What about Social Justice?

Is social justice part of the gospel?

Should the church care about it?

I've watched with interest over the last few weeks that debate that has begun about the role of social justice and the gospel that we, as the church, should be preaching.

The debate began with a statement from some well-known Christian leaders and scholars saying they didn't believe that social justice was a part of the gospel that the church should be proclaiming. Shortly after this statement was published, other Christian leaders and scholars began to talk about how the gospel is incomplete without social justice (here and here).

There are wise and godly men and women on both sides of this debate. People whose thoughts and writing I turn to when I'm wrestling with an issue myself - to help me think it through and form my thoughts based on Scripture. I've spent time reading the arguments on both sides of the debate. And I went back to Scripture to see what it says.

Ultimately, it's God's Word where my understanding needs to come from. As I was studying Scripture on this topic - Jesus' words and actions while He was walking on this planet and at how the early church lived their faith - I came to what seems to me to be the conclusion that makes the most sense to me.

What we often call social justice today is absolutely a vital part of the gospel. If the gospel we're preaching doesn't include this, or even intentionally ignores it, then we're presenting an incomplete gospel to those we're trying to reach.

If this is true, then the church should be at the forefront of these issues in our society.

Not as a political force.

Not in the same way that our world might tell us social justice should look.

But as the hands and feet of Jesus doing the work.

These days the term social justice can divisive. There's more than one definition people throw around for it. I want to be clear on what I'm saying, so before I go any further, I'm going to explain what I mean when I use it.

For the purposes of the rest of this post, social justice is about being involved in caring for, providing dignity, and providing opportunity for those who are commonly seen as less than in our society - whether because of homelessness, addiction, mental health struggles, poverty,r ace, sexuality, or any other way we separate people into groups. It' snot about taking away from one person or group to give it to another. It's about opportunity and removing barriers for people - through education, support, etc. It's about loving and caring for those in our society who need help.

When I look at Jesus' teaching in Scripture, I see a focus on helping the poor and caring for those seen as less than in His day. Jesus treated every person He encountered with dignity and love - whether lepers (Luke 10:11-19), or the woman who was unclean because she had been bleeding for 12 years (Mark 5:25-34), or the Samaritian woman at the well (John 4:1-26).

All of these examples are of people Jesus' society would have said He could ignore and treat poorly, but Jesus didn't do that. He gave them His time, His attention, His healing.

In Matthew 25, Jesus speaks this clearly on this:

"Then the righteous will answer him: Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?
The King will reply: Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." (Matthew 25:37-40)

I'm not sure where it could be more clear that we need to be involved in these things.

We also see the early church was involved for caring for the poor among them and in their communities. Wee it described in Acts 4:34-35. In Galatians 2:10, we see a conversation between Paul and the apostles that placed and importance on caring for the poor.

Finally in James 1:27 we have the clearest words on this:

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after widows and orphans in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Two things listed that God is looking for in us, and the first is about caring for the poor and defenseless in society.

I see no way around it. Social justice is a vital part of the message of the gospel the church is to be proclaiming to a broken and hurting world. We cannot separate the two.

We may all have different ways we're involved in this based on how God has created us. But, we have no excuse not to get involved.

If you're still reading, I realize I probably stepped on your toes a bit with this. I know studying this stepped on my own toes too. But, I think this is too important an issue to just stay quiet on. Sometimes we need to face the uncomfortable truths we say we believe and see if our actions match them. Whether you agree with me or not, we have to wrestle with this and figure out what it looks like for our lives.