Top 7 Bible Verses About Injustice

What are my top 7 Bible verses on injustice?  Which ones would you include?

Is there Injustice with God?

Romans 9:14 “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!”

I cannot count the number of times when people have told me that God is not fair.  I ask them why and they look at suffering, the evil in the world, and the great tragedies that seem to happen every day but the Bible clearly shows that we live in a fallen world.  Frequently the problems of life can bring people to an end of themselves and humble them and make them see their need for God because we know that God will resist the proud but will give grace only to the humble (James 4:6).  It’s like God’s answer to Job, “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’”(Job 45:9) and which Paul seems to say the same thing in Romans 9:21 “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?”  The Bible makes it clear that life is not fair but God was not fair to His own Son who died for those who were God’s enemies and wicked sinners (Rom 5:8, 10).  We don’t want God to be fair for all fall far short of His glory (Rom 3:23), we really want God’s mercy.

Injustices with our Neighbors

Jeremiah 22:13 “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages.”

The word “woe” is clearly understood to be a judgment, just like the woes mentioned in the Book of Revelation so God says that the one who builds his house by unrighteousness by making “his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages” will receive God’s judgment someday unless they repent (Heb 9:27).  By not giving this neighbor their wages it may well mean that the employer is taking advantage of their employees and making a fortune on them be not paying the wages that is rightly due them.  This problem is seen throughout the world today.

Injustice in the Courts

Leviticus 19:15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.”

There is nothing new under the sun (Eccl 1:9) so just as there was injustice in the court systems of ancient Israel, so there are today.  The rich who can afford expensive lawyers can get off relatively easy but the poor have fewer options and often there is a double standard in the judicial systems of today.  I heard of a story of a man in a small town in Arkansas where an employer’s son who was rich and a co-worker were caught with drugs.  The “good ole boy” system allowed the employer’s son to have the charges dismissed but the employee who was with the boss’s son when got they got caught went to jail.  It didn’t matter to the corrupt judge that the drugs were found in the boss’s son’s car and were not even his friend’s drugs so the employee took the hit.

Injustice of a Nation

Hosea 10:13 “You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors.”

This verse is a chastisement of Israel about their self-reliant, self-dependence.  God says that they are trusting in themselves and in their own abilities and have turned away from God.  Any nation that turns its back on God will result in God turning His back on them.  What goes for nations also goes for individuals so if someone happens to reap injustice, they are reaping what they have sown and it is because of the iniquity of them trusting in themselves and in their own resources (in the multitude of your warriors) and so in time, justice will be served.

The Wicked Rulers Alliance

Psalm 94:20 “Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute?”

This is a rhetorical question…can wicked rulers be allied with God is answered no because those who are framing or constructing injustice by statues (laws) will never be condoned by God.  Today, the legal abortions of thousands of babies every year in America are seen as statutes of injustice by God.  God is the against those who break the law and murdering thousands of innocent lives is about a heinous crime there is and so those who support such laws and refuse to repeal the legalization of the slaughter of thousands of babies will never be acceptable to God and indeed, by millions of Christians and so the obvious answer to the rhetorical question; “Can wicked rulers be allied with you” is, of course not!

The God of Justice

Zephaniah 3:5 “The Lord within her is righteous; he does no injustice; every morning he shows forth his justice; each dawn he does not fail; but the unjust knows no shame.”

God never has or will ever do anything unjust. God is the God of justice and all His commandments and statutes are right.  The formation of the laws of the Western nations was based upon the Ten Commandments and if these laws were kept today, most of the millions of other laws would be unnecessary.  The “unjust” however has no shame in their unrighteousness.  Among those who live wicked lives, there isn’t even any blushing but the day will come when all will have to give an account for all the unrighteous deeds they have ever done in their lives (Rom 14:12; Matt 12:36; Rev 20:12-15).

Sowing Injustice, Reaping Fury

Proverbs 22:8 “Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail.”

This is an objective truth; “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal 6:7).  We always reap what we sow but much later than we sow.  If a person or nation sows injustice, like most of the nations of the world do today, in time they will reap calamity.  The rod of God’s fury will not go unused.  God will never leave unpunished those who are sowing injustice because the time of harvest will come soon and swiftly, of that you can be sure.  For those who have repented of their injustices and then trusted in the Son of God, His wrath is no longer against them but for those who refuse to believe, “the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36).

Conclusion

God will avenge all wrongs someday and there will be no injustice in the coming kingdom of God.  That day will be a day of reckoning for those who have never been born again but for those who have been born of God, they will enjoy the benefits of the eternal kingdom.  Choose today whether you will have God’s justice served upon your sins or believe in Christ and know that God’s wrath was satisfied at the cross on the Son of God.

Another Reading on Patheos to Check Out: What Did Jesus Really Look Like: A Look at the Bible Facts

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book  Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon