Does God care about justice and the oppressed?
A biblical theology of justice, the shedding of innocent blood, and why the preborn are the oppressed of our age.
DRAFT — awaiting editorial review.
Justice is not a side interest of God’s
“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne” (Psalm 89:14). The Lord “executes justice for the fatherless and the widow” (Deuteronomy 10:18), commands His people to “seek justice, correct oppression” (Isaiah 1:17), and tells us plainly what He requires: “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). A god who shrugged at oppression would not be the God of the Bible.
What God says about innocent blood
Among the six things the Lord hates: “hands that shed innocent blood” (Proverbs 6:16–17). Innocent blood “pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land… except by the blood of the one who shed it” (Numbers 35:33). Manasseh’s child sacrifice brought judgement Judah never outran (2 Kings 21; 24:3–4). And the charge God pressed through Jeremiah — children burned to Molech, “which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind” (Jeremiah 7:31; 19:4–5) — reads today with terrible familiarity.
Who are the oppressed of our age?
Psalm 82 defines the court: “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy.” Apply the test — who in Britain is weakest, least seen, least defended, killed in the greatest numbers with the fullest legal sanction? There is one answer: the child in the womb. Around 299,000 a year. If the biblical category of “the oppressed” does not include them, it includes no one.
And the oppressor is offered mercy
This is where the Bible’s justice diverges from every merely political programme. Manasseh — the child-sacrificing king — repented, and God forgave him (2 Chronicles 33:12–13). Paul, “a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent”, obtained mercy (1 Timothy 1:13). So will every mother, father, doctor and legislator who comes to Christ. Justice for the oppressed and mercy for the repentant oppressor: that is the gospel shape of this whole movement.
Check yourself
3 questions on what you have just read. Answering is what makes it stick.
1What does Numbers 35:33 say innocent blood does to a land?
- It is forgotten in a generation
- It pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made except by the blood of the one who shed it — correct
- It brings prosperity to the guilty
- It is a matter for the courts alone
Among the six things the Lord hates are "hands that shed innocent blood" (Proverbs 6:16–17), and Manasseh’s child sacrifice brought a judgement Judah never outran.
2Applying Psalm 82’s test, who does the article identify as the oppressed of our age?
- The unemployed
- Refugees
- The child in the womb — correct
- The elderly
Who in Britain is weakest, least seen, least defended, killed in the greatest numbers with the fullest legal sanction? If the biblical category of "the oppressed" does not include them, it includes no one.
3What does the article say divides biblical justice from every merely political programme?
- It is harsher on offenders
- Mercy is offered to the repentant oppressor — correct
- It ignores the law
- It is concerned only with the victim
Manasseh repented and God forgave him; Paul, "a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent", obtained mercy. Justice for the oppressed and mercy for the repentant oppressor is the gospel shape of the movement.