Justice Topics in the Bible

The Bible has a lot to say about justice and themes connected to justice: righteousness, the poor, injustice. There are over two thousand verses about justice and poverty. Justice and righteousness are an essential, key part of the Biblical story. If we want to produce the real fruit of justice in our lives, then we need to plant God’s word about justice.

This is meant to be a resource to you to continue to explore justice in Scripture. It is not comprehensive- but it should help you start.

Justice and Righteousness are what:

Justice in Jesus’ life and teachings:

  • Jesus gives us victorious justice: Matt 12:20

  • Jesus announces Himself as the anointed one who will proclaim good news to the poor, free the captive and oppressed, and give sight to the blind: Luke 4:18-19

  • Jesus rejected racism against Samaritans: Jn. 4:1-42

  • Jesus doesn’t say that money itself is evil, but warns against greed, storing treasure on earth instead of heaven, and serving money instead of God: Matt 6:19-20, 6:24, 19:23; Luke 12:15, 16:13; Mark 7:21-22, 8:36

  • Jesus touched the Lepers-who were considered untouchable in His day- to heal them: Matt 8:1-3, Luke 17:11-19, Mark 1:40-44

  • Jesus invited women to learn spiritual teaching from Him, at a time when women weren’t allowed to be taught religious subjects: Luke 10:38-42

  • The longest recorded conversation that Jesus has in the gospels is with a Samaritan woman, at a time when men wouldn’t talk to any woman publicly: John 4:1-42

  • Women weren’t allowed to be a legal witness at the time, but they were the first witness to Jesus’ resurrection: John 20:11-18

  • Jesus called tax collectors, who were participating in corrupt, unjust system, to leave it and follow Him: Matt. 9:9, Luke 19:1-10

  • Jesus risked His reputation to hang out with the outcasts of His day: Matt 9:9-13, Luke 5:29-32

  • Jesus called children to come to Him, and valued their perspective at at time when children held a low status in society: Luke 18:15-17, Matt 18:1-7

  • In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lays out how His followers should live, including their social lives and how respond to oppression: Matt. 5-7

  • Jesus uses the example of stopping to help a victim of injustice is an example of loving your neighbor: Luke 10:25-37

  • Jesus affirms that workers deserve the wage they were promised: Matt. 20:1-16

  • Jesus promises that those who feed the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothes the naked, welcome the stranger, and visit the imprisoned are doing those things for Him: Matt. 25:31-46

The poor are made in the image of God and how people respond to them matters to Him:

What God does for the poor, widows orphans, and immigrants, the most powerless and vulnerable groups in Israel:

  • God gives them justice: Deut. 10:18

  • God protects and rescues them: Deut. 26:5-9, 1 Sam. 2:8, Ps. 12:5, 14:6,

  • God rescues the oppressed when they cry out: Isa. 19:20

  • God rescues the poor and oppressed from those who exploit them: Ps. 35:10

  • God doesn’t abandon the physical needs of the poor: Isa. 41:17

  • God provides for the needy: Ps. 68:10

  • God protects immigrants and helps widows and orphans: Ps. 146:9

  • When God reigns, defending them is central to how He uses His power: Ps. 82

  • Prophets, God’s mouthpieces, call out Israel when they are oppressing them: Eze. 22:7, Mal. 3:5

  • Prophets condemn oppressing orphans and widows: Eze. 22:7, Zech. 7:10

  • God acts like a lawyer for the poor and will take vengeance those that hurt the poor: Prov. 22:22-23

  • God is the help and deliverer of the poor and needy: Ps 40:17, 70:5

Business and economic laws protecting the poor and vulnerable in Israel:

  • Every third year, a tithe of all the nation’s crops went to the priests, orphans, immigrants, and widows: Deut. 26:12

  • Everyone who grew food participated in feeding the hungry through by leaving the corners of their fields available for gleaning: Lev. 23:22

  • The price of food sold to the poor couldn’t be marked up: Lev. 25:35-37

  • No interest could be charged on loans to the poor: Exo. 22:25

  • The poor could buy back their land if they lost it: Lev. 25:8-34

  • Debts were forgiven every 7 years: Deut. 15:1

  • For loans to widows, their cloaks couldn’t be taken as collateral at all: Deut. 24:17

  • For loans to the poor, you couldn’t keep their cloak as collateral overnight because they needed it for cover: Deut 24:12-13

Leading with Justice and Righteousness:

  • Unjust king Jehoiakim is contrasted with the righteous and just king, Josiah: Jer. 22:13-17

