Let Justice Flow Like a River: Exploring the Heart of Scripture
Amos’s Enduring Cry: More Than Ritual, a Demand for Fairness
The prophet Amos, speaking more than two thousand years ago, challenged his own community for focusing on religious events, grand projects, and performances that served their egos rather than their neighbors. What Amos saw as missing was not worship itself, but genuine justice—real fairness in everyday interactions. His poetic charge, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24), still rings out, reminding us that God cares more for just relationships than for ritual alone.
Justice and Power: The Heart of the Matter
Biblical justice is fundamentally about how we use power in our relationships. Justice means treating others equitably, especially when we hold positions of advantage. Injustice, by contrast, is always rooted in power abused. Yet God offers us release from injustice and calls us to a better way—a way of forgiveness and determined pursuit of justice and righteousness, tightly linked throughout Scripture. This calling demands that we face and resist injustice, empowered by the Holy Spirit and guided by God’s revelation of justice.
Justice Across the Bible: A Central Thread
Justice is not a minor theme in Scripture; it is central. Modern Bible translations use the term “justice” over a hundred times, underscoring its importance in both the Old and New Testaments. Where older translations chose words like “judgment,” newer ones make clear that justice is at the core of God’s message.
The Old Testament: Justice in Word and Deed
Three key Hebrew words help us understand justice in the Old Testament: mishpat (justice/judgment), sedeq (righteousness/justice), and sedaqa (right action/charity). As Timothy Keller describes, mishpat is giving each person what they are due—be that protection, correction, or care. Time and again, biblical justice is shown in advocating for the vulnerable: widows, orphans, immigrants, and the poor. The health of a society, the Bible teaches, is revealed in how it treats its most vulnerable members.
Sedeq and sedaqa shift the focus to relationship, emphasizing that righteousness is lived out in faithful, just connections with God and others. As T.B. Maston writes, true righteousness is not isolated, but social and relational.
Scripture’s Call to Action
The Old Testament is full of direct instructions:
· “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in their lawsuits.” (Exodus 23:6)
· “With justice you shall judge your neighbor.” (Leviticus 19:15)
· “Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue…” (Deuteronomy 16:20)
· “Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.” (Deuteronomy 27:19)
· “He loves righteousness and justice…” (Psalm 33:5)
· “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21:3)
· “Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17)
In conclusion, the biblical concept of righteousness is deeply intertwined with justice and the quality of our relationships with others. Scripture consistently calls believers not only to personal piety but to active engagement in ensuring fairness, compassion, and advocacy for the vulnerable. Living out righteousness means embodying justice in our daily interactions and striving to uphold the dignity and well-being of all people, reflecting the heart of God in the world.
Minister A Francine Green
November 2025
afrancinegreen.com 