Deuteronomy 16:19–20 (HCSB)
Do not deny justice or show partiality ‹to anyone›. Do not accept a bribe, for it blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. Pursue justice and justice alone, so that you will live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.
I am not a "social justice preacher," but I do believe in social justice. Some make it the "be all, end all" of their religion. Our purpose, I believe, is to preach the Gospel until all the nations hear and develop Believers. I believe we are to preach justice when we come to that, but that is not the main subject of our preaching or primary focus of our ministry programs. Please do not misunderstand me-- and am NOT saying that we should not be concerned about justice. We must! We are commanded to do so. We should speak out against injustice when we see it. We should praise justice when we see it. We should help those who are weak, marginalized, taken advantage of, etc. But there are other institutions whose primary task it is to provide justice. And for those institutions there are no better foundational rules than these two verses. We read in the paper or watch on the news or hear from people we know how justice is skewed in favor of the wealthy and the influential. This is a great evil in God's eyes-- and it should be in our eyes as well. But we still believe that Jesus Christ is the one true hope of this world and through the act of conversion the Holy Spirit changes selfish people into selfless people and sinners into servants and wicked people into right-living people. And only the preaching of the Gospel can make this possible.
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