Why should Christians care about social justice?

I'm speaking tonight at a youth group about social justice. Here's my list of 10 reasons why Christians should care about social justice. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts.

The texts that accompany them are meant to give a brief idea of where these ideas come from in Scripture - they're certainly not exhaustive! I'm planning to speak to them tonight (briefly!), so in a couple of cases the links aren't water-tight.

1. Stewardship – humans are created in God’s image and given dominion over the creation. We need to express that dominion in a way that honours God and reflects his character.
Genesis 1:26

2. God’s covenant with Israel showed great concern for the poor and needy. We’re not under the OT Law anymore, but it still gives us an idea of what God is concerned about.
Deuteronomy 15:11

3. Biblical worship includes justice and compassion towards the poor. Worship is not just singing, but offering our lives to God in the way that he has directed. Acts of worship without justice aren’t pleasing to God.
Isaiah 58:6-7

4. Biblical wisdom includes a concern for the poor and needy. Foolishness and ignoring wisdom does not honour God.
Proverbs 14:31; 29:7

5. Jesus cared for the poor and outcasts of society. Jesus repeatedly favoured the company of broken, poor and needy people – even when it scandalised nice ‘religious’ people.
Luke 7:22; 15:1

6. Jesus commanded his followers to love God and love our neighbours as ourselves. He makes it very clear that ‘neighbour’ includes those who are different and uncomfortable for us.
Luke 10:25-27, 36-37

7. Jesus shows us that to be truly human is to serve. We must avoid worldliness that urges us to pursue our own interests – career, security, comfort – at a cost to others, and instead considers the interests of others.
Philippians 2:3-8

8. God has called a people to himself so that we can do good works. We are not saved by good works, but for good works. Doing good works is part of the gift of salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-14

9. Being generous makes us more like God, helps us to trust him more and stores up real treasure for us.
2 Corinthians 8:9; 1 Tim 6:17-19

10. Justice is an important part of God’s kingdom. Although his kingdom hasn’t come in all its fullness, it has arrived in Spirit-filled believers. One day, there won’t be any more sin, oppression or injustice.
Isaiah 9:7; Revelation 22:1-2

Jesus, justification and justice

There seems to me to be an odd dichotomy in the circles of Christianity that I see. You can either follow Jesus and care about social justice, or follow Jesus and care about Bible teaching and being saved. There aren't a whole lot of people who seem to combine the two well.

I really liked the post (link below) by Scot McKnight on the topic. He says that Christians seem to be passionate about either justification (being saved by Jesus' death) or justice (sharing God's heart for the poor). But Jesus was on about both - if you hold onto only one, you'll miss half of what Jesus cared about. If you focus on Jesus, however, you'll get both justification and justice.

He says it with much more eloquence and nuance: The three "J"s in the gospel debate.

Biblical survey of repentance and forgiveness

Following on from my earlier posts about repentance and forgiveness (why I chose to write about it and a historical tour of the relationship). This is a survey of the Bible's teaching on the relationship between human repentance and God's forgiveness:

Near the beginning of Scripture, God’s self-revelation seems to contain a contradiction. On the one hand, God introduces himself to Moses as one who is ‘merciful and gracious… forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin’ (Exodus 34:6-7) - fundamental truths about his character that are re-iterated throughout the Old Testament. On the other hand, God ‘by no means clear[s] the guilty’ (Exodus 34:7; cf Numbers 14:18; Nahum 1:3). The Law that God gave to Moses shows God's strong concern for holiness (Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2, 20:26), another characteristic upheld in the later parts of the Old Testament (e.g. Psalm 71:22; Psalm 99; Isaiah 6).

This leads to a tension between repentance and forgiveness that is not resolved under the old covenant. The Law assumed that sinful acts would occur and provided for atonement – most fully on the annual Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). The Law clearly established the necessity of human repentance in order to receive God's forgiveness. On an individual level, forgiveness required a very full repentance - including sacrifice (Leviticus 5:10, 13, 18), restitution (Leviticus 6:5; Numbers 5:7-8) and public confession (Leviticus 5:5; Numbers 5:6). On a national level, only the repentance demonstrated by full covenant obedience would lead to forgiveness (Deuteronomy 30:1-3) – a near impossible task for a rebellious people!

The same promise of national forgiveness in return for fully obedient repentance was confirmed after Solomon’s Temple dedication prayer (2 Chronicles 7:12-14). The prophets often reinforced the message, although they shifted the focus to include returned hearts as much as obedience to the Law and practices of the Temple (e.g. Ezekiel 18:21-23). They anticipated a new covenant when God would resolve the tension between his mercy and holiness – when he would give his people new hearts that were capable of fully turning from sin to him (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Ezekiel 36:26-32) and when he would fully forgive and restore his people (Jeremiah 31:34; Ezekiel 36:33).

