Social Justice: A Biblical Concept

By |Published On: January 28, 2014|Categories: News|

We hear the term Social Justice all over the media these days. It’s posted in articles on Facebook. Tweets go out with links to heart-wrenching videos of starving children, pleading for donations. The news screams with people demanding social justice in the work place. Even our Federal Government bends under the pressure for social justice in our military. But with the many, loud voices that fight for our attention, how do we define and understand the underlying premise of this trending movement? Is there anywhere in Scripture that speaks to the call for social justice?

Our society has been found to define social justice this way: The pursuit of social justice for all is at the core of our global mission to promote development and human dignity. We advance social justice when we remove barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability. Again, this provides us with a pretty broad definition that can take on many voices. So how does the Bible instruct us in the way of breaking down barriers, and to what end?

Luke 14:13, 14 & 23: “But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you…‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.’”

We find many of the same elements of social justice in this passage; breaking down barriers, the inclusion and acceptance of marginalized people in society. But there is one big difference between the world’s definition and God’s. “Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind… that My house may be filled.” The world calls for social justice to promote development and human dignity in this temporal society. But God’s call for justice is more out of His perfect, undying love for all mankind. God’s call counts for eternity. His love for the lame, the blind and the crippled drives Him to extend them His invitation. It’s what should drive us as well. Go beyond the temporal; the here and now. Follow Christ’s example and GO! Compel them to come in with the self-sacrificing love of Christ, and you will be blessed. 

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