What does the Bible say about social justice?

What does the Bible say about social justice? We're going to answer that question.

Before discussing the Christian view of social justice, we need to define terms. Social justice is also a concept that some use to describe the movement towards a socially just world.

In this context, social justice is based on the concepts of human rights and equality and involves a greater degree of economic egalitarianism through progressive taxation, income redistribution, or even property redistribution.

These policies aim to achieve what developmental economists refer to as more equality of opportunity than may currently exist in some societies and to manufacture equality of outcome in cases where incidental inequalities appear in a procedurally just system.

The key word in this definition is the word egalitarianism. Egalitarianism, as a political doctrine, essentially promotes the idea that all people should have the same equal political, social, economic, and civil rights.

This idea is based on the foundation of inalienable human rights enshrined in such documents as the

Declaration of Independence. However, as an economic doctrine, egalitarianism is the driving force behind socialism and communism.

It is economic egalitarianism that seeks to remove the barriers of economic inequality by means of redistribution of wealth.

In other words, the government takes from the rich and gives to the poor. The problem with this doctrine is two -fold.

First, there is a frequently mistaken premise in economic egalitarianism that the rich have become wealthy by exploiting the poor.

Second, socialist programs tend to create more problems than they solve. In other words, they don't work.

What, then, is the Christian view of social justice? The Bible teaches that God is a

God of justice. In fact, all his ways are justice. Furthermore, the Bible supports the notion of social justice in which concern and care are shown to the plight of the poor and afflicted.

The Bible often refers to the fatherless, the widow, and the sojourner, or people who were not able to fend for themselves or had no support system.

Jesus mentions caring for the least of these, and in James' epistle, he expounds on the nature of true religion.

So, if by social justice we mean that society has a moral obligation to care for those less fortunate, then that is correct.

The model of such behavior is Jesus himself, who brought the gospel message to even the outcasts of society.

However, the Christian and contemporary notions of social justice differ. One difference is that the biblical exhortations to care for the poor are more individual than societal.

The individual Christian is encouraged to do what he can to help the least of these.

However, today's notion of social justice replaces the individual with the government. This policy doesn't encourage giving out of love.

Instead, it brews resentment. Another difference is that the Christian worldview of social justice doesn't assume the wealthy are the beneficiaries of ill -gotten gain.

On the other hand, today's social justice operates under the assumption that the wealthy exploit the poor.

A third difference is that under the Christian concept of stewardship, the Christian can give to charities that he or she wants to support.

For example, if a Christian has a heart for the unborn, they can support pro -life agencies. Under the contemporary form of social justice, it is those in power within the government who decide who receives the redistributed wealth.

More often than not, that money goes to charities we might not deem worthy. Basically, there is tension between a

God -centered approach to social justice and a man -centered approach to social justice.

The man -centered approach sees the government in the role of savior, bringing in a utopia through government policies.

The God -centered approach sees Christ as savior, bringing heaven to earth when he returns. At his return,

Christ will restore all things and execute perfect justice. Until then,

Christians express God's love and justice by showing kindness and mercy to those less fortunate.

That answers the question, what does the Bible say about social justice? Research this question further on our website, gotquestions .org.

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