (you don’t have what you have because you “worked” for it, but because God is generous…Deuteronomy is very specific about this) and you are to likewise exhibit this justice to the poor.
It seems like my father’s compulsory policy on my tithing part of my allowance as a child, was wise developing virtue in both self-discipline and in therapeutic resistance to covetousness.