Justice for All

A Review of Confronting Injustice Without Compromising Truth: 12 Questions Christians Should Ask About Social Justice, by Thaddeus J. Williams

Everyone knows there is real injustice in the world, and although the concept of social justice began in the church, most everyone today agrees that we should all be about the work of it. But is everything that is branded justice actually justice? Given the cacophony of voices laying claim to justice, knowing the difference can be a tall order. People who want to pursue true justice, whether or not it accords with the trends of the day, will want to discern the real thing from potential lookalikes. Thaddeus Williams's latest book, Confronting Injustice Without Compromising Truth, is the go-to resource for this urgent task.

Rather than critique any given organization, Williams offers an insightful set of questions for evaluating any cause or movement flying under the banner of "justice." Since deception often begins with redefined words, he starts by defining some terms. For millennia, justice has centered on rendering to others that which they are due—treating people as people should be treated and their actions as the actions deserve. When a punishment fits the crime, for example, we rightly say the criminal has been brought to justice. When people are treated like property, on the other hand, we rightly call that unjust.

Williams's filter begins where all good thinking should, at the worldview level. True justice, he writes, will always begin with theistic justice—giving worship to that which is worthy of worship. Put differently, true justice must begin with a right posture toward God and an accurate understanding of the created order. If the Bible's picture of reality is true, theistic justice is "the justice issue from which all other justice blooms."

His questions, then, help us evaluate how any given cause aligns with (or doesn't align with) the way the world actually is. He sets up two categories. He designates biblically compatible justice-seeking movements as "Social Justice A" and those that blur or erase the Creator-creation distinction as "Social Justice B." The operative questions fall under four headings:

• Worship: Does the vision of social justice take the nature of God seriously? Or does it put something else, such as man or the state, in the place of God?

• Community: Does it promote love and forbearance, or does it stir up rage and resentment? Does it make group identity more important than the New Testament's identity dichotomy, which says one is either "in Adam" or "in Christ"?

• Salvation: Does it see the root problem as sin in the human heart, or does it locate blame in people groups or abstract systems? Does it distort the gospel?

• Truth: Does it prioritize seeking truth, or does it assign truth by "lived experience" or tribal group?

With vivid clarity grounded in Christian compassion for the suffering, Williams shows throughout how Social Justice B efforts end up causing harm, both to those they are intended to "help" and to the would-be "helpers." No matter how well-intended or passionate the activists, this is inevitable because they're operating according to a false picture of reality.

"The Bible's call to seek justice is not a call to superficial kneejerk activism," he writes. No, "the God who commands us to seek justice is the same God who commands us to 'test everything' and 'hold fast to what is good.'" Williams has given the church an excellent resource for putting justice movements to the critical worldview test. Parents and youth pastors, get hold of this book and work through it with your kids.