NT Framework - The Basis of Justice

Redemption only? The model martyr? To be a moral example? While the death of Christ on the cross may be all of these things, it sets up and resolves a much more fundamental issue.

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
So there's some odd things about the Messiah, jesus,
of course, and the cross in theNew Testament which lead us to
kind of ask the question, maybeback away from the whole issue,
and kind of wonder why this wasnot understood well even at the
time of the question, maybe backaway from the whole issue, and
kind of wonder why this was notunderstood well even at the time
of the Messiah, with all theOld Testament already there and

(00:32):
yet they didn't see it Now.
So they obviously did not havethe same conception of justice
and the nature of God and man'ssin that we do.
But that doesn't mean theyshouldn't have, of course.
Just because they had the OldTestament doesn't mean they
understood everything in the OldTestament.
Right, if you and I had beenthere, we may not have

(00:53):
understood the Old Testamenteither.
We may have been just likePeter and said, no, it's not
going to happen, you're nevergoing to die.
But then you have to walk awaysaying, well then, how would the
sin problem be resolved?
Right, because in your mindyou're thinking, you're a Monday
morning quarterback, you havemore information than they did.
So you're thinking well, it'snecessary, but the cross was not

(01:17):
well understood.
Now everybody has a sense ofjustice, every human being.
And the reason we have a senseof justice is because we have a
conscience.
The conscience isn't somethingthat you can dissect, take out,

(01:38):
put it on a scale, measure theweight of the conscience, or
something like that.
It's a part of the immaterialpart of man, part of our human
spirit, part of that aspect ofour constitution.
We have that because we're madein God's image.
As image bearers of God, we arefinite replicas of him.
So, whereas he has certainattributes, like he's, sovereign

(02:03):
, man has choice.
Sovereign is an infinitequality.
Choice is a finite quality.
Right love, infinite right,infinite love.
We have, we love.
Why do we have love?
Well, because we're finitecreatures made in his image.
Right, he is righteous and justright, what we sometimes call
holy.

(02:23):
We have a concept ofrighteousness and justice as
humans, because we're made inhis image and it's called
conscience, and our consciencecan't help but judge and say
that's right, that's wrong.
I mean, people do it every day.
You make judgments every day.
Every human does.
It's because we're made inGod's image that we do that.

(02:43):
So humans have developedsystems of justice, what they
consider to be just.
Here's a few of themDistributive justice.
This is a form of social justicewhere it's basically
redistribution of assets, wealthfrom those who are the haves to

(03:03):
the have-nots.
So this is considered by manyto be a form of justice.
We should all be equal.
We all should have equal amountof assets, power and so forth.
So distributive justice is theconcept of redistributing
through various means, such asprogressive tax systems, where

(03:30):
you would tax those who make theleast amount less than you
would tax those bracket who makethe most.
Tax them more To try toredistribute wealth, reallocate
wealth so people are more.
We can get to a level whereeveryone's equal.
So that's a form of justice.
Does it sound just?
I mean, like you know, somepeople think this is just.
I think that the people whomake this theory actually are

(03:53):
just jealous.
So that's not just right.
We would say well, that's notjust.
You shouldn't get somethingthat someone else has earned or
inherited just because you feellike you should get it and they
shouldn't have it, or becauseyou feel like they have too much

(04:14):
and they'll never be able tospend that much money.
So I should get some of it,never be able to spend that much
money so I should get some ofit Anyway.
So this is their plan, okay?
Retributive justice this is theidea that a perpetrator must
suffer something that isproportional to the victim, some

(04:39):
loss that's proportional to thevictim.
The Bible actually does touchon this type of has a discussion
about many passages thatdiscuss this.
We saw one today in Deuteronomy30, I think it was verse 6.
Those who had cursed Israel andbrought pain and suffering on
them would suffer.
So there's concepts ofretributive justice in the Bible

(05:00):
, but it's not a total pictureof the Bible's view of justice.
Rehabilitory justice so this isthe prison system, which
obviously this is a part of ourjustice system.
This is the idea that thecriminal is a victim and the
justice system is responsible totake care of these people

(05:24):
because somehow we failed them.
They're just a victim.
So we'll take them and we'llcare for them and rehabilitate
them in the prison system,Whereas what actually usually
happens is the criminals in theprison system are now together
with other criminals, so allcriminal minds come together and

(05:44):
they create new ideas for how,when they get out, they're going
to do more vicious and morecomplicated crimes.
Not so much rehabilitation.
Egalitarianism, a form ofsocial justice that is designed
to give equal opportunities andtreatment to all citizens, with
consideration of past treatmentsof people, groups, racial

(06:07):
groups and so forth.
So principles like affirmativeaction would be employed in an
egalitarian, and you can seethat a lot of these aspects are
used or mixed together.
We kind of have an eclecticsystem where a lot of these
ideas are mixed together in oursystem of justice or injustice,

(06:30):
whatever the case may be.
But people have these senses ofjustice because they're made in
God's image.
But the problem with all theseis that human conceptions of
justice are all fallenprojections that emanate from
finite humans.
So, first of all, we're finite,right, we're just limited.
We can't know every outcome.

(06:51):
If we make a specific decisionin a court of law, how do we
know that that decision willactually be efficacious or
helpful?
How do we know that it'sproportional, efficacious or
helpful?
How do we know that it'sproportional?
We don't know all the details inany crime and therefore how to
proportionally deal with that.
We just don't know, becausewe're finite humans and we can't

(07:13):
say.
We don't even know what theeffects of it will be.
So it's really just speculationand guess.
Not only are we finite, we'realso fallen.
So, like I mentioned, withdistributive justice, the haves
versus the have-nots.
Let's tax the haves more so wecan redistribute wealth, so we
can all be equal playing field.
Right, that's probably stemmingfrom jealousy, covetousness

(07:36):
which are all sinful, we wouldsay, but so it's a projection of
fallen humans, that wholesystem.
So what this does is itchallenges us to look at the
cross more closely, because onlywhen we look at it more closely
are we able to understand whatjustice really is from God's

(07:58):
point of view, because it's thecentral picture of justice.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with
Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today'slesson productive and useful in

(08:22):
growing closer to God andwalking more obediently with Him
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