Justice

I'm studying Proverbs 28 the next couple of weeks; since it's a passage focused on justice, I've also undertaken to study the question, "What is justice?" Though I have yet to arrive at a nice, succint definition, Scripture clearly shows that the root of justice is in the character of God (note: not in the "rights" of men). This being the case, a study of justice must begin by meditating on the holy and just character of our God. For this, nothing quite beats reading parts of Stephen Charnock's The Existence and Attributes of God. Here are some great quotes about God's character and its bearing on justice.

Better man should forever bear the punishment of his offence, than God bear the dishonor of his attributes: better man should be miserable than God should be unrighteous, unwise, false, and tamely bear the denial of his sovereignty.

A hatred of unrighteousness, and consequently a will to punish it, is as essential to God as a love of righteousness…he will have an infinite justice to punish whatsoever is against infinite holiness. As he loves everything that is amiable, so he loathes everything that is filthy, and that constantly, without any change; is whole nature is set against it; he abhors nothing but this.

The severeities of God against sin are not vain scare-crows; they have their foundation in the righteousness of his nature; it is because he is a righteous and holy God that he “will not forgive our transgressions and sins”…

God would descend below his own nature, and vilify both his knowledge and his purity, should he accept that for a righteousness and holiness which is not so in itself; and nothing is so, which hath the least stain upon it contrary to the nature of God. The most holy saints in Scripture, upon a prospect of His prutiy, have cast away all confidence in themselves…