Social Justice In Action

Amos is known as the farmer prophet that never even went to prophet school and God called him to prophesy. He was the hero of the downtrodden and underprivileged--the down and out in their luck and/or opportunities, Social justice is a biblical concept. The righteous care about it, but Proverbs 29:7 says, "The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.""... because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for pair of sandals" (Amos 2:6b, ESV). Demonstrating righteousness concerns the plight of the poor (Jer. 22:16, ESV says, "He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the LORD."). At the judgment, Christ will not be interested in our piety or religiosity, as much as whether we fed the poor, clothed the naked, visited the shut-ins, and met the needy of the less fortunate--God only blesses us to be a blessing to others as His conduit. We are the only hands He has and the only feet He can use to reach them!


God cares about provision for the poor and Israel had mandatory welfare to make sure they could glean the farmer's fields. Charity was mandated in Deut. 15:4. Psalm 82:3 (ESV) says, "Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute." Those who "oppress the poor and crush the needy" are judged by God in Amos 4:1 (ESV). "I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted and execute justice for the needy." It is noteworthy that God said that "there should be no poor in Israel." Soli Deo Gloria!

Is The Social Gospel A Misnomer?

NB: The Bible addresses this issue directly in Amos, who decries the lack of social justice (5:24).

"Where there is no vision the people perish..." (Prov. 29:18 KJV).
NB: A church has a mission to the unchurched and a ministry to its congregation. We are all ministers and should all be on a mission. Many believers confuse works and faith not realizing that works are not a replacement of faith, but the fruit of it. Faith without works is dead according to James 2:17 and dead faith saves no one. We need people of social concern, but this is not the primary function of the church--discipleship is.

However, the faith you have is the faith you show, they say. We are not saved by works and we are not saved without works either. We are not saved by service but unto service. If we have no good works, our faith is suspect or spurious. Eph. 2:10 asserts that "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." We don't want to be like the Cretans: "They profess to know God, but by their works they deny Him." True faith yields fruit: no fruit, no faith. John 15:16 says, "But I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide...." Again: "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works" (Heb. 10:24). The danger is that there will be some who are converted to the program but not to Christ. To sum it up, the Reformation formula was that we are "saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone."

I do not believe He is even going to ask us if we are Arminian or Reformed in our interpretation of Scripture. However, He is going to say," I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was naked and you clothed me, and I was in prison and you visited me." Christianity is not a philosophy, but a relationship with a living Lord (and this has become a cliché) but, nevertheless, it is vital that our faith doesn't vanish into a religion of dos and don'ts, or a duty done out of obligation, rather than love as a high calling and not as duty (God sees our motives).

In Mal. 3:5 God is "against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages" and who "thrust aside the sojourner". God is indeed concerned about social issues (there are many social injustices that one could get concerned about privately) and it may be the calling of individual Christians to go on a crusade (e.g., against child labor or slavery), but this is not the calling of the church at large. Great Christians like William Wilberforce have influenced the end of slavery as we know it in the free world. The job of the church is to make disciples of all nations and teach them to observe all that Christ commanded (cf. Matt. 28:19-20). Soli Deo Gloria!

Is There A Social Gospel?

"When Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature, do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law" (cf. Rom. 2:15, ESV).

We have been given the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, but is there a Great Cultural Mandate? Some refer to a social gospel, but this is a misnomer. Our ultimate allegiance is to Jesus, naturally, not to the government, and Jesus did say that His kingdom is not of this world--that He was no threat to Caesar.  His kingdom is not of this world!   What kind of social calling do we conclude from Scripture? Some Christians believe this society isn't worth saving, some believe politics can't change the human condition, some believe the Bible is not relevant to civil government, and some do believe we should secure and take back society for Christ or reclaim America for Christ! Is it our calling to save America?

You can get too involved in the politics of this world that you are getting nowhere spiritually and getting your eyes off Jesus, but there are evils in society that must be rooted out and the government is instituted to overcome evil, restrain it, and contain it. Look at some of the greatest social movements in history, such as ending the gladiator fights, ending slavery, ending child labor, and giving women their rights, are the result of Christian influence--so there is a place for Christians to get involved with a divine calling.

We also need Christian influence in the government, i.e., as elected officials and public servants influencing for the good as salt and light. Christ's kingdom is one of the hearts of men and is not visible, it will be set up visibly at His second advent and we will rule with Him in glory. But some Christians believe we should try to take over and impose our way of life on the infidel: making him behave or live in a Christian manner and standard. Christian law has been tried and failed several times in history: Calvin's Geneva; Bradford's Plymouth; Winthrop's Massachusetts' Bay Colony; Cromwell's England, among others. We frown upon Muslims saying that tomorrow belongs to Islam and when they set up Shariah law, they aren't recognizing the rights of minorities, i.e., Christians. How can we expect non-Christians to live like Christians? This is really Christian Shariah law (like blue laws, gambling restrictions, and prohibition).

The purpose of government is not to outlaw sin but basically to protect freedoms, protect property, punish crime, securing justice. We are to "render to Caesar that which is Caesar's" (cf. Matt. 22:21) for sure, and we are never told to eschew society, start a revolution, or join hands with the powers that be as partners in crime either. We don't have carte blanche to wreak havoc on the social order. If we lived in a communist nation, we are not to become involved in a subversive underground of resistance but be model citizens and fulfill our mission of being salt and light.

However, there does come a time when the government tells us to do something immoral or forbids the free exercise of our faith, then it's imperative to disobey in an act of defiance and civil disobedience. Here's the rub: "We must obey God rather than men" (cf. Acts 5:29; 4:19). This is amply demonstrated by Daniel refusing to pray to the statue and being thrown into the lion's den; he neither flaunted nor privatized his faith as a prime minister who was salt and light.

The Bible makes it clear that our primary mission is to change hearts through the gospel message, and hopefully, society will be revolutionized as a direct result. Paul didn't make it his mission to overthrow slavery, but with the spread of Christianity, its demise was certain as believers rejected it and had more influence--not forced change. We are not called to set up a theocratic government or experiment with a nation ruled by religious leaders. It was Christian influence that said we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness--rights are conferred from God and recognized by the state.

However, the conclusion of the matter is that we represent Christ to the world as His hands, feet, heart, and voice and we have the power to make a difference by being that salt and light, which preserves and shows the way in the darkness. The church shouldn't get overly obsessed with turning stones into bread or mission work unless the gospel is propagated with it, we are not to become mere do-gooders and must remember and not lose focus of the fact that we are "aliens and foreigners" and our real "citizenship is in heaven" (cf. Phil. 3:20). Christians do have a duty and responsibility to the state, though, as Edmund Burke phrased it: "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
Soli Deo Gloria!