"I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten...You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied" (Joel 2:25,26). [E.g., God making it up to Israel and attempting to even the score.]
"... No one can stay His hand or say to Him, 'What hast thou done?'" (Dan. 4:35).
There are three possibilities for defining fairness: the people's subjective opinion, the dictionary, or God Himself. Who or what defines it becomes the highest standard and is in effect deified. There are no laboratory conditions to test the concept: all things being equal is a hard test and there are multiple variables and givens that can't be measured, but may be relative--only God sees and knows the whole story.
There is no doctrine of fairness in the Bible, but corresponding and related words might be goodness, righteousness, and justice. The Doctrine of Fairness was a network TV policy for political ads in the 70s. Actually the word "fair" is not biblical (it should be pointed out that our very concept of fair play came from God Himself and is often cited as one proof that He exists!) and we all have our own idea of what it means (usually a concept we picked up at age 7) and often the first complaint in life we have is that something isn't fair.
God defines what fairness is (He defines what everything is because He is autonomous or a law unto Himself subject to no higher laws), not us. The word is highly subjective and everyone has their own idea of what it means like the concept of beauty being in the eye of the beholder. The Bible doesn't mention the word but comes close in referring to being right, just, and good. Note that God is not righteous, good, nor just because He obeys some outside law, but He is intrinsically that way by nature. We must be careful not to call good evil, or evil good (Isa. 5:20).
If God is required to be gracious, it is no longer grace--a form of nonjustice (passing by of justice for whatever reason and offering grace or mercy), which is not injustice (doing something evil or wrong). Case in point: If a parent disciplines a more mature son, and withholds discipline or punishment from the younger one (having a reason and not being arbitrary), is the parent unfair? Or does he have the right to reserve to punish or not to punish? "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and harden whom I will harden."
God cannot be accused of evil, though He can use vessels of dishonor to accomplish His ultimate will. God can be accused of no wrongdoing (N.B. recall that "in all these things Job did not accuse God of wrongdoing"). God is holy and never does what is wrong, but always what is right. Abraham said, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" He is our judge and not we his. Looking the word up in the dictionary, it says that fair means showing no favoritism or prejudice and also playing according to the rules.
God is certainly "no respecter of persons." By virtue of these definitions, God is not unfair in saving us, nor in making Jesus our Substitute or Vicar, who did it voluntarily and joyfully. We have no claim on His favor, mercy, or grace. God didn't save the angels who sinned and didn't have to save us to maintain His deity. When we say that God is unfair we are holding Him up to our standards of right and wrong and making ourselves the moral center of the universe. If God does something, it is fair; it is not that he does something because it is fair. God always acts according to His nature and cannot be God in contradiction to Himself. "Who can say to God, 'What hast thou done?'" (Dan. 4:35).
One important concept we all misinterpret is that we believe fairness equals being equitable--parents are accused of not treating their children the same. Is the parent unfair because he wasn't equal? They would always feel under condemnation because that is an impossible goal. God decides what fairness is, not us. What can be construed as unfairness is being arbitrary, whimsical, or capricious? God always has a reason for what He does, and His ultimate glory is the end result--"Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever," says The Westminster Shorter Catechism. God thought this was more important than going according to our rules and subjecting Himself to our standards.
God is our judge and we cannot judge Him. No one has a case against God or "can say unto Him, 'What hast thou done?'" This is the mystery of salvation: God is both just, and the justifier of the ungodly. God found a way to preserve His divine nature and to forgive and justify us. God knows what He is doing with His universe and His thoughts are higher than ours, "as the heavens are higher than the earth" (Isa. 55:9). Life seems unfair but basically, we reap what we sow-- there is no karma as many believe, because we often get what we don't deserve, and don't get what we do deserve.
Don't envy the wicked who "receive their portion in this life" (Psalm 17:14) Some people die and leave their reward behind, others die to go to their reward in heaven! God is good to all: to the elect unto salvation (special grace), to some in all ways, to some in some ways, but to all in some way (common grace). But God's goodness is an attribute we can be assured of: "God is good to all, and He has compassion over all that He has made" (Psalm 145:9). As they say, "God is good all the time; all the time God is good! Learn this and find out for yourself! Even if we pay the ultimate price in martyrdom, God will reward it to us and make it up in all eternity--He sees the Big Picture! When the psalmist saw their "latter end" he was assured of God's justice.
God is just and that is a legitimate doctrine. He is unjust to no one and only withholds justice from His elect--that is not a form of injustice, but of nonjustice. Jesus willingly paid the price of His own volition and wasn't forced to go to the cross to die on our behalf. One cannot say it was unfair that he suffered for us: He said, "Weep not for Me, but for yourselves." We don't have a claim against God and God owes us nothing. We have no case against God and that very thought is near blasphemy. Jesus said that Satan "has nothing against [Him]." John Milton wrote Paradise Lost, his epic and classical poem, to "justify the ways of God to man." We stand trial and not God--just think about how God didn't answer any of Job's questions, but only revealed Himself to Him.
