Principle
GOD is just.
Explanation
The Bible asserts that GOD is completely just, with no hint of wrong-doing or inconsistency. GOD does not accept bribes and He does not respect human accomplishments, prestige, money or power (or the lack thereof).
3 For I invoke the Lord’s name:
Deuteronomy 32:3-4 OSB
Ascribe greatness to our God.
4 He is God, His works are true;
And all His way s are judgment,
A faithful God and without injustice;
Righteous and holy is the Lord.
In verse 4 there, the Hebrew Bible says, “all His ways are just.”
Job’s friend, Bildad, who visited Job in his affliction, asked rhetorically:
3 Will the Lord do wrong when He judges,
Job 8:3 OSB
Or will He who made all things trouble righteousness?
The prophet Micah also asks a rhetorical question and GOD answers:
6 How shall I come to understand the Lord and devote myself to the Most High God? Shall I reach Him with burnt offerings? with year-old calves? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams? or with a myriad of streams of oil? Should I give my firstborn for my ungodliness, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. Or what does the Lord seek from you but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to be ready to walk with the Lord your God?
Micah 6:6-8 OSB
The opposite of just-ness is injustice, unfairness, partiality or capriciousness. GOD is (and does) none of those. Moses wrote:
17 For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. 18 He administers justice for the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving him food and clothing.
Deuteronomy 10:17-18 OSB
For this reason, when GOD told Moses about appointing judges within Israel, He said:
18 “You shall appoint judges and teachers in all the cities the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. 19 They shall not pervert judgment; they shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe; for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. 20You shall pursue what is altogether just, that you may live and go in and inherit the land the Lord your God gives you.
Deuteronomy 16:18-20 OSB
This concept continues throughout the Bible. Christians are also instructed to avoid showing partiality. James, the brother of our Lord Jesus, wrote:
1 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
James 2:1-13 NIV
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