Social justice has received a sexy overhaul of late. Make a flashy logo and website, start a non-profit organization that has to do with feeding the hungry or saving orphans, slap a few pictures of starving black kids in front of people and the money starts flowing in. Everyone wants to be involved in some kind of social justice mission. And if you're not then your love of Christ may be seriously in question. After all, Jesus himself said, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for me" (Mt 25:40). The whole New Testament is filled with exhortations to "care for the orphans and widows in their affliction" (Jam 1:27). The Old Testament law had special provisions for the oppressed and the broken. God himself is pictured as the Father to the fatherless. Obviously social justice is something close to God's heart!
But others would say, social justice is useless without the Gospel. What good is it if someone is educated and well-fed if they don't know Christ? You've used all your time and resources meeting people's physical needs, but their deepest need is spiritual. We need to put our energy into evangelism because satisfied bellies can still go to hell. In fact, Christ's final commission to his followers was, "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Mt 28:19). Paul's motivation and mission for which he endured imprisonment, beating, stoning, slander, shipwreck, and more was "that they also may obtain salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory" (2 Tim 2:10). This is an important matter. Eternal destinies are at stake!
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not against digging wells or attempting to end world hunger by 2025. Nor am I for preaching that ignores people's physical needs. Rather, I'm against gospel-less philanthropy, just as much as I'm against insensitive evangelism. I believe the current trend toward the former is an over-reaction against the later. But the solution to an extreme position is not swinging the pendulum to the other extreme. Most attempt to find a balance somewhere in the middle. But I propose that the whole spectrum is a false dichotomy. Social justice and the Gospel cannot (and must not!) be separated. (Note: I make this assertion in a Christian missiological context recognizing both people's physical and spiritual needs. Certainly those who don't follow Christ can participate in philanthropic causes by God's common grace to all, but that's a topic for another conversation.) Let me illustrate:
1) Social Justice pictures the Gospel. The Reformers called the sacraments "visible words" because they were physical portrayals of the Gospel. While I certainly wouldn't call social justice a sacrament, in a similar way it pictures the gospel in a visible way. The situation of the poor and oppressed is a physical portrayal of all of our spiritual conditions. We are all destitute spiritually, slaves to sin. We have absolutely nothing to offer God toward our debt of sin against Him. We must rely wholly on the work of Christ on our behalf. We are entirely dependent upon His making a way for us. And as a result we are freed from the bondage of sin and adopted into the family of God. Don't you see, the language of bondage, slavery, redemption, ransom, adoption, salvation, it's all social justice language. Our actions in taking a stand against the injustices of this world are a physical illustration of spiritual truths. By participating in Social Justice we are playing out elements of the Gospel in our actions.
2) The Gospel implies Social Justice. Based on their situation, it may seem as though God has forgotten the poor, the oppressed, the orphan and the widow. But in fact God loves them deeply. Often it is not until we find ourselves destitute and hopeless that we turn toward God. As followers of Christ, we should love those whom God loves. The second greatest commandment is, "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mt 22:39). John's statement in his first epistle is most telling, "If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth" (1 Jn 3:17-18). Please note, John is not saying
don't love in word, but don't
just love in word. God's love for us should cause us to express love to others, not just in word, but in deed as well. The Gospel at work in our lives overflows as Social Justice in our actions.
We've all heard the popular quote thrown around by social justice activists: "Preach the gospel at all times; If necessary, use words." I understand the sentiment that we should constantly be living out the gospel in our lives. But the nature of the gospel is that we have to use words. God used words! He didn't stop by revealing himself through creation. He went on to give us the Bible, and that's full of
words! The final revelation was Jesus Christ who is call the Logos, the Word. In communicating the gospel, our actions only get us so far. To translate and interpret our actions, we have to use words. Social Justice is the actions of the Gospel. But the Gospel is the words of Social Justice. There's no balance. There's no spectrum. The two are contained within each other. They're inseparable. It's not either/or. It's both.
