The Christian Concept Of Social Justice

By W. Stanford Reid

McGill University, Montreal

SOCIAL Justice is today a phrase which is on most people’s lips. Wherever one turns whether to recently made laws of the land, to magazine articles, to sermons, to political addresses one finds men discussing this subject. Even in private conversation it has come near to the weather as a topic of importance. That this is so is quite understandable, for in the past twenty-five years throughout the world there have been many examples of social injustice which have influenced men’s thinking. The wide gap between individuals’ shares of this world’s goods has been more noticed since World War I, partially owing to the great depression of the early thirties. At the same time the rise of despotic and dictatorial governments such as those of the Nazis and Fascists, or the appearance in all its might of Communist despotism, has forced men, particularly in the western democratic world, to give to this matter of social justice very careful consideration. It is a problem which today one cannot avoid.

Modern Materialistic Social Justice

Yet one must not think this is the first time that men have been interested in social justice. Repeatedly in human history the problem has arisen, but never more insistently than in the last century, during the Industrial Revolution. A hundred years ago it was Christian forces, directed by men such as Wilberforce, Shaftesbury and Chalmers, which took the lead. Deeply moved by the depressed state of both the African slave and the industrial worker at home, they went out in a great campaign to bring help to their fellow men as a duty of Christian love, and they achieved much. But with the growth of unbelief in the latter part of the century, and with a growing material prosperity in which most of the people shared, the nineteenth century sense of urgency largely disappeared. True, men such as Keir Hardie, William Booth and Samuel Gompers kept the flag flying, but the old feeling that something had to be done and done quickly was lost. Now in our own day, under new conditions, our own generation is once again facing the issue.

Because of the changed situation and outlook, it must be realized that the present concept of social justice is, to a considerable degree, different from that of the last century. The modern point of view really finds its source in the ideology of the French Revolution. The present interest is solely in man. Social justice is something necessary to make man contented and happy. It has therefore the objective of making him free, in order that he may do very much as he pleases. Social justice thus becomes tied up with the distribution of economic goods, the opportunity to enjoy oneself and the right to a feeling of security and of importance in the community. Usually, however, the equitable distribution of economic goods is regarded as the foundation of all social justice. And, strange to say, this is the case whether it is being advocated by a Communist or a dyed-in-the-wool Capitalist. No longer do Christian considerations come into play. The present interpretation of social justice is, generally speaking, materialistic.

Do Christians Believe In Social Justice?

While as Christians we cannot accept the contemporary materialistic concept of social justice, as Christians we do believe in justice. The reason for this is that we hold that behind the universe stands a sovereign God, one of whose attributes is sovereign justice, demonstrated to us in the whole economy of salvation. While it is by grace that He has redeemed us, He has yet done it by the way of justice. He has borne our own sins “that He might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus”. Many who love to talk about social justice refuse, however, to admit that God is so just that in order justly to forgive our sins He would die for us. Yet any Christian concept of social justice must presuppose such an absolutely just God. This is the environment of the whole universe, so that in presupposing the sovereign God, we also presuppose the sovereign justice of His purpose and action.

It is this God, the creator of all things, who has given each part of creation its own particular place and work. At the summit He placed man, to whom He gave the covenant duty of subduing and using creation to the glory of God, as prophet, priest and king. Thus man’s just obligation, indeed his whole true enjoyment of the creation, is bound up in this principle of soli deo gloria. If he lives as he should, in relation to himself, his neighbour and his God, his life is to be devoted in every phase of it to manifesting and echoing the majesty and glory of God.

To the Christian, therefore, social justice has a double-sided character. It is founded upon love of God. That is its Godward side. It expresses itself, however, not only in the worship of God, but also in the love of our fellows. Because men love God they are to love their fellow men. Moreover, since they are to be holy, like God they are to do justly. This is true social justice to the Christian way of thinking, but it is very different from most current opinions.

Immediately this raises the question: why does such a difference exist between Christian and non-Christian thinking? The answer is that man has lost his true conception of duty because he has set up as his chief objective in life his own pleasure and glory. This is the core of the account of the Fall, remaining the core of all sin ever since. The old covenant relationship between God and man has been broken. The result has been greed, lust and selfishness, which have brought God’s condemnation upon man, resulting in man being judicially given up to his own delusions. The consequence is that man, in his natural condition, neither loves God nor his fellow, nor even himself. It means injustice to God whose sovereignty is denied, resulting in injustice to man whose rights are ignored, bringing conflict and warfare. The big problem of our world and culture is this double injustice, the human cures offered being frequently nothing more than an aggravation of the original disease.

The only hope left to man is that God will reassert His sovereign justice whereby man will be turned back to true justice, his own chief end in life. The covenant relationship must by grace be reestablished. This has been done through the sovereign saving work of Christ, who has met the claims of God’s justice against men, in His suffering for His people. He was made a curse for us, that God might be just in receiving us back as His children. This justification means that those who believe on Him are freed from the condemnation of God. They are forgiven. What is equally important is that they are, at least in principle, sanctified. Thus, once again they begin to see the meaning of true justice. Once more they begin to see the obligation to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with their God. Or, to put it in New Testament phraseology, they now see their responsibility to love the Lord their God with all their heart, with all their strength and with all their soul; and their neighbours as themselves. Through the inworking power of the Holy Spirit they begin to see their responsibilities as God’s creatures, to Him, to their fellow men and to the creation in which they live.

The foundation of such a change is to be discovered only in the Covenant of Grace. From all eternity God covenanted within the three Persons of the Trinity to redeem His people. The historical revelation of the covenant began with the Fall, reaching its climax in the coming of Christ. Nowhere, however, are the spiritual characteristics of social justice more clearly shown in the history of the covenant’s revelation than in that given to Noah subsequent to the Flood. God bestowed upon Noah and his descendants the earth and its produce for their use. Simultaneously, he placed well-defined limits on man’s freedom in his treatment of his fellow. Man was forbidden to deprive another man of his life. In the Mosaic code the same principles of social justice were elaborated more fully and completely by the provision for cities of refuge, the responsibility of the family for its unfortunate members and many other requirements. Throughout the Old Testament whenever God spoke of salvation to His people, He at the same time spoke of social justice, calling upon His people to put aside their injustice in denying Him the position of the Sovereign of life. “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Mic. 6:8). Social justice and redemption have always gone hand in hand, for social justice can be attained only under proper spiritual conditions.

But why should there be social justice? Why should society as a whole be involved? True, Christians should treat others in a just manner; but when they have done that, is not their duty fulfilled? Do they have to preach about it? Do they have to strive for legislation embodying their principles? Even a good many devoted Christians today seem to feel that social justice is no business of the church, or of Christians except in individual relationships. Yet it must be realized that God’s covenant is not made merely with individuals, but with the church as a whole. God’s covenant people are themselves the body of Christ and members one of another. This should mean justice within the church, one to the other. Moreover, the covenant people are the “salt of the earth” to point all men to their proper obligations to God. The church is the only visible representative of Christ upon earth; therefore, surely it should clearly summon men and society to do justly. What is more, the church has the continual duty of calling men to repentance. How better can it do this than by pointing out that the injustices and evils in society result from sin? Most important of all, since it is the duty of all men to glorify and enjoy God, is it not necessary, as far as possible, to mitigate those conditions which might hinder men from fulfilling their obligations? Social justice, therefore, consists in placing man, as far as possible, in the position of being able, in all that he does, freely to glorify and enjoy God.

The Requirements Of Social Justice

This brings us to the central question of the practical requirements of Christian social justice. The nature of such social justice has already been explained in saying that man should be placed in the position where he can freely and without hindrance glorify and enjoy God, thus fulfilling the obligations laid upon all God’s rational creatures. But how is this to be done?

