No justice – No peace is a slogan that has been ever present in the recent world-wide marches protesting what appeared to be a brutal, senseless murder of a black man by four Minnesota policemen, one who committed the act and three who stood by and allowed him to. The death of George Floyd at the hands of these four policemen, who were sworn to protect the public, immediately became a rallying point that magnified the chronic injustices suffered by the black community both within society in general and specifically at the hands of law enforcement.
Some see or hear the cry of No Justice – No Peace as the threat of continued civil disorder and planned disruption of societal norms until the demands for justice are met, and for some that is their intent. However, I believe the majority who carry the signs and chant the slogan are proclaiming a truth that needs to be heard; namely that true and lasting peace in our communities and in our world requires equal justice. The rule of law ultimately depends on the fairness and legitimacy of the legal system and that achieving justice for all is the duty of us all.
But just as this cry from those oppressed rightly proclaims that peace can only proceed from justice, I would suggest that justice can only proceed from truth. And the reason I suggest this is because I believe this is what the Bible proclaims (Psalm 89:14-15) (Psalm 119:165) (Jeremiah 33:6).
Ultimately justice is defined through that which is determined to be true regarding what is necessary/essential to upholding human dignity and for promoting human flourishing and individual happiness. Justice essentially is assuring that everyone has access to that determination. The question then becomes; who or what makes that determination; and the Bible reveals that determiner to be God.
The Bible is God’s self-revelation of the truth of the glory (the infinite value) of His person, His purposes in creation, His plans for carrying out those purposes and our (mankind’s) role in those plans. Thus, He determines/defines how we are to relate to Him, one another and the world around us in a manner that upholds our dignity as beings created in His image and likeness and secures our eternal happiness in Him.
There are around 100 scripture verses in the Bible regarding truth, each worthy of its own exposition. In the Old Testament God reveals Himself as the “God of truth” (Deuteronomy 32:4); (Psalm 31:5); (Isaiah 65:16). In Psalm 145:18 King David writes: “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth,” and in Psalm 86:11 he prays, “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name”.
In a Psalm praising God’s sovereign grace (Psalm 34) David writes in verse 4, “For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth”.
In the New Testament, the Apostle John in introducing Jesus as the fulfillment, the embodiment of all that is written about God in the Old Testament, writes in John 1:14, “ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Then in John 14:6 Jesus says of himself, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” Christian author, John MacArthur notes regarding this passage that in it Jesus was thereby making a profound claim about His own deity. He was also making it clear that all truth must ultimately be defined in terms of God and His eternal glory.
In John 18:33-38, we have Jesus, after His unjust arrest by the Jews, being interrogated by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who would subsequently hand Jesus over to be crucified, despite knowing the charges against Him were not true. In the course of the interrogation, Jesus, in response to Pilate’s question asking if he is a King replies: “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
And then from the lips of a skeptical Pilate we hear one of, if not the most, profound and eternally significant questions a person can ask, and come to the correct answer, that being “What is truth?”
Truth matters to God. Truth cannot be adequately defined, recognized, explained or understood without God as its source. Thus, I will continue this discussion of truth and its relationship to justice in subsequent posts because we all should want peace – most importantly, peace with God (Romans 5:1).
Grace and Peace ×