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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman God
Is Just 2
Thessalonians 1:6 reads: "God
is just: He
will pay back trouble to those who trouble you ..." Much could be written
about this verse but I will only comment on the words "God is
just." In our modern-day,
western-world concept of legal justice, the process of exercising
justice is based on legislative law or legal precedent.
Legislative law refers to government-passed laws.
Legal precedent refers to court rulings.
You might think that God's justice is also based on His brand of
legislative law and legal precedent, but I don't believe it is.
I believe God exercises justice based on His essence, that is,
who He is, and who He is at His core, is pure justice.
Think of it this way.
God, in His essence is love.
He demonstrates acts of love because love is who He is, as we
read in 1 John 4:8. "Whoever does not love
does not know God, because God
is love." As God in His essence is
love, so in His essence He is also just, as 2 Thessalonians 1:6 states.
He is the epitome of justice.
He demonstrates acts of justice because justice is who He is. It
is for this reason that God does not exercise justice based on
legislative law or legal precedent.
He bases His acts of divine justice on who He is, and who He is,
without any hint of prejudice, is perfectly just.
If God did not act
justly, He would defy Himself and not be God.
He must, then, pronounce just verdicts, declare just sentences,
and exercise just punishment, to all who defy His nature.
For those of us who have
been pronounced innocent by God, the verdict, the sentencing, and the
punishment due us was directed towards Jesus while He was on the cross.
This demonstration of love has freed us from God's demonstration
of justice rightly due us. The
cross of Christ, then, was the ultimate act of God being both love and
just, and for that, we are all incredibly thankful.
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