I am going to blog through Pastor Timothy Keller's latest book; Generous Justice.
I must admit at the outset that I am not a fan of his definition of "justice" which I have read elsewhere.
While my goal is to be forthright and challenging, I hope to avoid disrespect and ridicule. I will also be on guard against guessing the motives of Pastor Keller ( henceforth P.K.) since only God knows them.
At the outset, I find the title confusing since I tend to think of the term "justice" as applying to actions that are measured against an already existing standard. If the actions conform to that standard they are just. If not they are unjust. I think of the term generous as being above and beyond that standard.
Here is an example of what I mean: If I agree to pay a contractor $100 for a job and, upon completion of the work, I pay him $100, I have been just. From this point we have no just claim on each other. If I pay less than agreed upon, perhaps $80, my action is unjust, by $20. If at the completion I decide to pay $130 I have been both just and generous. Anything beyond $100 is no longer justice but generosity. The prior standard is my voluntary agreement.
To modify "justice" with "generous", as in P.K.'s title seems odd. We wouldn't speak about "generous" honesty. If we go beyond speaking the truth, we might describe it as compliment or embellishment but not generous truth. I think you get my point. We must look further into the book to see what P.K. means by Generous Justice.
P.S. So far I've only described justice between myself and another man in a strictly monetary sense. What about justice between God and myself? If I had decided to only pay the man $80, I would have sinned against God who sees my heart and commands me to fulfill my promise. If I had acted on that decision and actually under-payed the contractor, I would have been sinning against him as well as committing a crime. If I had then repented of my sin and handed him the rest of the money there would have been no more crime, however there still would have been sin. I would have sinned against God and my fellowman. Sin always obstructs fellowship. Though I finally paid the contractor the full amount, he might still be offended. Though I ask his forgiveness, he may not wish to have any further fellowship with me. The contractor's decision in regard to forgiveness and fellowship is between himself and God.
I still must deal with my sin against God. My only hope of satisfying the justice of God, according to the scriptures, is that the holy Son of God has paid the penalty and debt of my sin in my place. In order for my relationship to be made right with God I need a perfect righteousness. The scriptures say that the very righteousness of Christ is credited to me as I whole-heartedly place my trust in Him as my Lord and Savior. So, though I cannot repay the debt of my sin to God, He, in the person of His Son has done so. I am now in right relationship with God through His Son. The scriptures describe such a person as being "in Christ".
If and when I sin there is still the issue of obstructed fellowship. This issue is dealt with as I acknowledge that I am responsible for my sin, and am without excuse or hope excepting God's grace in Christ. I must simply say of my sin what God says. Now fellowship is restored.
The last three paragraphs were somewhat of a digression from the main objective of discussing P.K.'s book but I anticipated that a Christian might think that I had given short shrift to the biblical doctrine of justice if I failed to address justice between man and God. I also wanted to show that justice is integral to our understanding of the gospel.