With the coming of Jesus and the new covenant, this promise was fulfilled. The Spirit enabled people’s hearts to be renewed and for them to walk in obedience (2 Corinthians 4:16; Colossians 3:10). Jesus' life and death provided the full obedience that Israel had never managed (Luke 4:1-13; Hebrews 5:8-10). (Indeed, it turns out that God only forgave in the Old Testament in anticipation of Jesus’ sacrifice, Romans 3:25). 

The coming of Christ and the Spirit ushered in a new age: ‘a transformed understanding of the relationship between forgiveness and repentance – a repentance contextualized within the announcement of God’s inbreaking Kingdom.’ God no longer waited for people to turn to him in full repentance, but sought out broken and dismayed sinners to offer divine forgiveness and invite them to a life of repentance. 

This message of repentance and forgiveness was to be preached in Jesus’ name to all nations (Luke 24:47), the beginnings of which are charted in the bulk of the New Testament (Acts 5:31, 26:18). 

The promise is not completely fulfilled, however. The New Testament finishes with a vision of a coming day, after which people's repentance and forgiveness, or lack of them, will be fixed: when those who have not repented or accepted the offered forgiveness will face God’s wrath (Revelation 9:20-21, 16:8, 22:15) and his cleansed people will be forever with him in perfect, restored relationship (Revelation 7:14-17, 22:14).

Activism

Activism is one of the key features of urban culture, I think. There's a strong optimism about the future, about our ability to deal with the problems facing us, a confidence about voicing opinions, and engaging with large social problems. Our society constantly tells us that humans are incredibly competent, able to achieve just about everything, is hugely confident about our innate goodness, applauds self-sufficiency and sometimes sees it as taboo (sin?) not to 'believe in yourself'.

I see a strong degree of activism in myself as well - I feel a responsibility for those around me, to speak about issues of justice. I often feel competent and able to influence and change the world around me. This year, I'm struggling with this, because I'm having such a passive year (for me). It's all about watching, observing, reflecting, learning for the future.

When I think Biblically about activism, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, humans are commanded at creation to rule over the earth – we are given responsibility for it, and expected to influence our surroundings in a way that reflects God’s character. 

Humans are called throughout both Old and New Testaments to be active in many ways: praising God, calling others to praise him, seeking justice – especially for those who are unable to speak for themselves. We are not to be passive or disengaged members of his people or of society.  

The New Testament particularly presents the church with a compelling mission – to proclaim the good news of Jesus. We are to speak about him and teach each other – all of Jesus' followers are given gifts that are to be used for the building up of the church. We're not to be lazy or selfish with our time or resources.

However - and it is a big however, sin has impacted every part of life, and we often seek things for our own sakes rather than others. Even when we think we are active on behalf of others, we often deceive ourselves and are seeking our own glory or benefit (altruism makes me feel good, fits my picture of who I want to be, brings the approval of others).  

One of the significant characteristics of Christians, and a key factor in following Jesus, is that we recognise God - revealed in Jesus - as the supreme power of the universe. Ultimately, it's God who controls the future and influences world and local events, not humans. This is a basic part of Christian teaching and the practical experience of following Jesus.

God may well have plans that are larger or just different from what we plan. He may frustrate human plans for his own purposes and glory, or bring about things that we would never have chosen. (Biblical examples include the Tower of Babel, Joseph's experience in Egypt, the Israelites being exiled to Assyria and Babylon or persecution of Christians in the New Testament - in fact, just about every page of the Bible. Examples from my own life also abound.)

Christians aren't to be shaped by the culture around us, we're to be defined by what God has revealed - although that takes on different shapes in each culture. Urban, progressive culture highly values self-sufficiency and speaks as though humans are almost limitless. We don't like to think about things like death, which speak powerfully of human limitation and inability. Human self-sufficiency and  confidence can easily become proud - unrealistic and over-inflated. 

Ultimately, it is God who will build his church, transform individual lives and societies, establish justice throughout the earth, bring healing to the countries of the world. We need to work towards these things, and doing that reflects God's character, but if we as humanity take that on as our sole responsibility, we will exhaust ourselves and distract from the one who is actually able to achieve all these things - and has promised that he will.

Historical tour of repentance and forgiveness

This is a - very brief! - historical tour (Historical Theology) of the relationship between repentance and forgiveness, and follows on from my previous post on my essay about the relationship between repentance and forgiveness. I've confined it to Christian thought here, although later I'll consider the perspectives of some other religions a bit.

