A Truly Just God
This is a reply to Henry Thomas’ post on Justice and equality.
A major component of justice is that it is applied equally. HT is correct to assume that everyone would be justly damned in Hell is God did not act. However, since God has let us know that He is not a respecter of persons, the ESV rightly translates this as showing no partiality (Acts 10:34) and that Jesus died for the sins of the world (John 1:29, 1 John 2:2 John 4:42 ) and he is a perfectly just being we can assume that He gives everyone the same shot.
He has made His mercy available to those that would choose Him. He demands for Himself in His justness to open the offer to all, not just a preselect few. Otherwise, the human in Heaven was treated differently than the human in Hell. Real and true justice means giving everyone the same chance.
One last thing. If God is omnipotent and wishes (i.e. it is His will) than none perish - why do some perish? Does that not defeat His will?
In the Free-Will position, God is all powerful, but that does not necessarily mean that He chooses to use His power at all times. We are told that He is delaying the Judgment - He is holding back His power - for our benefit. Similarly, while God can make us do anything He wants, such as choose Him, that does not mean that He necessarily forces us to do so.
To say that God doesn”t treat all men equally and thus he is a respecter of persons is to misunderstand the Calvinist position and to not truly understand the Arminian position. For God to treat all men equally as Arminians purposes God does, he would be the respecter of persons that the Bible claims he is not. In Calvinism, this whole mess is avoided because the idea of equality is not imported into justice and it does not force God to be a respecter of persons.
When it is said that God is not a respecter of persons, it refers to Him not showing partiality (Deut 10:17; 2 Chr 19:7; Rom 2:11; Gal 2:6; Eph 6:9; Col 3:25; 1 Pet 1:17), not disrespecting a person”s choices. When the full nature of Justice is realized, it incorporates notions of due rewards and punishments along with a consistent application of the notions.
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Comments
It looks like the real issue here, and it looks like we both missed it, is not a question about God’s justice, but in the nature of God’s mercy.
You are exactly right about it and as you have probably seen by now, I picked up on that at my own blog.
Point conceded about “show no partiality.” When God elects to salvation, he does just that, he elects with no partiality. He does not take into account their deeds and actions, race, gender, socio-economic class. When he judges, he does exactly that. Is this equal, no, but where in the Bible does he say he has to treat all equal or else the concept of “righteousness” or “justice” is lost?
John 11:51-52 says that Jesus’ death wasn’t for the whole world as in every single human, it was for the whole world in the sense that God’s people are confined to just one ethnic group or race or gender or socio-economic class, but to all peoples. They are all over the world. Also John 15:16 says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.” It isn’t that we choose God, it is that he chose us. Jesus wasn’t preaching to a large crowd, but only to his followers in the Upper Room. John 17 says over and over that those who believe in Jesus belonged to the Father first, then he gave them to Jesus. Then there is John 6:44-45 and John 6:65 which says no one can come to Christ unless God brings or drags them to Christ. John 6:37-40 says that all those who believe on Christ were those who are given to Christ by the Father, and that they will not perish but be raised to eternal life. I could go on and on in John, Paul, and the rest of the Bible where yes Christ died for the whole world, but not every single individual person will be saved because God has not saved them. Salvation is the work of God alone, not a work of man’s in any way.
All sin, whether it is that of those who inhabit heaven or hell, will be punished, either in hell or on the cross. Thus God’s justice is preserved. That is what Paul has argued for in Romans 3:25-26! God is not unjust because on Christ he has demonstrated that all sin will be punished.
God’s purpose is that of election (cf. Romans 9:11). His desires in some ways is that all men be saved, but he has not purposed to save all men. Why? Romans 9:22-23 says that God prepared vessels of wrath to show his power and wrath to the vessels of mercy who will see his glory in mercy when they are saved from that wrath. As Proverbs 16:4 says, “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.” It was their purpose to be destroyed on the day of trouble when God punishes sin. That is what their purpose is, that is why they are there.
If your reaction is, “Why does he still find fault?” Then I will point you to my latest post on Romans 9 and to Romans 9:19-24. If your reaction is, “That’s unfair, it’s not right, it’s unjust.” Then I point you to my latest post on Romans 9 and to Romans 9:14-18. Unfair, may be. But we would be wise to remember Isaiah’s words in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”