Helping preachers to proclaim, and all Christians to hear, the transforming Word of God
posted by Milton Stanley at 6:01 AM
Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may be able to determine what God's will is -- what is proper, pleasing, and perfect. - Rom. 12:2
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2 Comments:
How can God be just and yet not fair?
I hear that statement all the time - "God is not fair, and you should be thankful that He is not" - but I don't think it is very well thought out. If God is not fair then He is unfair: to whom (or Whom), then, is He being unfair?
The Atonement was necessary so that God might remain just and forgive us at the same time. What part of the Atonement is unfair? Did the Father take advantage of the Son? Where is the unfairness of God?
I just don't get it. I find God to be consummately fair in all that He does. It may not appear so on the surface but it turns out to be under further investigation.
I confess I have been guilty of saying "God is not fair" in the past, and do not look forward to having to explain to God when He asks me, "So, My child, what was it that you found to be unfair about Me?"
Well, when you frame it that way (the final question at the end of your comment), you raise a fine point.
I tend to think of "fair" as an inferior substitute for "just." In my mind fairness is to justice as happiness is to joy. As a boy I was obsessed with what was fair, but now I try to look deeper for what is just.
Having two sons around the same age, I have on occasion been accused of being unfair. After a while I took to agreeing with them on that point. In my experience children (either one's own or those in a teaching setting) view fairness as a superficial standard of treating everyone the same, even if the particulars of a situation call for a different response.
So I agree in substance with what you say in the fourth paragraph of your comment. On the surface God may not be fair, but under further investigation he is just. And yes, the Atonement certainly was not unjust. The only difference, I think, is in how we define "fair."
Right or wrong, I interpret John Frye's essay as reflecting a similar connotation on "fair": that of a superficial, immature conception of justice.
Well, I hope that clarifies my thinking. Now I'm going to think some more about your final question. Thanks, my brother, for your thoughtful engagement with the ideas on this site, and for once again prompting me to think more deeply.
Peace.
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