Generous Justice
(How God’s Grace
Makes Us Just)
by Timothy Keller
Reviewed by Pat Beaty
“And what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice,
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8
This quote opens the first chapter of the book, and an
equally beautiful verse begins every chapter of this well-researched and
extremely thought-provoking work. Then it came to me: Isn’t justice mercy?
Well, in a way. Isn’t it love? Well…sort
of. Isn’t it sort of niceness or
kindness? This didn’t sound exactly
right either. So, in a determined effort to understand what I was about to
read, I went to my dependable Webster’s College Dictionary. It is, “the quality of being just;
righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness.”
As you read this book, and I fervently hope you do, you will
find out how justice is, in a real sense, most correctly defined as
righteousness. The concept of justice originates in the teaching of the Holy
Bible. He quotes most liberally, not
just from the Old Testament, but from the New Testament as well, in his effort
to support his feelings about justice. An interesting portion of this offering
discusses the often strong difference of opinion between those who believe the
church should concentrate solely on the gospel and those who believe that
Christ also wants the church to take an active role in helping the poor and
disenfranchised. Dr. Keller refers to
Martin Luther King and Calvin in his efforts to explain his views. He notes passages from various other writers
of today in this regard as well.
The reader will be interested in reading the chapter, “What
Did Jesus Say about Justice,” as well as the author’s explanations of why and
how we do justice. His thoughts on “Justice and Your Neighbor,” “Justice In the
Public Square,” and “Peace, Beauty, and Justice” gave me much food for
thought. Finally, please don’t forget to
read the writer’s introduction. I
promise that you will relish it.
June 17, 2014
