ECT Let's Define Terms

[Interplanner]

Hi Clete,

I think you've got justice mis-defined.

You have defined it in terms that I think of as "fairness" - that the consequences of actions fall on those whose actions precipitated them. For everyday use in modern English, that's a fine definition.

The problem is that it isn't the meaning of the word as it appears in any Bible I know.

Justice is given in our Bibles most often for the Hebrew words צְדָקָה (tsadiqah) and מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat). When one went before an Old Testament judge, these two words were the two verdicts handed down. One was given to the plaintiff and one to the defendant.

The man declared tsadiqah was justified and/or exonerated. The man declared mishpat was declared guilty, and had to make restitution, or face penalties decided by the judge.

There are different words in the Greek of the New Testament, but frankly they don't matter much, because they correspond exactly to the Hebrew concept of a trial, as explained above.

Why did I bother to respond? You contend that God is just... yet God doesn't cause all the consequences to be doled out "fairly." Very often, the consequences of one mans mis-deeds fall on another man. The God of the Bible "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

Did he have Rom 3:23 in mind? Just and Justifier?

 

[Jerry Shugart]

Why am I wasting my time here?

You are right! You are wasting your time here because you are unable to understand spiritual things:

"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor.2:14).​

You think that "works" and "grace" are compatible despite the fact that Paul makes it plain that they are mutually exclusive:

"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt" (Ro.4:4).​

It's obvious that you have never believed the "gospel of grace" because you remain ignorant about the principles of salvation by grace:

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph.2:8-9).​