Early church
At the heart of the early church debate about the relationship between repentance and forgiveness are 'the lapsed.' These were believers who had denied Jesus under persecution. The early church understood that baptism was an act of repentance that cleansed an individual of all their sins up to that point, but didn't know how to deal with any sin committed after that. The lapsed presented a real problem - here were Christians who had already been baptised and cleansed, and had then 'lapsed'. The discussion was focused around whether the lapsed should be allowed to participate in communion (the Lord's supper) again - which would be a visible symbol of their forgiveness and restoration to the fellowship of the community. There was a wide range of responses:

• People who said the lapsed should never be restored to communion, no matter how repentance they were, because it could not be a genuine repentance;
• Those who admitted the lapsed to communion on their deathbeds or if they proved themselves faithful under another persecution - although this was tricky because you needed to know when someone was about to die, or needed another persecution to come along;
• Those who restored the lapsed to communion after strong signs of emotional and public repentance (including lots of tears, hand-wringing, etc), when they were accompanied by 'intercessors' (Christians who had proved themselves faithful);
• Those who re-admitted the lapsed with no requirement of repentance.

This problem of how to deal with the lapsed caused deep division within the early church, with different factions and regions adopting different approaches.

Middle ages and Reformation
Throughout the middle ages, the acts of repentance that a believer needed to demonstrate before being offered forgiveness developed into an intricate system of sacraments - confession to a priest, heartfelt contrition and satisfaction (‘penances’). These practices were upheld by the Council of Trent in the counter Reformation.

The Reformation moved away from this visible acts to demonstrate repentance, and re-defined repentance as a ‘change of mind.’ They said 'penance' wasn't a sacrament and that believers didn't need to confess to a priest to be forgiven - Jesus is our great high priest and we can approach him directly.

Luther’s ‘justification by grace alone through faith’ assured forgiveness for those who demonstrated this new understanding of repentance. The implications of this doctrine were developed by Calvin, who saw faith as the key framework for relating to God, by which ‘both [repentance and remission of sin] are obtained’. Calvin taught that repentance does not earn forgiveness, but is a gift with an end in itself.

Recent centuries
Much theology - natural theology, liberalism, parts of the emerging church, to name a few - have moved away from questions of sin and repentance. This makes forgiveness also a redundant topic.

However, forgiveness has become significant in other fields such as social science, politics, philosophy and literature. Research in their fields has been a response to the Jewish holocaust, apartheid in South Africa and the genocide in Rwanda. Questions of how to reconcile vast relational gulfs have produced many explorations of human-human forgiveness - and many have focused on whether forgiveness should be offered to perpetrators who do not repent. Secular writers have tended to exclude the vertical relationship between God and humans. This leaves a strong tension between justice and grace, which is difficult to resolve at a human level.

Social justice: speaking about motivation

I've been writing a fair bit on social justice issues, and that's something I have planned to write about a bit. Although there are lots of voices speaking out about issues of social justice, it's rare to hear evangelical Christians - who care deeply about the Bible and what God has revealed there - speaking  about these issues.

This seems really strange to me, since when I read the great story of the Bible, I see that God is concerned about poverty, oppression, alienation, refugees and more, from beginning to end. It's because of reading the Bible that I've developed an interest in these areas - I'm called outside of my own needs and concerns to care about the circumstances of others, some of whom I have never and will never meet.

There's lots of voices speaking only about justice, though, and just presuming that people will care because it is a 'good' or 'right' thing to do. I think that can be a bit naive, since a lot of people are selfish and need something more than that to persuade them to action (unfortunate, but true - it certainly was in my case).

My aim on this blog is so explore what it looks like to be following Jesus in an urban environment. But I'm planning, when I speak about justice, to always talk about motivation and why I think these things are important. 

Repentance and forgiveness

Last year, I wrote a theology essay on the relationship between repentance and forgiveness, and particularly our human repentance and God's forgiveness. I chose the topic for a number of reasons:

• Repentance and forgiveness are deeply significant for any relationship that includes an imperfect person, which is almost every relationship. The relationship between repentance and forgiveness determines how offenses are dealt with and how reconciliation is achieved. This is important for any relationship, and especially a relationship as important as the one between us and God.
• I've wanted to look more deeply at the topic of repentance for years, because I'm not convinced we use the language the way the Bible does.
• I'm often uncomfortable with our attitude in church to confession - both my own attitude (feeling like I need to dredge up sins to confess) and the perspective conveyed from the front - this topic has big implications for how we view confession.
• Lots of work on the relationship between repentance and forgiveness looks only at human-human relationships (e.g. Jewish and Christian responses to WW2, forgiveness in Rwanda, in South Africa after apartheid), but not nearly as much covers the dynamic between God and humans (surprisingly!).
• I wanted to think about how saying sorry and reconciliation work in my own family, because sometimes I wonder where the line between grace and justice is - how much do you insist that sorry is said after something wrong is done, how sincere does 'sorry' have to be, how do you measure sincerity anyway, when do we overlook an offense, etc.
• The topic has implications for urban culture, and especially urbanites who want to start following Jesus. Given the huge unpopularity of 'repentance' and even language about 'sin' in urban culture, it's not very attractive to call people to repent.

I really enjoyed the essay, and it's impacted my thinking a lot since. I thought I'd re-live the essay by blogging through it. I'll post the entire thing at the end, if you prefer reading a more academic version (with footnotes) or all in one hit.