Justice

Genesis 17:1 (NASB)

Walk before Me, and be blameless.

The word justice means different things to different people. But one of the core tenants of justice is to defend and protect the innocent at all costs. How does one define innocence? Is it merely ignorance or a pure motive? The above verse seems to suggest that innocence is an explicit knowledge of good and evil and to crave only the good (1 Peter 2:2 eagerly). Abraham made a lot of careless mistakes, like when he lied about his wife Sarah (Genesis 12:10-13), went down to Egypt when he should have stayed in Canaan (Genesis 12:10), or had a child with his maid instead of waiting on the Lord (Genesis 16:4). But in all that, Abraham never had any intention to sin or dishonor the Lord. He may have done what was logical at that moment. Hence, he was highly respected by the Lord (Isaiah 41:8) and the law of the Land (Genesis 12:20).

John 16:8 (NKJV)

He will convict the world of sin.

The second aspect of justice is prosecution. If God had not judged sin on the cross (1 Peter 2:24), there would be no room for His love or mercy. For the innocent to be protected, immorality and crime have to be rooted out. Unfortunately, both our preaching and criminal justice system are pretty weak on this. But the Holy Spirit is not just a comforter (John 14:16) but also the prosecutor. Many a man can rationalize and explain their sins and crime away by calling them unintentional or gaffes. But that doesn't exist. A man knows precisely what he says (Matthew 12:34) and does (Janes 1:14-16). A sinner and a criminal have limited rights but not all the rights of a blameless saint and law-abiding citizen. Indeed, an unrepentant sinner can't expect to be in heaven any more than a criminal can expect immunity from prosecution.

Have a good weekend, saints.