When we open the door to questioning God's attributes or character it ultimately leads to heresy and then can lead to apostasy and a falling away. When we say that it is unfair that Jesus went to the cross we are saying that God was arbitrary, or showed favoritism and/or prejudice, not karma. Jesus went of His own volition and volunteered for the mission--He did it the joy set before Him!
To say that it is unfair that we get saved when we deserve to go to hell is to malign the justice of God and impugn on His nature--there is no injustice with the Almighty. Grace is a form of non-justice, or of withholding justice, but it is not injustice per se. We were not elected unto salvation and faith because of our virtue or merit, but because "of His own purpose and grace" (not according to our works of righteousness which we have done" i.e., He did not save us out of favoritism nor whim, but His own glory.) We do indeed deserve to go to hell and God is withholding justice from us, but that is not a definition of being unfair.
God tempers His justice with mercy (cf. Hab. 3:2) and Aristotle said that justice itself is strictly just giving one what is his due dessert (reward or punishment) for what he has done and is culpable or responsible for. God "has mercy on whom He will have mercy" (Rom. 9:16) and it is God's prerogative to decide whom will get mercy, not us. He reserves the right to demonstrate grace, or it wouldn't be grace it would be justice. God is not obligated to be merciful or gracious just because He is to someone else or not anyone! God doesn't owe us anything and we have no right to demand justice or mercy.
According to Wayne Grudem, famous Reformed theologian, "God's righteousness means that God always acts in accordance with what is right and is himself the final standard of what is right." (If there is a standard higher than God then He is not God.) We all have an inner sense of "oughtness" and being unfair is one of those. Moses says, "All his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he" (Deut. 32:4). God Himself says, "I the LORD speak the truth, I declare what is right" (Isa. 45:19).
"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (cf. Gen. 18:25). God is the final standard of what conforms to His nature, which is what is right. In Job, it says, "Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?...Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified?" (Job 40:20,8). We, as creatures, cannot judge our Creator: the clay cannot say to the Potter, "Why have you made me thus?" God isn't accountable to us and is too deep to explain Himself to our finite minds. We are on the hot seat, as it were, not God. There can be no standard higher than God, or that standard would be God. Soli Deo Gloria!
"... No one can stay His hand or say to Him, 'What hast thou done?'" (Dan. 4:35).
There are three possibilities for defining fairness: the people's subjective opinion, the dictionary, or God Himself. Who or what defines it becomes the highest standard and is in effect deified. There are no laboratory conditions to test the concept: all things being equal is a hard test and there are multiple variables and givens that can't be measured, but may be relative--only God sees and knows the whole story.
There is no doctrine of fairness in the Bible, but corresponding and related words might be goodness, righteousness, and justice. The Doctrine of Fairness was a network TV policy for political ads in the 70s. Actually the word "fair" is not biblical (it should be pointed out that our very concept of fair play came from God Himself and is often cited as one proof that He exists!) and we all have our own idea of what it means (usually a concept we picked up at age 7) and often the first complaint in life we have is that something isn't fair.
God defines what fairness is (He defines what everything is because He is autonomous or a law unto Himself subject to no higher laws), not us. The word is highly subjective and everyone has their own idea of what it means like the concept of beauty being in the eye of the beholder. The Bible doesn't mention the word but comes close in referring to being right, just, and good. Note that God is not righteous, good, nor just because He obeys some outside law, but He is intrinsically that way by nature. We must be careful not to call good evil, or evil good (Isa. 5:20).
If God is required to be gracious, it is no longer grace--a form of nonjustice (passing by of justice for whatever reason and offering grace or mercy), which is not injustice (doing something evil or wrong). Case in point: If a parent disciplines a more mature son, and withholds discipline or punishment from the younger one (having a reason and not being arbitrary), is the parent unfair? Or does he have the right to reserve to punish or not to punish? "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and harden whom I will harden."
God cannot be accused of evil, though He can use vessels of dishonor to accomplish His ultimate will. God can be accused of no wrongdoing (N.B. recall that "in all these things Job did not accuse God of wrongdoing"). God is holy and never does what is wrong, but always what is right. Abraham said, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" He is our judge and not we his. Looking the word up in the dictionary, it says that fair means showing no favoritism or prejudice and also playing according to the rules.
God is certainly "no respecter of persons." By virtue of these definitions, God is not unfair in saving us, nor in making Jesus our Substitute or Vicar, who did it voluntarily and joyfully. We have no claim on His favor, mercy, or grace. God didn't save the angels who sinned and didn't have to save us to maintain His deity. When we say that God is unfair we are holding Him up to our standards of right and wrong and making ourselves the moral center of the universe. If God does something, it is fair; it is not that he does something because it is fair. God always acts according to His nature and cannot be God in contradiction to Himself. "Who can say to God, 'What hast thou done?'" (Dan. 4:35).