  • Nehemiah confronts injustice and oppression of the poor: Neh. 5:1-13

  • Leaders need wisdom to do justice and righteousness: 1 Kin. 3:7-17, 28; Prov. 8:13-16

  • Kings are told not to drink because they might forget the rights of the poor : Prov. 31:4-7

  • Kings- one of the most important and most heard people in the land- must use their voice to speak up for the voiceless: Prov. 31:8-9 

  • King’s throne is established with righteousness: Prov. 16:12

  • The righteous are concerned about the rights of the poor: Prov. 29:7

  • Righteous people in authority brings joy to everyone: Prov. 29:2

  • Kings bring stability to the land by justice: Prov. 29:4

  • Job description of the ideal king in Israel, and a Messianic prophecy, includes: Ps. 72

  • Leaders who use their power for violence are called out: Eze. 22:6

  • Giving justice to the poor leads to the longevity of kings: Prov. 29:14

  • Those who make unjust and oppressive laws that keep the poor from getting justice are condemned Isa. 10:1-4

  • The prophet calls out those that became rich through stealing and keeping justice from the orphan and oppressed Jer. 5:26-28

Immigrants and refugees:

  • God loves the immigrant to Israel: Deut. 10:18

  • Israel is commanded to love the immigrants among them because God does: Deut. 10:18-19

  • Israel is commanded to love the immigrants around them as they love themselves: Lev. 19:34

  • The material needs of immigrants were part of Israel’s law: Lev. 19:9-10

  • Isreal is commanded to not oppress immigrants or deprive them from justice: Exo. 23:9 , Mal. 3:5

  • Prophets condemn exploiting immigrants: Eze. 22:7

  • Jesus and His family fled as refugees in Egypt to save Jesus’ life from violence: Matt. 2:13-23

    Paying workers is essential:

    • Israel was commanded to pay their workers everyday, because if they didn’t, the workers would will cry out to God: Deut. 24:15

    • Israel was commanded to not hold worker’s wages overnight: Lev. 19:13

    • Workers deserve the wage they were promised: Matt. 20:1-16

    • Prophets call out those who don’t pay their workers: Mal 3:5

    • When workers in aren’t paid by follow members of the church, their cries are heard by God and He has a strong, personal response: Jam. 5:1-6

Hurting the poor is taken seriously by God:

  • Withholding justice from the immigrant, orphan and widow brings curses: Deut. 27:19

  • Hurting the poor insults God Himself: Prov. 14:31, 17:5

  • Israel is condemned for exploiting the poor: Amos 2:6-8

  • Women are called out for oppressing the poor Amos 4:1

  • An example of an unrighteous and unjust life includes oppressing the poor and needy: Eze. 18:12

  • Withholding help from those in need is a sign that God’s love isn’t in a person: 1 John 3:17

  • When workers in aren’t paid by follow members of the church, their cries are heard by God and He has a strong, personal response: Jam. 5:1-6

Help for the needy in the early church:

  • The only time in the Bible when there was no needy among God’s people is in the first generation of the church: Acts 4:34

  • The early church re-structures a food program for widows after conflict between the Greek and the Hebrew widows: Acts 6:1-4

  • Paul sets guidelines for which widows should receive support, helping Timothy solve a logistical problem at His church: 1 Tim. 5:3-16

  • Pure religion is expressed in helping widows and orphans: Jam. 1:27 

  • Paul praises the sacrificial giving of the believers in Macedonia to other needy churches: 2 Cor. 9

  • Faith is practically expressed by giving food and clothes to needy brothers and sisters: Jam. 2:15-17

  • Paul commands believers to contribute to the needy in the Christian community: Rom. 12:13

  • Christians are commanded to share with the needy: Heb 13:16

  • The rich sharing with the needy is an demonstration of God’s love 1 Jn. 3:16-17

How we are shown to respond to those doing injustice in the New Testament:

  • Jesus called those participating in an unjust system to follow Him : Matt. 9:9, Luke 19:1-10

  • Paul, who persecuted and helped kill Christians, is transformed in Christ, and becomes an apostle: Acts 8:1-3, 9:1-31

  • Our war isn’t against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces behind evil: Eph. 6:12

  • Thieves should stop stealing and become contributing members of a community: Eph. 4:28

Praying for and honoring leadership:

  • Israel was commanded to never curse their rulers: Exo. 22:28

  • Paul says to pray for political leaders so you can lead peaceful lives: 1 Tim. 2:1-3

  • Give taxes to your nation and honor to those in authority: Rom 13:1-7

Jessica Nicholas

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