Since social justice is fundamentally spiritual, it is bound up intimately with Christian faith and obedience. True, social justice will come in only as men turn to God through Christ Jesus. The preaching of the church, therefore, is absolutely essential. No individual ecclesiastical denomination, nor even all of them put together, however, have ever been or ever will be perfect. They are all tainted with sin. Consequently, although some may be more pure than others, none has the right to dominate or to restrict the lawful activities of the others. Nor has the state the right to interfere in any way with the proclamation of the gospel either by individuals or by religious groups. Thus, from the Christian point of view, the keystone of all social justice is the free preaching of the gospel: religious liberty. Not because it gives a good example to others, nor because our liberal age regards religious conflicts as outmoded, is this so, but because the free preaching of the gospel is the prime requisite for true social justice. It is the absolutely minimum requirement if men are properly to fulfill their obligations in life: the glorification and enjoyment of God.

There is also a second requirement of social justice. Mere preaching will soon degenerate into nothing but barren formalism unless people are able to think. The gospel never prospers in the midst of ignorance. Therefore, closely linked with the proclamation of the gospel is freedom of education. The Reformation showed this only too clearly, for the true preaching of the Word was always followed by the founding of schools and colleges. Romanism, on the other hand, like Communism, prospers in the minds of those who have never been trained to think except as their superiors have ordered. Sad to say much of our contemporary education, even in Christian and democratic lands, is nothing more than propaganda for materialism and unbelief. Nevertheless, where there is an educated ministry, anxious to proclaim the Word and ready to give a reason for the faith that is in them, to a people also educated, even that materialistic education can be turned to advantage. But where education is truly Christian, it lays an even more solid foundation for true social justice, training the youth to think along covenant lines. In this way freedom of education is very important if true social justice is to exist.

Following close on the heels of the primary requisites for social justice come others. To most minds, perhaps, they should have come first. On the contrary, the Christian interpretation is that, although they may sometimes help, they may sometimes hinder man in his attempts to glorify and enjoy God. At other times they may have no effect at all.

Closely linked to the two primary requisites for social justice is freedom of the press, secular and religious. Only as men are able to exchange their ideas freely, criticize those in authority and demand reform will there be social justice. Only then can men be brought face to face with their responsibilities to God and to their fellow men. At the same time, there must be certain limits to such freedom in order that the publication of falsehood, slander and the like may be restrained. Subject to these limitations, however, freedom of the press is very necessary.

If these three elements of social justice are adhered to, it is probable that another requirement will be met: freedom from oppression. There can hardly be a true and just concept of one’s duty in life where oppression dominates everything. Tyranny is not conducive to serving God, nor is it a stimulant to help one’s fellow man. Where one man, or even a group of men, whether Nazis, Fascists, Communists or Capitalists, have the absolute power of life and death over millions of their fellows, man finds it very hard to think in terms of serving God. Fear and suspicion become so prevalent that one is afraid at every step he may take. In such circumstances, if one persists in his attempts to be a faithful Christian either the slave camp, the firing squad or worse is the result. Few of us have the moral courage required to take the consequences of fulfilling our creaturely obligations under such circumstances.

There are other restrictions also which are contrary to true social justice. There are, for instance, restrictions on personal liberty which discriminate against a man because he is of a different race or color from the majority of the population. There is likewise slavery. It is true that these things may not always militate against one’s fulfilling of his obligation to glorify and enjoy God, for in the early church many of the converts were slaves. Nevertheless, human nature being what it is, there is little doubt that in the long run they tend to engender bitterness, suspicion, hatred and various complexes which hinder our service of God and our fellow man.

As in the legal so also in the economic field there is social justice. A person who is plagued continually by poverty, which grinds him and his whole family to the earth, finds it hard indeed to carry out his Christian responsibilities fully. Even though he be kept alive by a “dole” or something of the sort, the effect is thoroughly demoralizing. When added to this, he sees someone else riding by in his big limousine, going to or from his big town house with all the comforts of life, the effect upon him may be decidedly evil. Although the Scriptures never teach that all men should receive equal incomes, they do teach that every man is worthy of his hire, and that there are few sins more heinous than that of depriving the worker of his duly earned wage (Lev. 19:13; Jer. 22:13; Amos 8:4 ff.; Mal. 3:5). In the sight of God, it is just that men should receive a proper proportion of the return for the goods to whose manufacture their work has contributed. Only when this is done will men not be prevented by poverty and economic difficulties from glorifying and enjoying God.

