RUSHWAVE: Establishing Believers in the Christian Faith

Chapter 12: God is Just and Righteous

Every thought God conceives, every verdict He pronounces, and every sentence He imposes is right.

Does the Creator of all things always do what is right? Can He be justly accused by any man of being unjust? He is all-knowing, all-wise, and all-powerful, and there is absolutely nothing beyond Him. Does He always employ these powers in ways that are fair and equitable? There is a simple answer.

God is just and righteous in all His dealings. Over and over again scripture affirms this.

All His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He. Deuteronomy 32:4
Surely, God will not act wickedly, And the Almighty will not pervert justice. Job 34:12
For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness. Psalm 11:7
He loves righteousness and justice. Psalm 33:5
God is a righteous judge. Psalm 7:11
For I, the Lord, love justice. Isaiah 61:8
Righteous and true are Your ways. Revelation 15:3

God is righteous and just in all His dealings because that is who He is at the core of His being. And this character trait has particular relevance to His verdicts and sentences.

A verdict is the finding or decision of a judge or jury in a criminal case, and typically involves a pronouncement of “guilty” or “not guilty” with respect to the charges in view. It is distinct from a sentence, which is the punishment or penalty imposed on the offender. Thus a judge may pass a verdict of guilty with respect to an individual charged with premeditated murder, and a sentence of life imprisonment or death.

In God’s relationship with mankind, He likewise forms verdicts and passes sentences based on man’s works. And in every single case, His verdicts and sentences are just and right.

God is impartial in His judgments. For God to be just, He must never show favoritism. This likewise has application not only to His verdicts, but also His sentences. While there is no shortage of judges in history who have made decisions based on their own biases, this is never the case with God.

God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. He executes justice. Deuteronomy 10:16–18
The Lord our God will have no part in unrighteousness or partiality or the taking of a bribe. 2 Chronicles 19:7
God is not one to show partiality. Acts 10:34

And of Himself God says:

I, the Lord, speak righteousness, Declaring things that are upright. Isaiah 45:19

Since God is just, it means every verdict He pronounces, and every sentence that flows out of that verdict, is absent of partiality. There is therefore no injustice in it at all.

God’s verdicts are always accurate because they are rooted in His knowledge of all things. A human judge can pass a wrong verdict and unjustly condemn a man for various reasons: failure to have all the facts, testimony from false witnesses, and the like. But none of these things come into play with God. He has all facts in view from every conceivable perspective, and every motive is laid bare. His verdicts are therefore always perfect and without error.

God’s sentences are never excessive. When a man is guilty of a certain offense, it is possible to impose a penalty which is too severe. But this is never the case with God. If He determines a certain offense warrants a particular punishment, then He not only has the power to effect that punishment, but that punishment is right. There is no injustice in it on account of its being too harsh, severe or disproportionate. The punishment is fitting, proper, and good.

God’s sentences are never deficient. Just as it is possible to impose a penalty that is excessive, the same applies in the other direction — it is possible to impose a sentence that is too light. But this likewise is never the case with God. When the guilty stand before Him, His sentence is not too light. An inadequate sentence diminishes the gravity of the offense and constitutes an injustice. But God’s sentences are good and right, imposing on the offender a punishment which perfectly matches the wrong committed.

God cannot conceive an unjust, unrighteous, evil thought. Every action God takes flows from thoughts within Himself that He alone has conceived. And the countless number of thoughts that He Himself knows are all good, just, holy and righteous. There is not even one thought that can be classified as evil, wrong, unjust or unrighteous; not one.

God Himself expressed how He cannot conceive evil thoughts when He addressed the exceedingly abominable and frequent practice of human sacrifice in ancient times. One particular false god was named Baal, and his temples and altars were often built at places of high elevation such as the tops of mountains or hills (“high places”). To those who were engaging in this brutal practice of human sacrifice, God said:

They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind. Jeremiah 19:5

The fact that God cannot conceive an unrighteous thought in no way diminishes His knowledge of all things. A man may not conceive an evil thought himself, but he may be very aware of the evil thoughts others have conceived. Even so God knows all things — even the evil thoughts of men — but He Himself never conceived such thoughts. He conceived and willed that man should be able to make choices, which is a good thing. But evil thoughts arising from men’s hearts do not have their origin in God.

God is just and righteous at the core of His being. He is incapable of even conceiving within Himself an evil thought. Any action He takes is right, and any verdict or sentence He forms concerning you is just.

from The Nature and Character of God

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