What is Biblical Justice? Well, first, what is Justice?
Webster's 1828:
1. Justice; right. In practice, equity is the impartial distribution of justice, or the doing that to another which the laws of God and man, and of reason, give him a right to claim. It is the treating of a person according to justice and reason.
The Lord shall judge the people with equity Psalms 98:9.
With righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity Isaiah 11:4.
2. Justice; impartiality; a just regard to right or claim; as, we must, in equity allow this claim.
Wikipedia 2022:
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspectives, including the concepts of moral correctness based on ethics, rationality, law, religion, equity and fairness. The state will sometimes endeavour to increase justice by operating courts and enforcing their rulings.
So now that we have a framework of what Justice is, where do we get the values of right and wrong? Is it game theory based social contracts? Or is there an over-arching standard to which we all appeal when we say something like “napalming babies for fun is wrong”? How about killing off minorities for the promise of a healthier future? How about preventing those with particular beliefs from receiving medical care? From where do we get our standard? Well, obviously you can tell from our conversation so far that the Bible is the standard we call upon. So let's look at what God calls Just and how He conferred the duty of carrying out Justice to Man, historically. We also will see where Justice and Law became perverted.
Genesis 2:16-17 “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Genesis 3:8-24 hold the first trial in all of history. We see the examination of the defendants and witnesses by Judge, Jury, and Executioner.
In Genesis 9:5-6 we see the Lord handing over the Judicial, Legislative, and Executive branches to man.” nd surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.”
In Exodus 18:19-22 we see what would later model for the American Judicial System: ”Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God: And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee.”
In Exodus 20-23 we see the Lord lay out part of what would become the Mosaic Law. This is what was used by Moses, Joshua, and the Judges all the way up to Samuel. Samuel's sons were wicked men. They perverted the Lord's system and ultimately died for it. However, before these sons of Samuel died, the Children of Israel cried out for a King. This led to the rule by a man, and not directly by God. Now, with man in between God and the people, tyranny ensued. We see Saul, David, Solomon, Rehoboam, and the rest suffer from their humanity. And the people suffered as well.
The United States of America is a unique system, in that our Founding Fathers attempted to revert, as much as was possible, to a somewhat Exodus-like form of Government. This government, they warned, would only work with citizens who held the Judeo-Christian Ethic. John Adams stated in a 1798 letter to the Massachusetts Militia: “Avarice, Ambition, Revenge, or Galantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” The return to a Godly society with the freedoms and liberties of Christ were at the core of our system.
Today, we see an enormous amount of crime and our measures of prison time have failed to produce the clean streets we would like. Sure, the streets are safer when one bad guy is taken off of them. However, how did God choose to deal with crimes? Capital Punishment, Restitution, Corporal Punishment.
Capital Punishment: Deuteronomy 22:25 m“But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die:”
Restitution: Exodus 22:7 “If a man gives his neighbor money or goods to keep for him and it is stolen from the man's house, if the thief is caught, he shall pay double.
Corporal Punishment: Deuteronomy 25:2-3 “And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.”
Now, many have said that they believe that we should abolish prisons. Where are prisons found in the Bible? They are not, unless we are talking about the prisons of the Gentiles who oppress the Israelites. Prisons are a man-made concept. It is thought that the first prisons were constructed in Egypt or by some of the Mesopotamian nations surrounding Israel. http://www.prisonhistory.net/prison-history/history-of-prisons/
So here is the question: Why do we not follow God's plan for law and order? Sure, some things are different than the Levitical Law days, but the principles are similar. And before you go on to site Christ and His forgiveness of sins of various people, Christ is God. He is the ONE person who had the authority to do that (also the only one who would know if this person had actually repented). So why have we changed the way we meet out Justice?
Jeremy Bentham was the philosopher responsible for the modern incarnation of British and American prisons. His primary motivation was that he was against the Death Penalty. https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/famous-prisons-incarceration/history-of-imprisonment/
Bentham was the Father of the Utilitarianism Movement as we know it today. He believed that: “actions are morally right if they tend to promote happiness or pleasure (and morally wrong if they tend to promote unhappiness or pain) among all those affected by them” https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjwq4SgpuX2AhU8j2oFHRJ6DesQFnoECAIQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britannica.com%2Fbiography%2FJeremy-Bentham&usg=AOvVaw0-6DiUdiSNK_byPWSbvG9q
So here we have an example of man going his own way. Now that we have seen that this system does not work as well as we would have liked it to, some are suggesting that we reduce prison sentences as articles like this one do: https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2020/oct/1/new-study-shows-tough-crime-generation-spent-more-time-prison-despite-falling-crime-rate/
However, there is no indication that the lawlessness would go away and as we see in places like Southern California, reduction in consequences only increases crime. https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2022/why-has-shoplifting-been-out-of-control-since-the-pandemic-began/
The issue is not a change in man made policies, but a return to God's policies. One will be less likely to steal if one has to pay restitution. One is much less likely to murder if death is the result, and certainly they will not be able to murder a second if death is the consequence. Now, some will immediately recoil at the mention of the death penalty, that is okay. The death penalty has also suffered at the hands of “man's wisdom”. Deuteronomy 17:6 should have been applied on all of those cases where faulty forensics or other circumstantial evidence put innocents to death: “On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.” Follow God's standard and things will work as well as possible.
More Bible verses dealing with Justice:
Who is ultimately sovereign over Justice?
Ecclesiastes 3:17 “I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”
Hebrews 10:30 “For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.”
What does God say a society should do concerning Justice?
Hosea 12:6
“Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.”
What affect should Justice have on the righteous, what about the wicked?
Proverbs 21:15
“It is joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.”
Proverbs 24:24-25 “He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him: But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.”
Whose job is it to maintain this order?
Romans 12:9 “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”
Romans 13:1-7 “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.”
What does the Bible say about partiality?
Leviticus 19:15 “You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly”
1 Timothy 5:21 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality.”
Deuteronomy 1:17 “You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not fear man, for the judgment is God's. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.”