One might perhaps sum up the whole matter by saying that there should be no social discrimination. All men should be treated as the creatures of God, and not as though one is superior to another because he has more money, a better education or something of the sort. The same is true of “class warfare”. In the French Revolution anyone who was an aristocrat was killed, no matter what kind of man he was. The Communists, if they do not actually kill off the middle class, are ready to put them under very severe social disabilities. It is not the character of a man but his class relationship which is to settle his fate. All such discrimination is unjust, hindering man from serving God as he should.

These are some of the elementary needs if there is to be true social justice. As its aim, such justice endeavours to aid rather than hinder man in his service of God and in his care for his fellow men. This can be brought about, however, only as men love God and have mutual love for each other. Only when this is, at least in part, realized, will there be anything approaching social justice.

At this point someone may object that although doubtless this is all very true, today few Christians are interested in the subject, and even fewer will take any steps to make the Christian views effective. As one looks back into the history of the church, however, one cannot but see that repeatedly the church has been in the van of the movement for social justice. Admittedly she has not been so on the usual humanistic grounds of man’s complete freedom to do as he likes, or any such philosophy. Instead, in the name of the Sovereign God who has created all, Christians have struggled with the questions of slavery, religious intolerance, political tyranny, the oppression of the poor and similar problems. Without always seeing clearly the principles involved, or the issues at stake, the church has struggled on. Only in recent years has the evangelical church tended to become “monastic”, ignoring such things as social justice. It has almost become pharisaical, asking the question: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” What it needs to do is to get back to the fact that the gospel has enormous social implications, not the least of which is that social justice is a demand made upon men by God.

The Means Of Obtaining Social Justice

At this point, however, one must make clear the Christian concept of the limitations of social justice. The first thing which must be noted is that maintaining social justice alone is not equivalent to serving God, nor will it bring anyone to fulfill this duty. It can but provide a favorable environment. Only as human nature is regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit will men through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ come to God. At the same time there will never be any real social justice without Christians in society acting as a leaven. History has shown this repeatedly. It is thus a circular process, the entrance to the circle being through the work of God’s sovereign grace in the heart of man. If a man is to will to do God’s will, he must first be “born again” by the Spirit of God. Only then will he be interested in true Christian social justice.

Because of this, social justice will never really come in by legislation. It depends rather upon the spiritual condition of the people of a country. Sin is the basic reason for social injustice, so that the only cure is to curtail sin; and while this can be done to a certain extent—in its outward manifestations—by laws, a more radical cure is necessary. Men must be brought back to the willing service and enjoyment of God as their Saviour and Lord.

In this area lies the responsibility of the church, as the church. Its work is to point out to men that their most fundamental need whether as individuals, or as members of society, is to regain the proper relationship with God. The church must then go on to show how the Lord Jesus Christ has opened up the way into the presence of God, in order that men may find reconciliation. He has borne the curse of their sin, so that if only they will turn unto Him in faith, they will have their lost fellowship with God restored. The preaching and proclamation of the Word, therefore, is the greatest aid to the establishment of social justice.

Preaching, however, is not enough. Men who are unjust care not for God’s just requirements of love and obedience. It is only as the Holy Spirit moves upon men, enabling them to believe and cleansing their hearts from sin’s pollution and power, that the preaching of the gospel is effective. Only then will man’s attitude be changed. Hence it must be kept in the forefront of our thinking that social justice itself in the last analysis comes from the sovereign gracious action of Almighty God. It is not man’s eloquence, but God’s power which brings social justice.

At the same time, although many are called, few are chosen. Consequently the church must remember that many will not believe the gospel, which means that they will not have a true notion of social justice. Yet if the church faithfully proclaims the Word, striving also to obtain true social justice, it will exert a great influence even upon unbelievers. Many times in history, the non-Christian, seeing something of the ideals of the Christian, has desired to imitate them in his social relationships. In this way the church’s influence is spread.

Social justice is, therefore, our job. Not in the way nor with the ideology of the world are we to work for it, but by the preaching of the gospel, by endeavouring to bring every thought into obedience to Christ. We must study to see where things are wrong, and how they may be improved in order that man may be free to serve and enjoy God. This is true social justice.