Justice

Our holy God is perfectly just. He never finds himself confused or looking for legal precedent for his decisions. He does not turn a blind eye, even when he acts with mercy. Because justice is part of his character, God expects the people who follow him to also practice justice.

But when God’s justice comes into contact with sinful humanity, things get messy. This quarter we look at Old Testament passages that reveal God’s desire for justice to characterize human relationships. Just as his love extends to all people, from the street to the palace, so must just treatment reach all, regardless of status. Though justice easily is perverted by the powerful and the elite, God calls his people to a higher way: the way of justice.

God Requires Justice

God’s law provides his people with a standard for justice. The first unit in this quarter illustrates how justice proceeds from God’s own character and provides the basis for right human conduct and social order. Leaders of God’s people must rely on God’s law as they administer justice.

On earth, God’s justice can and should be mirrored in human relationships. King David fulfilled his promise to Jonathan by extending provision to his deceased friend’s son. Sometimes God brings justice personally through the exercise of his power and from the outpouring of his righteousness. The Messiah prophesied by Isaiah would bring perfect justice into his perfect reign. We humans can become angered when justice seems to be delayed. But Nahum’s prophecies stand as a reminder that God sees the cruelty of the nations and judges them rightly.

God: The Source of Justice

The justice of God must be evident in the lives of his people. The second unit of this quarter’s lessons examines the ramifications for justice as it plays out in human life. We find that uncontrolled anger leads to all kinds of negative consequences, from broken relationships to crime to war. The story of Cain and Abel illustrates well what happens when anger rules uncontested.

God expects his justice to be applied to all people, even those who oppose his purposes and his people. This includes the enemies of God and those who are oppressed and marginalized. Israel’s own history of slavery in Egypt informs how they must live out justice, not favoring the powerful but showing equal concern for all people. We are reminded that God’s justice is for our own well-being.

Justice and Adversity

God’s justice is often perverted, miscarried, and ignored—to our own peril. When a king strays from the path of justice, who can rebuke him? When a whole nation has forgotten​—or despised—the law of God, how can the people be saved? The third unit of the quarter explores how people who obey God can correct course when injustice has become the rule of the day.

God’s representatives bear the responsibility of seeking God’s justice in the face of all kinds of opposition. Sometimes, as with Job’s friend Bildad, wrong doctrine about God sounds right and results in faulty condemnation of the innocent. The final lesson in the quarter illustrates the joy and life we find when we return to harmony with God’s justice. Ultimately, though we work toward the reality of God’s will enacted on earth as in Heaven, we are hopeful because justice does not depend on us alone. May this quarter’s lessons remind us of what true justice looks like.

Jeff Gerke, “Quarter at a Glance,” in The NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2021–2022, ed. Jane Ann Kenney et al., vol. 28, The NIV Standard Lesson Commentary (Colorado Springs, CO: Standard Publishing, 2021–2022), 115.