The Justice of God

Definition and Meaning

The justice of God is the attribute by which God is righteous in himself and judges and governs all things according to a right standard. In the doctrine of God, it is treated as one of the attributes of God. Reformed systematic theology classifies justice as a "communicable attribute," one reflected to some degree in human beings as well. It sometimes further distinguishes three aspects: legislative justice, by which God establishes righteous laws; remunerative justice, by which he rewards good; and retributive justice, by which he punishes sin.

Biblical and Historical Background

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word tsedaqah, usually rendered "righteousness," denotes a right relationship marked by faithfulness to the covenant. The word mishpat, often rendered "justice" or "judgment," denotes right judgment and order. The two terms frequently appear together, as in Amos 5:24: "But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream" (KJV). The prophets denounced the oppression of the poor and the weak as a violation of justice.

In the New Testament, the Greek word dikaiosynē is generally translated "righteousness." In Romans 3:21–26, Paul states that through the cross of Christ, God acted "that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:26). Martin Luther recalled coming to realize that "the righteousness of God" in Romans 1:17 is not the righteousness by which God punishes sinners but the righteousness given as a gift to those who believe. This understanding became the foundation of the doctrine of justification.

Practice in Korean Churches

The Reformed tradition, including Presbyterian churches, emphasizes the atonement from the perspective of penal substitution, holding that Christ satisfied the justice of God by bearing, in the sinner's place, the punishment due to sin. Methodists, following Wesleyan theology, affirm God's justice but tend to give priority in their explanations to God's love and grace toward all people. In the preaching of Korean Protestant churches, justice is commonly presented together with the love of God: the justice that surely punishes sin and the love that forgives sinners are described as having been realized together at the cross.

Korean churches also differ in how they connect justice with social issues. The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea and churches associated with the National Council of Churches in Korea, which took part in the human rights and democratization movements of the 1970s and 1980s, regarded social justice as a practical outworking of the justice of God (see the church and the democratization movement). Korean evangelicals, by contrast, more strongly prioritized personal conversion and salvation. However, after the Lausanne Covenant, adopted at the 1974 Lausanne Congress, declared social responsibility to be a Christian duty alongside evangelism, an emphasis on social engagement grew within evangelicalism as well.