Social Justice: Liberalism, Biblical or not that Simple? (Pt 2)

This is the second part of the blog series on social justice and the gospel.

We Cannot See Justice and Racial Conversations to Be About Justice and Racial Issues

In conversations about social justice of late, we see texts in Galatians 3:28 or James 2 or Ephesians 2 being cited and interpreted as essentially about social justice and societal renovation. Paul and James address classism and racism for greater and deeper issues than being essentially about the victimization of humans and renovation of societal ills. In these passages it seems that God is saying that social injustice is a symptom of idolatry and rebellion against the glory of God which is rooted in unbelief in the glory of God's redemptive grace which is rooted in some sense of intrinsic righteousness (Romans 1:18-25). The essential issue is the fame and glory of God which symptomatically plays itself out in social justice. The horizontal room is a doorway into the vertical. God talking about injustice is not about the centrality and prominence of injustice, but about the deeper root of unbelief that leads to idolatry and then leads to horizontal injustice. We often read these texts and make them seem like sounding boards for society's humanitarian concerns which have some biblical legitimacy due to the social references in the text. ...whenever we see the social justice conversation in the Word, we can be sure that it is a trail of breadcrumbs to the deeper issues pertaining to God and His glory...However whenever we see the social justice conversation in the Word, we can be sure that it is a trail of breadcrumbs to the deeper issues pertaining to God and His glory and not the supreme concern for humanitarian justice (Romans 15:7). Social justice is not the point, God is. Social justice is not the issue, self-righteousness, unbelief, and idolatry are. When we see the social conversations in the Word of God, it must lead us to the root essential issues of those conversations rather than merely remaining in the layer of the symptoms. Social conversations in scripture are about the glory of God, worship, idolatry and the need for repentance and faith unto God. I am shocked to hear us represent the apostle Paul's letters as if they were essentially about social agendas and to be primarily about societal ills in need of renovation and change. When we observe or are involved in social justice conversation and feel impelled to address it, let's make the effort to rightly represent it, bring it to its utmost and essential point which is the supremacy of God and His glory.

We Must See the Social Injustice Conversation Mainly and Chiefly Inside the Covenant Community

Let's forget the idea that Israel is a type and shadow of the final and full theocratic rule of the reign of God on earth and let's consider the various social commands of the prophets. My question is, were God's mandates to social care and change to the covenant community amongst itself (within its confines) or were they directing the covenant community to engage in such activity to the surrounding nations? If you notice all the calls to social change and care you notice that it is confined to the boundaries of the covenant community (Leviticus 19:33-34; Deuteronomy 10:19). Never do we observe God calling Israel to social reform and ethics outside the boundaries of the covenant community. What about Jonah, you may ask. God calling Jonah to call Ninevah to repentance was not a call for Israel to own responsibility for Nineveh's societal ills. It was only foreigners who identified and joined the covenant community that were the immediate concern of the covenant people. Fast forward to the new testament and we notice the same idea. People frequently quote Acts 6 and James 1:27 and other such texts as reason for the church to believe that it has an official mandate to undertake and combat the social ills in its surrounding context, however Acts and James are letters and accounts written to the covenant community as to how it is supposed to care for the covenant community. James and Luke in Acts are not talking about the covenant communities care of its surrounding institutions and issues but about the necessity to be socially active within the covenant community. Social justice as a collective call of the church (in the context of social calls in the Word) is not to the world but to itself, and it always was when one considers Israel. One can quote all the various passages about social concern, care and reform, and justice as much as they see fit, however they all are speaking to justice and reform within the confines of the covenant community. Am I proposing that there is no cause for Christians to do and seek justice in the world? No, no, no!Am I proposing that there is no cause for Christians to do and seek justice in the world? No, no, no! What I am saying is that if you quote passages about social reform given to the covenant community within itself (and to itself) as the reason to call the church to be mandated by God to reform societal injustice in the surrounding context you are perverting scripture and missing the vital concern of those passages. If you are seeking a biblical reason for pursuing justice in the world you need to go about it in a different more exegetically appropriate way. As the article goes on we will discuss the better use of biblical truth to call Christians to social engagement.

