Justice is what you get when you apply biblical standards, knowingly or unknowingly, to life’s sticky moments. This is why you are still able to get a fair trial from time to time, even when the magistrate doesn’t have his bible open on the bench with a finger glued to Proverbs 21:15. The memory and foundation of Christendom in the West lingers.
But even when we reach the point where biblical justice is long forgotten, a point we are fast approaching, Christians are still commanded to maintain the standards set down by God and by which He runs the world. The whole world may insist that the train has stopped and invite you to step into the abyss, but as believers, we are commanded to remain seated until we reach our destination.
One of those areas where biblical justice appears to have been forgotten is in the distinction the Bible makes between crimes and sins.
Firstly, while all crimes are sins, not all sins are crimes. For example, envy is a sin but not a crime punishable by a civil magistrate. Theft, which is often motivated by the sin of envy, is a crime and is punishable by the magistrate.
Lust is a sin but not a crime. Adultery is both a crime and a sin. As a general rule, those sins that involve another person or their property may be considered crimes as well as sins.
To help us navigate the differences, God has established three institutions where justice is ordinarily dished out. Those institutions are the family, the civil magistrate, and the church.
The family, as the first basic earthly institution appointed by God, is the place where justice begins. If children are not exposed to biblical justice their, they will be totally unprepared for that same justice out in the big wide world.
When a son steals his father’s watch or his mother’s cash (Judges 17:1-2), he has committed a serious sin and a serious crime (Proverbs 28:24). Yet justice, in the form of restitution for the crime and repentance for the sin (Judges 17:3-4), is ordinarily dealt with there and then in the home, not the local magistrate.
When the same crime is committed on a neighbour, that is, in the community, and the two families involved can’t reach a resolution, we can expect the criminal offence, but not the sin, to end up in a civil court.
Dealing with the sin is typically the responsibility of the family (Proverbs 19:18). And, if the sin breaks out into the neighbourhood, then the church (1 Corinthians 5:1-2).
Discipline for such sin is typically ex-communication or separation; the goal is restoration. Kids are banished from the dinner table and sent to their rooms until they learn to behave and make confession and restoration for their sins. If that proves ineffective, they will eventually be booted out of the house. The same holds true regarding the church and the Lord’s Table – and ultimately, the Kingdom of God and our eternal destiny.
Where things tend to become more complicated, and we Christians have been caught off guard, is where both serious sin and serious crime break out into a community.
Biblical justice mandates the death penalty only for murder (Genesis 9:6). This is baked into the principle of,
Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again. And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death (Leviticus 24:20-21)
This verse, directed at the elders and judges of Israel, is not a directive to seek personal vengeance but an instruction to the civil magistrate to ensure that the punishment fits the crime.
Okay, so what do we do with homosexuality or adultery, both of which allow for the death penalty? Christians can easily get caught up in a false dichotomy on this one and tie themselves up in knots, thinking that it’s either the death penalty or no penalty at all.
As believers, we are rightly taught to act by both precept and example.
Whatever can be clearly shown from Scripture, either by precept or example, to have been instituted by the apostles, and which cannot be shown to have had its origin in the temporary and peculiar circumstance of their time, is binding on us and for all time. Whatever can be shown to have had its origin in the peculiarities of that time, is not binding, the same peculiarities no longer existing.1
Chastity, ageless. Circumcision a sign for the time.
In the case of adultery, we have a commandment (precept) that includes the death penalty as punishment (Leviticus 20:10-11). But then we have the example of king David who was explicitly told that he would not die for his adultery (2 Samuel 12:13). That penalty landed on his son.
Regarding acts of homosexuality, we have a commandment that includes the death penalty as punishment (Leviticus 20:13). But then we have the example of King Asa, who exiled the sodomites rather than execute them (1 Kings 15:11) and, of whom God said, “And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father (1 Kings 15:11).
From these examples, I take it that, unlike the death penalty, which was mandatory for murder based on the principle of, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, the death penalty for acts of adultery and sodomy was given as the maximum allowable penalty.
Next, biblical justice requires two or three witnesses to establish any case against a person Deuteronomy 17:16).
This is perhaps one of the most neglected principles of biblical justice in our day. This commandment is so important it is repeated by no lesser men than Moses (Deuteronomy 19:15), the Apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 13:1), and Jesus Himself (Matthew 18:16). Not only should the witnesses exist, the accused must be allowed to face his accusers through cross-examination (Proverbs 18:17).
Christians should have no part in trial by media, slander on Facebook or unsubstantiated accusations made by lone TikTok warriors and envious pew-sitters.
In addition to human witnesses, material evidence, including fingerprints, blood, DNA, etc, may act as a witness. But because these are less reliable, three witnesses instead of two would be both biblical and prudent.
Though the accusations of a lone witness or an ignorant and angry mob (who are often guilty of the same sin, cf, John 8:1-11) might be investigated, they should never, by themselves, lead to prosecution or conviction, much less repeated and propagated by slanderers and gossip mongers.
Where there are no witnesses, there is no case to answer for, except before the throne room of God, who alone can judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart of man.
Biblical justice is given to protect the innocent and give a fair trial to all. It is designed to bring both peace and restoration to the community.
When it’s upheld it is a beautiful thing that leads to either repentance, redemption, mercy or purification. When it’s ignored, it’s a horror show, leading to war and destruction both in the home and the church.
Finally, only God is perfectly just. Human justice that submits to God’s justice approximates God’s justice, but it’s not perfect. The final Judgment at the end of human history is our hope for complete and perfect justice.
This is why we must always remain patient and take the long view when it comes to justice – whether for sin or for crime. And this is why the gospel must always be central to the execution of our earthly attempts at justice.
It is only in the death and resurrection of Jesus that God’s mercy and God’s perfect judgement meet. The cross is where we look for mercy in our guilt and restoration in our sufferings.
It is only at the cross where sins are fully washed, sinners are finally swept away, and saints are forever made.
1 Apostolic Church Polity (1874), in Polity: Biblical Arguments on How to Conduct Church Life: A Collection of Historic Baptist Documents, ed. Mark E. Dever (Sheridan Books, 2001), 537
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