SOCIAL JUSTICE (21 OF 52)
Scripture: Micah 6:1-16
This content is part of a series.
Social Justice (21 of 52)
Series: Discipleship
Christopher B. Harbin
Micah 6:1-16
We tend to think that concerns over social justice are not really Biblical or spiritual. We tend to think that the Old Testament knows nothing about God's concerns with social justice. We tend to believe that spiritual matters are much more important and are unrelated to issues of economics and caring for the poor. We tend to relegate such concerns to a secondary role that has no relationship to eternity, faith, grace, and the message of the gospel.
The problem with those historical tendencies of the church is first of all that they contradict the way Jesus actually lived, ministered, and spoke. Secondly, they do not stand the test of what the Old Testament expected of Israel as a direct correlate of their relationship with Yahweh. There are themes of the redemption of slaves, caring for the poor, giving justice to widows, standing up for orphans, and treating immigrants with dignity that pervade the Old Testament Scriptures, as well as the New. These themes are also tied inseparably from expectations to serve Yahweh and exemplify Yahweh's character of love and grace.
Micah has often been quoted as expressing the essential character of God's demands for the people. It has also been paired often with concepts expressed in Jesus' ministry. Too often, however, we have failed to take into account that Micah's words were directed to a religious nation. Micah was not addressing a nation who had abandoned the tenets of Yahwism wholesale. He was addressing the fact that they had divorced Yahweh's seemingly spiritual demands from the more economic and social demands. Micah was addressing a people who very pointedly were not making the connection between God's requirements on a legal and economic level with God's demands they considered of a more spiritual or religious nature.
For Micah, as for many of the other prophets, there was no distinction to be made between the economic ...
Series: Discipleship
Christopher B. Harbin
Micah 6:1-16
We tend to think that concerns over social justice are not really Biblical or spiritual. We tend to think that the Old Testament knows nothing about God's concerns with social justice. We tend to believe that spiritual matters are much more important and are unrelated to issues of economics and caring for the poor. We tend to relegate such concerns to a secondary role that has no relationship to eternity, faith, grace, and the message of the gospel.
The problem with those historical tendencies of the church is first of all that they contradict the way Jesus actually lived, ministered, and spoke. Secondly, they do not stand the test of what the Old Testament expected of Israel as a direct correlate of their relationship with Yahweh. There are themes of the redemption of slaves, caring for the poor, giving justice to widows, standing up for orphans, and treating immigrants with dignity that pervade the Old Testament Scriptures, as well as the New. These themes are also tied inseparably from expectations to serve Yahweh and exemplify Yahweh's character of love and grace.
Micah has often been quoted as expressing the essential character of God's demands for the people. It has also been paired often with concepts expressed in Jesus' ministry. Too often, however, we have failed to take into account that Micah's words were directed to a religious nation. Micah was not addressing a nation who had abandoned the tenets of Yahwism wholesale. He was addressing the fact that they had divorced Yahweh's seemingly spiritual demands from the more economic and social demands. Micah was addressing a people who very pointedly were not making the connection between God's requirements on a legal and economic level with God's demands they considered of a more spiritual or religious nature.
For Micah, as for many of the other prophets, there was no distinction to be made between the economic ...
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