{"id":1660,"date":"2012-08-19T00:09:59","date_gmt":"2012-08-19T07:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/?p=1660"},"modified":"2012-10-08T14:06:05","modified_gmt":"2012-10-08T21:06:05","slug":"dr-marvin-olasky-justice-as-righteousness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/dr-marvin-olasky-justice-as-righteousness\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Marvin Olasky: Justice as Righteousness"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an article unpacking the meaning of true Biblical justice Marvin Olasky, Editor-in-Chief of World Magazine, makes this thesis statement:<\/a><\/p>\n

“Biblically, the most important purpose of justice is to increase righteousness. Whatever decreases faith in God is unjust.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We have all heard the argument defending an eternal hell based on God’s holiness and “justice.” It goes as follows, “yes, God is loving and merciful but<\/em> He is also<\/em> a God of justice therefore He cannot allow sin to go unpunished. He is holy and therefore cannot allow sin to be in His presence.”<\/p>\n

But a closer look should ignite our God-given reason to action. First we are told that the Biblical definition of justice is that of DOING justice rather than the “eye for an eye” of GETTING justice (Micah 6:8). As leaders like the late Charles Colson, or Tim Keller and Marvin Olasky have highlighted, the idea of \u00a0justice is actually a putting of things to rights, not “getting even.”<\/p>\n

In this understanding we are led to a paradigm of earthly justice that must also be applied to God’s ultimate “eternal” justice. If we fail to see this we make God two and not one. It means He has two goals of justice, one that “gets even” and one that puts things to right. This projects upon Him two minds<\/em> and we are left without the integrity of God. This brings about an unhealthy fear like that of children of an alcoholic father who never know which “dad” they are dealing with. All mankind must hear the good news that even if God appears to be against them He is doing it FOR them:<\/p>\n

“Come, let us return to the LORD;\u00a0for he has torn us, that he may heal us; \u00a0he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.\u00a0After two days he will revive us;\u00a0on the third day he will raise us up,\u00a0that we may live before him.\u00a0Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD;\u00a0his going out is sure as the dawn;\u00a0he will come to us as the showers,\u00a0as the spring rains that water the earth.\u201d \u00a0Hosea 6:1-3<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

See also Lamentations chapter 3 (below) where Jeremiah lists just about every affliction and hellish experience you could imagine coming from the Lord yet astonishingly he concludes that his soul continues to have hope for “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases…”<\/p>\n

God is ONE. Therefore\u00a0God is love AND God is just. His love and justice have one purpose and that is righteousness.<\/em><\/p>\n

As we have unpacked here <\/a>on this blog before, the Greek word in the Bible used for justice<\/em> and for righteousness<\/em>\u00a0is the SAME WORD. In fact the meaning for the word righteousness is literally “right-useness.” That means that true Biblical justice entails the return of something to its intended use. Can you see the implications for this more holistic and comprehensive understanding of justice? What might that mean for the traditional teaching of an eternal hell? Could you conceive of it being that of a never-ending sentence by God to “get even” with sinners who are therefore never healed and never cured? How would God fulfill His justice if in fact most are never returned to righteousness but rather allowed to perpetuate un<\/em>righteousness …forever?<\/p>\n

The following is an article by Dr. Marvin Olasky revealing how the argument for an eternal hell based on God’s justice can no longer be seen as valid for it conversely points to the very opposite conclusion: God is clearly in the business of DOING justice and therefore He will have all His creation put back to rights, a return to righteousness!<\/em><\/p>\n

“He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.” Isa 42:4<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Article by Marvin Olasky regarding justice as righteousness:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.colsoncenter.org\/the-center\/columns\/indepth\/14032-justice-as-righteousness<\/a><\/p>\n

Tim Keller on Biblical Justice:\u00a0http:\/\/www.relevantmagazine.com\/god\/practical-faith\/what-biblical-justice<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lamentations 3:1-24<\/p>\n

1 I am the man who has seen affliction
\nby the rod of his wrath.
\n2 He has driven me away and made me walk
\nin darkness rather than light;
\n3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me
\nagain and again, all day long.
\n4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old
\nand has broken my bones.
\n5 He has besieged me and surrounded me
\nwith bitterness and hardship.
\n6 He has made me dwell in darkness
\nlike those long dead.
\n7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape;
\nhe has weighed me down with chains.
\n8 Even when I call out or cry for help,
\nhe shuts out my prayer.
\n9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone;
\nhe has made my paths crooked.
\n10 Like a bear lying in wait,
\nlike a lion in hiding,
\n11 he dragged me from the path and mangled me
\nand left me without help.
\n12 He drew his bow
\nand made me the target for his arrows.
\n13 He pierced my heart
\nwith arrows from his quiver.
\n14 I became the laughingstock of all my people;
\nthey mock me in song all day long.
\n15 He has filled me with bitter herbs
\nand sated me with gall.
\n16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;
\nhe has trampled me in the dust.
\n17 I have been deprived of peace;
\nI have forgotten what prosperity is.
\n18 So I say, \u201cMy splendor is gone
\nand all that I had hoped from the Lord.\u201d
\n19 \u00a0I remember my affliction and my wandering,
\nthe bitterness and the gall.
\n20 I well remember them,
\nand my soul is downcast within me.
\n21 Yet this I call to mind<\/strong>
\n and therefore I have hope:<\/strong>
\n22 Because of the Lord\u2019s great love we are not consumed,
\nfor his compassions never fail.
\n23 They are new every morning;
\ngreat is your faithfulness.
\n24 I say to myself, \u201cThe Lord is my portion;
\ntherefore I will wait for him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an article unpacking the meaning of true Biblical justice Marvin Olasky, Editor-in-Chief of World Magazine, makes this thesis statement: “Biblically, the most important purpose of justice is to increase…<\/p>\n

Read MoreDr. Marvin Olasky: Justice as Righteousness<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,1,11,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biblical-justice","category-evangelical-universalism","category-tim-keller","category-ur-is-intuitive-to-the-church","excerpt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1660"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1967,"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1660\/revisions\/1967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/godslovewins.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}