Justice

God's justice means he always does what is right, and will finally set every wrong to rights. "The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice" (Deut 32:4). This is not cold legalism but the bedrock of hope for everyone who has ever been wronged: a universe with a just God is one where the oppressor does not get the last word, where the cry of the victim is heard, where evil is not shrugged off. We instinctively long for justice when we are wronged and resent it when we are guilty — both reactions testify that it is real.

The gospel's wonder is that God's justice and mercy are not at war. At the cross, "he is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Rom 3:26) — sin is genuinely judged, yet the sinner is genuinely forgiven, because God absorbs the cost himself. A God without justice could not be trusted; a God of justice alone could not be approached. In Christ we get both.