The event was a planned mile-long march from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, in honour of the president who had signed the Emancipation Proclamation a century earlier. Martin Luther King, Jr. was 16th on an official programme that included other speakers, songs and prayers.
Before King spoke, Joachim Prinz, president of the American Jewish Congress, recalled his time as a rabbi in Berlin under Hitler: “A great people who had created a great civilisation had become a nation of silent onlookers. They remained silent in the face of hate, in the face of brutality and in the face of mass murder.” It was powerful stuff.
The time had come for King to speak. In the middle of his speech, he set aside his prepared notes and began to preach. 60 years later the words that became the rallying cry of the Civil Rights Movement in the USA live on as a global reference point for social justice and equality.
The speech is widely known for the refrain “I have a dream”, yet that is not the only powerful refrain within the speech. Before the “I have a dream” section King said:
We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?"
In his memorable oratory, King went on to list injustice after injustice that the “negro” experienced for 100 years following emancipation and “being seared in the flames of withering injustice”, and concluded:
No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
King was quoting from the Bible, which should be no surprise as he had been the pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama since the age of 25. His father was a pastor. His grandfather had been a pastor. His great-grandfather had been a pastor. The language of the Bible had always been an integral part of his life.
Martin Luther King was following a long history of Christians who pursued a call to justice. From proclaiming the gospel in a way that undermined the mutual racism between first century Jews, Samaritans and Gentiles, to rescuing unwanted female babies at the human dumps of the Roman Empire.
It was Christians who were at the heart of the creation of the Magna Carta, the U.S. Constitution, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other historical documents that established standards of human rights around the globe. Not to mention that Christians built more schools, hospitals and orphanages to serve the suffering than any other movement in history.
Christians like William Wilberforce and John Newton in the U.K., along with others like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman in the U.S., led movements to abolish slavery, and many others today continue to work in areas of adoption, foster parenting, human trafficking, community development, poverty relief and other needy areas of society.
That is not to whitewash the historical involvement of Christian Churches in crusades, inquisitions, witch burnings, the slave trade and other atrocities. Sadly, yes, all of that also took place.
But which of these people were behaving in accordance with the name “Christian” – the ones dignifying, or the ones dehumanizing, their neighbours? Too many people who carried the name of Christ bore no resemblance to Him.
As King preached on that sweltering day in Washington DC, he quoted the words of the Prophet Amos:
“But let justice run down like water,
And righteousness like a mighty stream”
(Amos 5:24).
Amos prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam, king of Israel. Though he came from the southern kingdom of Judah, he prophesied against the northern kingdom of Israel and the surrounding nations. At this time, God’s word through Amos was directed against the privileged people of Israel. They had material prosperity during the reign of Jeroboam but had no love for their neighbour and had become inherently selfish. They were taking advantage of the helpless, oppressing the poor, and abusing women.[1]
The challenge of God to His ancient people was sobering and compelling:
“Seek good and not evil,
That you may live;
So the Lord God of hosts will be with you,
As you have spoken.
Hate evil, love good;
Establish justice in the gate.
It may be that the Lord God of hosts
Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph”
(Amos 5:14-15).
As Amos called the people of Israel to justice “in the gate”, Martin Luther King, Jr. echoed the words to a watching world on that momentous day in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial.
Where do the examples we have considered lead us in our thinking? Do they bring us to a conclusion that Christians should actively pursue justice at home and abroad? What does it mean to pursue justice and does that include political, economic, ecological or social activism?
Since ancient times it has been recognized that a basic distinction exists between distributive/social justice, which deals with the distribution of resources and opportunities, and corrective/criminal justice, which deals with how wrongdoing is identified and penalized. The Bible has much to say about both spheres, but our focus in this article is social justice.
According to the Bible, God is the primary source of justice, so the ultimate definition of justice must come from Him. He is just and always acts in accordance with His character. Justice is not simply a product of social consensus; it is a divine attribute[2]. If you eliminate God from the concept of justice you have a sense of good and evil, but no absolute authority. Therefore, God is essential to any biblical consideration of justice.
Israel in the Old Testament
The prophets of the Old Testament never strayed too far from condemning injustice and urging the nation of Israel to implement God’s law and thereby create a more just society. It is important to bear in mind that Israel had a unique national relationship with God with laws and institutions received directly from Him. The prophets were often calling the people back to that Law as well as to the reformation of those institutions. God held them accountable for their Government, national institutions, economic and social welfare, as well as their spiritual condition.
However, in addition to national reformation, there was often a call from prophets for individuals within the nation to alter their conduct. Well-known examples of such prophetic ministries are Isaiah chapters 1 and 58. They both deal with the same theme: God is not impressed with fastidious religious observance when the daily lives of His people are filled with negligence and oppression:
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil,
Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow”
(Isaiah 1:16-17).