We Cannot Moralize Jesus's Ministry in Order to Promote Social Justice

Often times in the social justice conversation, the ministry of Jesus is referenced as the biblical basis to see the church as having a divine mandate to push back the effects of the fall. The idea being that Jesus's acts of healing and feeding are cause to see these elements of Jesus's ministry as causes for our ministry to mimic these things in similar ways. Jesus stopped hunger and sickness and did good for the little guy and therefore this is our ministerial call (so goes the logic). The miracles of Christ were not essentially about starting the baton pass to the church, rather they were about authenticating His unique and unrepeatable redemptive ministry (Mark 2:10; John 20:31). Jesus does not heal the paralytic as the catalyst and paradigm for medical missions being a part of the church's mandate, however He does so to verify and vindicate His redemptive ministry (Mark 2:10). Jesus does not provide bread for the masses to be a multi-faceted model for the church's word and combat social hunger and issues ministry, but to point to Himself as the bread of life who provides by providing Himself as a sin bearing substitute (John 6:27-28). Jesus's holistic ministry was essentially about trusting Him and His ministry as the source and cause of our redemption, making us essentially witnesses of His ministry not continuators of it (we continue as being witnesses of it as stated in Acts 1:8). As we promote the doing of social justice, we cannot make Jesus's unique saving ministry some go and do likewise and continue His holistic ministry in the world. Jesus's holistic miracles providing for others was about believing the redemptive realities that were attested by those acts (John 2:11). Jesus's demonstration of power over the fall's effects is not a biblical reason to seek the social welfare of the world. They are reasons to trust Christ as the rescuer from the cause of the effects of the fall as He manifested Messianic authority over the fall's effects. Therefore, do and seek justice and holistic and actual change in the world as a Christian, but do not do so in a way which reduces Jesus's final and redemptive ministry to be some ongoing project of the church. Let's be clear that our concern and alleviation of societal issues is not the extension of Jesus's ministry and when we alleviate social issues we are not continuing that mission; Jesus completed that mission in full! It is better to see our social involvement of loving our neighbor as nothing less than a tangible reflection of Jesus's finished and final ministry and not the necessary continuation of that ministry.

God Changes People Through the Prominence of the Gospel, Not the Prominence of Social Justice

There seems to be this idea that the centralization and primacy of social justice and social action is the cause and solution to issues of injustice. Another sermon, sermon series, conference, article, or social media rant will be the key to making evangelicals socially concerned. The idea being that the law of God (as it pertains to social justice) has the effectual power to cause people to be mindful of social justice. Clearly, the centrality of social justice or any other legal mandate of God will never be the cause for actual social change. The law of God has the power to tell us what we should do and what Godliness looks like, but it has no power to produce the change that it requires (Romans 7:7-23). Only the power of the gospel can produce love for God and neighbor which in turn translates to law conformity (Titus 2:11-15; 3:1-6). The centrality of Christ's redemptive love is that which grips and captures the heart and then in turn moves the will to the appropriate actions (Ephesians 3:14-20). Making anything other than the gospel to be of first importance will do nothing but produce external Christianity that is self-righteous at best and guilt-ridden at worst. What frustrates me with many in the social justice conversation are those making statements that says, “just preaching the gospel for transformation and change is weak and empty.” The implication is that we have preached enough gospel and it has not done anything so now the effectual force to move social concern is the endless “love your neighbor” exhortation. If anyone says that gospel preaching is not making people socially concerned, I can say confidently that they are not receiving clear gospel preaching. If anyone says that gospel preaching is not making people socially concerned, I can say confidently that they are not receiving clear gospel preaching. It is likely that there is a lot of legalism and moralism that is surrounding gospel preaching and/or there may be gospel preaching but not gospel emphasis and/or gospel doctrine but not gospel regular, real-life application. The fact that many professing Christians are socially unconcerned is all the more cause for clearer, more emphatic and consistent gospel preaching and not more emphatic “be social” preaching. As we preach the importance of social consciousness and action, we must never make it more prominent and dominating than the centrality of Christ's person and work. God will always change people truly through the power of Christ for the sinner, not the prominence and promotion of social action or change which is why the church's summary task is that of proclaiming Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:1-3; Colossians 1:28).