Bible Reading Plan – 40 Days on Justice

The topic of Justice has been chosen for this 40 Days as often we tend to think about Christian holiness in terms of things that I do that make me a good or bad person.

Righteousness tends to be defined as an issue of personal morality.  However in a biblical context, God’s expectations of holiness go far beyond an individual’s personal morality and good standing with God.  In fact, in the New Testament the word which is translated righteousness can also be translated as justice; and these two ideas are strongly linked throughout the whole bible.  Holiness is also about the “loving our neighbour” issues of justice. There are many such issues in our world: the treatment of Aboriginal people, refugees and asylum seekers; the sexualisation of children; the objectification of women; the exploitation of people through bad business ethics; the exploitation of God’s creation; the abuse of power by people in positions of authority; slavery and many other forms of oppression.  If we believe that God is a holy God, then he must be offended by these wrongs.

The bible talks a lot about Gods’ response to injustice and unrighteousness, through the themes of judgement and redemption. This bible reading plan traces these key themes in relation to justice throughout the bible, concentrating on how the ideas of justice, righteousness and God’s response are shown in Genesis; followed by stories of how God liberates his people from injustice. We then look at the question of how God expects his people to live, and what life in Jesus’ kingdom means for justice.