The Argument From Justice

My dictionary app defines justice as “rightfulness, lawfulness, equitableness, or moral rightness.”

Granted that there are flaws in the justice system in America, it is still one of the best in the world. There is no system of justice in this world that has ever been perfect because they all involve fallible humanity. That is why there are occasions where the guilty go free and the innocent are punished. And yet, America has one of the most just systems in the world.

Let’s consider some hypothetical situations regarding justice. Consider a capital murder case. The criminal has committed multiple murders, brutally killing seven innocent victims. There is no doubt to his guilt. His fingerprints and dna are linked to all of the crimes. There are eyewitnesses to what he did. Guilt is not in doubt.

Then there is an unfathomable turn. The judge decides to pronounce the man innocent, and to let him go free. (remember this is s hypothetical)

If that were to happen people would be incensed and outraged. How could a judge who is supposed to uphold justice do such a thing?! That is criminal in and of itself. That is the opposite of justice. That criminal deserves the full punishment of the law. Such a judge would be downright evil to allow such a situation to occur. He would be thrown out of office at the first opportunity. We would not stand for that.
There has been a lot of discussion lately in the news and in the world of the internet about the Biblical concept of hell. The catalyst for this discussion was the release of a book by Rob Bell called “Love Wins.” In this book Bell is battling against the biblical idea of a real hell. His attack is nothing new(good review here). Many have wondered, “how could a loving God send people to hell?”

Besides the fact that the scriptures are unmistakable clear in teaching the reality of hell, let’s consider the argument from justice.

It is a flawed task to compare the justice of man with the justice of God. His ways, are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts( Isaiah 55). For all the imperfections of human justice, God’s justice has no imperfections. He always does what is perfectly just. He can do no different.

People would be outraged if a human judge let a guilty mass murder off free. And yet people are outraged that God would NOT do that. God would be just, rightful, equitable and lawful. He is the epitome of true justice.

The response that people give to that would sound like this, “Yes, but we are not all murderers. What about all the innocent people? Do they really deserve hell just because they don’t accept Jesus?”

God would not send an innocent person to suffer for all eternity in hell. And yet the Bible is clear that hell will be filled to the brim with all kinds of people. This raises a more important question. Are there any innocent people in hell? Are there any innocent people?

The answer to both of those questions is “NO”. There are no innocent people. Let that sink in. There are no innocent people. Some might object, “I am not a mass murderer. Sure, I may have told a white lie, and do some things I shouldn’t have, but surely there is a difference between me and a mass murder?”

There is no difference. Compared to other humans, you might be a bit better. But the standard we are measured against is not humanity but God. God is infinite in Holiness and Perfection. His law is the perfect standard. This means that even the slightest infraction of His law is a crime against the infinite measure of God’s goodness. We are worse than mass murders.

That is why we deserve hell. That is why hell is a place of eternal torment. Our crimes of sin against God are infinite in measure. Justice requires equitability. The only equitable punishment would have to be eternal in measure. That is why hell is an eternal punishment.

That is true justice. For God not to do that would make God bad, and an evil judge. He is Holy, Righteous and Just. That’s why hell exists.

Coming: Part 2 – Jesus and God’s Justice

God's Wrath

Nahum 1:2-6
The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
and keeps wrath for his enemies.
The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.
His way is in whirlwind and storm,
and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;
he dries up all the rivers;
Bashan and Carmel wither;
the bloom of Lebanon withers.
The mountains quake before him;
the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
the world and all who dwell in it.
Who can stand before his indignation?
Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.
The Holy Bible : English standard version.

Most people don’t want to acknowledge, think about, or believe that God is a God of wrath. A preacher bringing up this subject is categorized as one of those “hell-fire-brimstone” preachers from days of old.

Well, here I am bringing it up. First of all, I am not one of those old timey “hell-fire-brimstone” preachers. I am too young to fit into that category. I do believe, preach and advocate the grace and mercy of God. I do not always try to “scare” people to faith.(although there is a need for more reverence of the Lord God, I’ll save that for another blog).

But, I do believe the Bible. God has revealed Himself to us through His Word. And time and again we see the mention of His wrath. From beginning to end God is a God of Wrath just as He is a God of Grace. To ignore this truth is to make a god of our imagination, who is no god but a false idol.

So, how do we understand God’s Wrath? How can we make sense out of this truth? J.I. Packer has a great chapter in his classic book Knowing God. I am going to reproduce a couple of paragraphs that I think are excellent.


The root cause of our unhappiness seems to be a disquieting suspicion that ideas of wrath are in one way or another unworthy of God.

To some, for instance, wrath suggests a loss of self-control, an outburst of seeing red which is partly if not wholly irrational. To others it suggests the rage of conscious impotence, or wounded pride or plain bad temper. Surely, it is said, it would be wrong to ascribe to God such attitudes as these?

God’s wrath in the Bible is never capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is. It is instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil. God is only angry when anger is called for. Even among humans, there is such a thing as righteous indignation, though it is, perhaps, rarely found. But all God’s indignation is righteous. Would a God who took as much pleasure in evil as he did in good be a good God? Would a God who did not react adversely to evil in his world be morally perfect? Surely not. But it is precisely this adverse reaction to evil, which is a necessary part of moral perfection, that is what the Bible has in view when it speaks of God’s wrath.

Then to others the thought of God’s wrath suggests cruelty….Does this follow? Two biblical considerations show that it does not.

In the first place, God’s wrath in the Bible is always judicial-that is, it is the wrath of the Judge, administering justice. Cruelty is always immoral, but the explicit presupposition of all that we find in the Bible on the torments of those who experience the fullness of God’s wrath is that each receives precisely what he deserves.

My note: the mistake most people make when trying to understand God’s wrath is they overestimate their own goodness and underestimate their own badness. We are not good, we have sinned and offended the holiness of God Almighty that brings on us exactly what we deserve for such sin—His punishment and wrath.

Romans 2:5-6 says that God will give to each person according to what he has done.

In the second place, God’s wrath in the Bible is something which people choose for themselves. Before hell is an experience inflicted by God, it is a state for which a person himself opts by retreating from the light which God shines in his heart to lead him to Himself.

From Knowing God by J.I. Packer pages 150-156.

Next post: Being delivered from God’s Wrath; propitiation