Pastor John Wright

I apologize, but the two papers that I have committed to write for the Society of Biblical Literature meeting and other work are really pressing down on me. I’m going to shorten some my comments here today – although I could tell you that the Villa of the Papiri has 236 different works so far deciphered of the approximately 1100 different rolls found there!

The texts this week rotate around the concept of God’s judgment and justice. Justice and righteousness are the same word in Hebrew and Greek. The fact that we divide them into a public and private realm – “social justice” and “personal righteousness” represents malformations that come from the rise of modern political theory. We thus have come to think that all we need to do is have the state redistribute wealth through writing “just laws” so that “social justice” can come to pass; and that this is really different from “personal righteousness,” which, of course, is optional for justice. Who could speak against “social justice”?

Within the Scriptures and the Christian Tradition, one cannot have a just society without just persons and vice versa – and both depend first upon worshipping God appropriately. Scriptures constantly call for a redistribution of wealth to care for the poor through personal contact and responsibility for the poor, particularly the poor of the elect, Israel. Therefore, justice cannot occur without generosity exercised with prudence or good judgment. Remember always in the Scripture, poverty and the poor are not a problem to be solved; wealth is the problem, not poverty.

I think we can see all these in the Scriptures today. Begin with the OT, move to the Gospel reading and then end with the Epistle reading. How does God’s coming judgment, the wealthy, the poor, and prudence relate in these passages? Have a wonderful evening!

Amos 5:18-24

Matthew 25:1-13

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Does God's judgment allow a distinction between a "social justice" and a "personal righteousness"? What does this mean for our life together as the church?