One important concept we all misinterpret is that we believe fairness equals being equitable--parents are accused of not treating their children the same. Is the parent unfair because he wasn't equal? They would always feel under condemnation because that is an impossible goal. God decides what fairness is, not us. What can be construed as unfairness is being arbitrary, whimsical, or capricious? God always has a reason for what He does, and His ultimate glory is the end result--"Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever," says The Westminster Shorter Catechism. God thought this was more important than going according to our rules and subjecting Himself to our standards.
God is our judge and we cannot judge Him. No one has a case against God or "can say unto Him, 'What hast thou done?'" This is the mystery of salvation: God is both just, and the justifier of the ungodly. God found a way to preserve His divine nature and to forgive and justify us. God knows what He is doing with His universe and His thoughts are higher than ours, "as the heavens are higher than the earth" (Isa. 55:9). Life seems unfair but basically, we reap what we sow-- there is no karma as many believe, because we often get what we don't deserve, and don't get what we do deserve.
Don't envy the wicked who "receive their portion in this life" (Psalm 17:14) Some people die and leave their reward behind, others die to go to their reward in heaven! God is good to all: to the elect unto salvation (special grace), to some in all ways, to some in some ways, but to all in some way (common grace). But God's goodness is an attribute we can be assured of: "God is good to all, and He has compassion over all that He has made" (Psalm 145:9). As they say, "God is good all the time; all the time God is good! Learn this and find out for yourself! Even if we pay the ultimate price in martyrdom, God will reward it to us and make it up in all eternity--He sees the Big Picture! When the psalmist saw their "latter end" he was assured of God's justice.
God is just and that is a legitimate doctrine. He is unjust to no one and only withholds justice from His elect--that is not a form of injustice, but of nonjustice. Jesus willingly paid the price of His own volition and wasn't forced to go to the cross to die on our behalf. One cannot say it was unfair that he suffered for us: He said, "Weep not for Me, but for yourselves." We don't have a claim against God and God owes us nothing. We have no case against God and that very thought is near blasphemy. Jesus said that Satan "has nothing against [Him]." John Milton wrote Paradise Lost, his epic and classical poem, to "justify the ways of God to man." We stand trial and not God--just think about how God didn't answer any of Job's questions, but only revealed Himself to Him.
When we open the door to questioning God's attributes or character it ultimately leads to heresy and then can lead to apostasy and a falling away. When we say that it is unfair that Jesus went to the cross we are saying that God was arbitrary, or showed favoritism and/or prejudice, not karma. Jesus went of His own volition and volunteered for the mission--He did it the joy set before Him!
To say that it is unfair that we get saved when we deserve to go to hell is to malign the justice of God and impugn on His nature--there is no injustice with the Almighty. Grace is a form of non-justice, or of withholding justice, but it is not injustice per se. We were not elected unto salvation and faith because of our virtue or merit, but because "of His own purpose and grace" (not according to our works of righteousness which we have done" i.e., He did not save us out of favoritism nor whim, but His own glory.) We do indeed deserve to go to hell and God is withholding justice from us, but that is not a definition of being unfair.
God tempers His justice with mercy (cf. Hab. 3:2) and Aristotle said that justice itself is strictly just giving one what is his due dessert (reward or punishment) for what he has done and is culpable or responsible for. God "has mercy on whom He will have mercy" (Rom. 9:16) and it is God's prerogative to decide whom will get mercy, not us. He reserves the right to demonstrate grace, or it wouldn't be grace it would be justice. God is not obligated to be merciful or gracious just because He is to someone else or not anyone! God doesn't owe us anything and we have no right to demand justice or mercy.
According to Wayne Grudem, famous Reformed theologian, "God's righteousness means that God always acts in accordance with what is right and is himself the final standard of what is right." (If there is a standard higher than God then He is not God.) We all have an inner sense of "oughtness" and being unfair is one of those. Moses says, "All his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he" (Deut. 32:4). God Himself says, "I the LORD speak the truth, I declare what is right" (Isa. 45:19).
"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (cf. Gen. 18:25). God is the final standard of what conforms to His nature, which is what is right. In Job, it says, "Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?...Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified?" (Job 40:20,8). We, as creatures, cannot judge our Creator: the clay cannot say to the Potter, "Why have you made me thus?" God isn't accountable to us and is too deep to explain Himself to our finite minds. We are on the hot seat, as it were, not God. There can be no standard higher than God, or that standard would be God. Soli Deo Gloria!
Good coverage. The most important thing to remember is that God defines what is fair. Whatever he does is what we should understand to be fair and just. What is fair? Whatever God does.
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