It appears that God expected His people in the Old Testament to self-regulate and have standards of righteousness, justice, equality and compassion which reflected the character of God in their everyday lives[3]. They were to be actively pursuing “social justice” in their relationships and conduct.
“Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker,
but helping the poor honours him”
(Proverbs 14:31 NLT).
Jesus and Social Justice
As Christians we look forward to Christ’s return to earth in a coming day when He will implement His new kingdom in fulfilment of numerous prophetic scriptures, for example:
“Behold, a king will reign in righteousness,
And princes will rule with justice.
A man will be as a hiding place from the wind,
And a cover from the tempest,
As rivers of water in a dry place,
As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land”
(Isaiah 32:1-2).
Social injustice, in fact, all injustice, will be dealt with as the Lord Jesus reigns in righteousness and peace.
But what about the first advent of the Lord Jesus, when He came ultimately to die on the cross? What can we learn from His ministry then? What were His focus and priorities in a society where injustice was rife?
As He stood up in His local synagogue one sabbath day to announce his public ministry, Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
(Luke 4:18-19).
Then, Luke writes:
“He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’”
(verses 20-21).
Was this a clear mission statement focused on the materially destitute and downtrodden? Did Jesus announce that he would tackle social injustice by transforming social structures and pursuing change in the legal, economic and social establishment?
Except for “to set at liberty those who are oppressed”, the Messianic mission statement focused on proclamation. It was mainly a preaching ministry. Obviously, Jesus did many miracles of healing, but they were connected to preaching and were demonstrations, illustrations, or affirmations of His words.
It appears that “the poor” in Isaiah 61, from which Jesus quoted, are not just materially poor; they are the humble poor, the mournful ones waiting for their promised “oil of gladness” and their “garment of praise” (Isaiah 61:3). If “the poor” were only the materially poor, then “the captives,” “the blind,” and “the oppressed” would have to be taken literally as well, which is problematic as there is no instance in the gospels of Jesus setting a prisoner free – not even John Baptist[4].
The Messianic mission of Jesus announced in Luke 4 was not a mission of structural change and social transformation, but a mission to announce the good news of His saving power and mercy for all those broken-hearted enough to believe. As He fulfilled that mission He cared for the poor, the oppressed, and the vulnerable along the way. He treated people with respect and dignity and made no difference between those of wealth or poverty. He taught His disciples to pray about “daily bread” and “deliverance from evil” but did not build bakeries, schools or rehab centres. That was not His mission. He came to preach and He came to die.
The Christian and Social Justice
What then is our mission? We have the disciples’ Great Commission:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:18-20).
Then there is the apostolic instruction throughout the books of the New Testament written principally, but not exclusively, to churches, covering the three “w”s – the worship, witness and walk of the believer. However, the relationship between a Christian and the materially poor and vulnerable is also addressed:
“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world”
(James 1:27).
“But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth”
(1 John 3:17-18).
Just as “proclamation” was the focus of the Messianic mission statement of Luke 4, so too is “preaching” the principle focus of the Christian[5]. While pursuing that calling, the character of our just, compassionate, equitable and caring God should be manifested in and through us to all people.
As Jesus taught, loving our neighbour as ourselves is the summary of the second section of the Ten Commandments[6] and is part of doing the good works God has prepared in advance for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10).
The transformative impact of our lives upon our society should be a consequence of our mission rather than the goal. In the same way that Jesus was not mute when He encountered injustice, neither should we as Christians be silent when we encounter inequality, oppression and hardship. Insofar as we are able, we should also use our resources, and not just our words, to mitigate the impact of poverty, injustice and hardship in our circumstances:
“If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead”
(James 2:16-17).
However, the transformation of society, the righting of all wrongs, the establishment of righteous institutions, and the implementation of true equity is the work of God alone. We look forward to that day when Christ shall return and His kingdom will do all of that and more. Until that time, we cannot accomplish what God alone will do. We are not called to be God, but we are called to be His ambassadors. Let us never forget that our mission is to proclaim the good news of a Saviour and represent Him, rather than trying to be that Saviour.
“The mission of the church is to go into the world and make disciples by declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit and gathering these disciples into churches, that they might worship the Lord and obey his commands now and in eternity to the glory of God the Father.”[7]
“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God”
(2 Corinthians 5:20).
[1] See Amos 2:6-8; 3:10; 4:1; 5:11-12; 8:4-6.
[2] See Deuteronomy 32:3-4; Psalm 89:14; 145:17.
[3] See Leviticus 19:15.
[4] See Luke 7:18-23.
[5] See 1 Corinthians 2:2.
[6] See Matthew 22:36-40.
[7] Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert, What Is the Mission of the Church? Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission, Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001), p. 62.
