By Shafer Parker

Millennials (born 1981-1996) may not believe in God much, but according to numerous studies they do believe in justice. The question is, what does this term mean to these young adults (now middle age?), and more importantly, does their view reflect what God thinks. Remember, each Christian’s responsibility is to be the image of God in the place where he or she lives, so understanding what God thinks about justice is crucial.

Unfortunately, says Doug Wilson, in chapter 4 of Gashmu Saith It: How to Build Christian Communities that Save the World, too many adult Christians want “to substitute the word of man for the Word of God.” The result? Again, in Wilson’s words, “We have wanted to define justice without reference to biblical law, and this then makes us want to choose between individualism and collectivism. And then, because we have been thrown into a realm where might determines right, the collective always wins.” In God’s world, however, individuals matter. There is also the corporate body, known as the church, to which individuals belong by faith in Christ, but the collective never overwhelms the individual.

One is moved to ask, “Who believes in the church anymore? And why should faith in the church matter?” Here’s why church matters, and why the individual Christian’s commitment to it matters. The world is not going to reform itself. It will only descend, sometimes gradually, sometimes catastrophically, into some form of collectivist hell-hole. Some collectivist hell-holes are as hot as the sun (think North Korea), while others are no hotter than the sunward side of the planet Mercury (think the Soviet Union); either way, both are equally unbearable. But to get back to the point, only the church can refresh the world. Only the church understands that it is made up of individuals saved by grace, but also “bound together in a mystical body.” And only the church understands that “love and justice are defined from outside the world” (emphasis by Wilson).

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Rom. 13:8–10)

But what does this passage mean in the 21st century? First, that “our bonds to one another need to be stronger than the bonds of debtor/creditor (v. 8),” that this, then, is the superglue strength of the love that fulfills the law. And further, that the second table of the 10 Commandments (#’s 6-10), is summed up in Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Wilson continues his exposition of Rom. 13: “Love, in short, refuses to perpetrate injustice, and justice is always defined by the law of God, which in turn is shaped by the character of God Himself—and remember that God is love (I John 4:8). This is the love of God that sent Jesus to the cross.

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This is cross love, not that Christians must be willing to die for the sake of injustice, but for the sake of telling the world the truth—truth about God and truth about what, in God, is right and wrong. This, then, is hard justice, not the kind that wins votes but the kind that breaks hard hearts and is used by the Holy Spirit to bring about repentance. Here’s how Wilson puts it.

The love that is enjoined in Rom. 13:8-10 is not in an adversarial relationship with the facts of hard justice. It is possible because of hard justice. . . . Hard teaching creates tender hearts. Tender teaching creates hard hearts. The jackhammer of the Word breaks up our hard hearts. The feather duster of the Word leaves our hard hearts just where they were.

Would to God that more of our current crop of Evangelical pastors understood the principles Wilson sets forth in this chapter. And would to God that they would understand and reject the opposite principles. I John 3:4 reads, “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” In that light Wilson asks, “What does it mean to love someone? It means to treat them lawfully from the heart.” Practically, that means affirming all that Scripture affirms and condemning all that Scripture condemns. The world has the exact opposite opinion. According to Wilson, and you know it’s true, in today’s secular world “injustice is defined by whether or not it hurts someone’s feelings.” Unfortunately, too many church leaders think the same way, especially about those areas where the current world is most flagrantly offensive to God. Thus you get churches that proudly name themselves inclusive, or welcoming, and advertise themselves as such on the internet. To see what I mean go here, here, here, or here.

The choice, Wilson argues, is really quite simple. Will emotion be allowed to rule, or will we live by the covenant oaths that we made in first coming to Christ? Wilson is brilliant in summing up why this is important. There are three governments under which we must live, he says, the family, the Church, and the civil magistrate. “But the (non-institutional” government that supports and makes possible all three of these is self-government.” It was our Lord’s “self-government” that enabled him to do the right thing on Good Friday, so long ago. And thanks to His obedience, we are saved. Today we are exhorted to put on Christ (Rom. 13:14; Gal. 3:27). Or, as Wilson has it, “Put on your Jesus coat. And make sure you put your arms through both sleeves.” This is a summary of Gashmu Saith It, chapter 4. But no summary can do the book justice. Read it with all your mind and all your heart, and most importantly, live it out. Do you want to save the world? Or not?

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