Is God Unfair? Thoughts on God's Justice and Grace Part 1

 When you're going through a major trauma life have you ever asked yourself, "why am I going to this others or not?" Do you ever feel like you're not really getting a fair shake in life compared to other people?  Do you ever feel deep inside or have ever verbalized it that God is unfair to you in how He treats you compaired to others?

Now some of us believe in a kind of justice that works like this. Justice demands that each person gets exactly what is deserved. If you do good, in strict justice, you are owed good. If you do evil, in strict justice you deserve punishment. Now most people think that they deserve a right to pain free, problem free, trouble free lives and that maybe other bad people deserve justice but not them. They deserve life,liberty,and the pursuit of happiness.

Biblically speaking, the bible tells us that all are sinners and in that view of justice we would all get what we deserve from God. What is that? All sinners deserve nothing but eternal punishment. Most of us believe as Christians that we don't want that kind of justice!

But then, there is another view that God should operate treat everyone the same, and that means we should escape a specific affliction if others do! Otherwise, it seems that God has been unfair. But, if God really did handle us that way, we would all either experience the same torture or be equally blessed. But those ideas don’t match the God described in Scripture.

I believe this is a sticking point for many people that makes it very difficult for them to live with God. Please do not misunderstand this. I don’t wish my pain on anyone, but it seems only fair that if others escape problems,suffering,loss,and pain, then I should too. Since God has kept others from this fate, why not us as well? Should we not get at least as good a shake as the next family? I have had these thoughts at times in my life and I imagine that you have as well, but I have come to see that they contain a huge error.

If you are suffering from some affliction, you may feel that God should extend the same grace to you as he has to those who never have to deal with an affliction that is anywhere near as horrible as yours. So it seems that God must be unjust for not extending as much grace to you as to the next person. This objection makes a lot of sense, and I believe it was at the heart of what often is bothering me. Nonetheless, it is still wrong. The complaint against God has now escalated from a demand that God treat us with what we deserve in justice to a demand that God grant us grace.

This is wrong in at least two respects. First, God is no more obligated to give the same grace to everyone than he is to give justice to all. He is only obligated to distribute what we deserve, and we already know what that is! Secondly, since we are talking about granting grace, the charge that God has been unjust because he gave someone else more grace (and this is really what the sufferer is complaining about) is totally misguided.

Grace is unmerited favor, and that means that you get something good that you don’t deserve and didn’t earn. If God owes no one any grace at all (if he owed it, it wouldn’t be grace, but justice), then it can’t be unjust for others to get more grace than I get. It can only be unjust if God is obligated to treat us all the same with grace, and he surely isn’t. In fact, he isn’t obligated to treat us with any kind of grace. Grace precludes obligation! That’s why it’s grace and not justice. Hence, it can’t be unjust if someone gets more grace than another. If God graciously chooses to give some people a better lot in life than others, he has done nothing wrong. We have no right to place requirements on how and when God distributes grace; if we did, that would turn it into justice.

 This distinction between grace and justice is crucial. Many people seem to think that grace is the opposite of injustice. Hence, when God doesn’t give them grace, they conclude that God has treated them unfairly. But the opposite of injustice is justice; grace is an entirely different thing from another world, the Kingdom of God! Put differently, grace is neither fair nor unfair, because fairness and unfairness invoke the concept of justice. Grace has nothing to do with justice; it’s a different
commodity altogether finding its source and meaning only in God!

So is God unjust or unfair to you? May we never accuse Him or ask the question again!
Because of Grace, I'm always doing better than I deserve! Because of Grace, nothing has to be what is in your life. I hope you will begin to gain a new understanding on grace and justice. Next week I will continue by looking at Jesus illustration of grace and justice in Matthew 20:1-16.

Basking in grace and repenting of thinking God was unfair,
Pastor Bill