The Little Book of Biblical Justice Quotes

“Justice flows from God’s own being and designates the way God intends the world to be. But things have fallen into disorder; the shalom of creation has been ruptured. God responds by seeking to restore the world to the way it ought to be.”
― Christopher D. Marshall, Little Book of Biblical Justice: A Fresh Approach To The Bible's Teachings On Justice

“But the distinctive concern of biblical justice is not to punish sinners, but to restore shalom by clarifying and dealing with the damage caused by wrongdoing. Punishment was a tool for helping to achieve this.”
― Christopher D. Marshall, Little Book of Biblical Justice: A Fresh Approach To The Bible's Teachings On Justice

“Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live?”
― Christopher D. Marshall, Little Book of Biblical Justice: A Fresh Approach To The Bible's Teachings On Justice

“Contrary to what many people think today, punishment as such is not what satisfies the demands of justice. Justice is satisfied by repentance, restoration, and renewal. Punishment serves as a mechanism for helping to promote such restoration.”
― Christopher D. Marshall, The Little Book of Biblical Justice: A Fresh Approach to the Bible's Teaching on Justice

“Justice is not a static ideal; it is not the maintenance of some steady state in society. The accent in biblical justice falls on positive action, the exercising of power to resist the oppressor and set the oppressed free. This is why Amos pictures justice as a thundering river that than as in the Western tradition, a neatly balanced set of scales [Amos 5:21-24].”
― Christopher D. Marshall, The Little Book of Biblical Justice: A Fresh Approach to the Bible's Teaching on Justice

“Present injustices must never simply be tolerated or accepted as inevitable. We are not meant to resign ourselves to the evils of the world, while waiting passively for God's coming to sweep them away. Instead, we are to work tirelessly in partnership with God for the greater attainment of justice her and now, knowing that God shall ultimately bring our efforts to fruition in the renewal of creation. God's coming justice is the culmination of no a substitute for, human string for greater justice here and now.”
― Christopher D. Marshall, The Little Book of Biblical Justice: A Fresh Approach to the Bible's Teaching on Justice

“No political system or economic order can ever be regarded as the full, or even as an adequate, realization of justice. All human social structures and centers of power are denied ultimate significance. Every human attempt to create justice, when measured against the perfect justice of God's coming kingdom, is inescapably partial and limited.”
― Christopher D. Marshall, The Little Book of Biblical Justice: A Fresh Approach to the Bible's Teaching on Justice

“Biblical hope - that confident expectation of a better future - is rooted in the knowledge of God's justice and faithfulness. Because God is the source and champion of justice, and because God is utterly reliable, there is always hope for positive change.”
― Christopher D. Marshall, The Little Book of Biblical Justice: A Fresh Approach to the Bible's Teaching on Justice

“From a Christian perspective, justice must have a real objective existence, because justice derives from God, and God exists apart form human speculation. Justice is real because God is real. But our capacity to know God's universal justice is unavoidably conditioned by the ways of looking at life and the world which we receive from the particular historical and religious traditions to which we belong. This is where the Bible comes in.”
― Christopher D. Marshall, The Little Book of Biblical Justice: A Fresh Approach to the Bible's Teaching on Justice

“Emulating God's justice is, according to the Biblical prophets, the evidence of what it means to know God. True knowledge of God entails both an appreciation of God's own unswerving devotion to justice and a commitment to live one's personal life in conformity to God's justice [see Hosea 4:1-2, 5:3, 6:6; Jeremiah 2:8; 4:22; 9:2-6, 24, 22:16; Isaiah 58:2. Titus 1:16; 1 John 4:8]”
― Chris Marshall, Little Book of Biblical Justice: A Fresh Approach To The Bible's Teachings On Justice

“Justice is the objective foundation of all reality. This justice is known, not primarily through philosophical speculation, but through observing God's actions to liberate the oppressed and through heeding God's word in the Low and the Prophets to protect an care for the weak. This means that our knowledge of justice spring ultimately from our knowledge of God, and that there can be no true knowledge of God without an appreciation of God's own unfailing dedication to justice.”
― Chris Marshall, Little Book of Biblical Justice: A Fresh Approach To The Bible's Teachings On Justice

“From a Christian perspective, justice must have a real objective existence, because justice derives from God, and God exists apart form human speculation. Justice is real because God is real. But our capacity to know God's universal justice is unavoidably conditioned by the ways of looking at life and the world which we receive from the particular historical and religious traditions to which we belong. This is where the Bible comes in.”
― Chris Marshall, Little Book of Biblical Justice: A Fresh Approach To The Bible's Teachings On Justice