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Justice is incidental to Law and
Order – J. Edgar Hoover
I will make justice the measuring
line and righteousness the plumb line – Isaiah
Law and Order has been a hot topic
of conversation recently. It has also been a consistent part of the political
conversation over the past several years as the present administration has
often touted the virtues of law and order. In addition, notions of law and
order are not just confined to questions of governance and law enforcement. Many
Christians in my life support notions of law and order as it is framed by the
current administration, and even understand their support of it to be in direct
relation to their Christian faith. Thus law and order has embedded in it
something that Christians (and folks of other faiths) understand to be
compatible with the tenets and practice of their faith. As I am interested in
Christian theology, I want to try to ever so briefly tackle this overlap
between law and order and the Christian faith and ask the question whether
there exists some compatibility between the two. Should Christians support and
advocate for law and order? I want to be up front and note that I will be
arguing that I believe Christians should embrace notions of law and order,
however they should not be embracing, condoning or advocating for any notion of
law and order that is not firmly rooted in the Hebrew concept of shalom. I
argue this because as I understand it, shalom represents the notion of law and
order as it is framed by God in the Old and New Testaments.
In order to make my case for this I
am going to have to lay out what I mean by shalom. I think theologian Cornelius
Platinga has articulated my favorite definition of shalom. He describes shalom
as, “The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice,
fulfillment, and delight... In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing,
wholeness and delight – a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are
satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that
inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the
creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought
to be.” To demonstrate this, let me provide a few examples of how the Hebrew
word shalom is employed in the Old Testatment. I want to acknowledge first
however that I have very little utility in ancient Hebrew, and I am far from a
Hebrew scholar. However, I believe this is an important scriptural concept to
grasp in our current cultural and political environment, so I will do my best in
spite of my limitations.
Shalom of course is generally
translated as the word “peace” in the English language, however it is far more
than that. In scripture, shalom is framed often as a gift from God (see Isaiah 66.12
and Jeremiah 33.6-8, I Kings 2.33, Psalm 29.11). It is identified as the fruit
of righteousness or justice (see Isaiah 32.16-20). Shalom, of course is
associated with the absence of conflict (see Deuteronomy 20.10), but it is also
the presence of justice and even material prosperity (see Psalm 72.1-7). In
fact shalom is consistently associated with notions of righteousness
(rightness) and justice (see Psalm 85.10-13), which are consistently and strongly
associated with one another in the Old Testament. In fact there are times where
the notions of righteousness and justice are interchangeable. In addition, Isaiah
9 frames the coming Messiah as one who establishes this type of just and
righteous flourishing (see Isiah 9.6,7)
So if we were to make a collage of
these scriptural passages we would have an image of a type of thriving and
prosperity, gifted by God, that results from the establishment of just and
righteous practices, and perhaps even institutions that administer those
practices and that justice. I argue that you see just this type of
establishment in the practices associated with provision for widows, orphans,
foreigners and the poor articulated in the books of the Hebrew Law (See Exodus
22.21,22, Leviticus 23.22, Deuteronomy 10. 18-19). Carrying this forward to the
New Testament, we see the Apostle Paul describing the notion of the Kingdom of
God to include just these characterizations as well. He writes in Romans 14.17
that, “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The Kingdom of God here includes the
establishment of justice and shalom (righteousness and peace). This is
important because this means that the Kingdom of God and notions of peace are
not relegated to one’s internalized experience of God, but, because of the
inclusion of notions of justice and shalom, embody active practices necessary
to make the Kingdom and thus make shalom a visible, material reality. So what
does all this have to do with law and order? I am glad you asked.
If as Platinga articulates it,
humans are fundamentally created to be webbed together with their Creator, each
other and the creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight, then this image should
be the plumb line against which Christians shape their understanding both of
order and the laws established to govern that order. Those laws and the
practices of enforcement associated with those laws should promote rightness
and justice. In the book of Deuteronomy (16.18ff) God instructs Israel through
Moses to, “appoint judges and officials throughout your
tribes…and they shall render just decisions for the people.” The Hebrew here literally reads, “that they
shall judge the people with just/righteous judgements.” Moses goes on, “You
must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept
bribes, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those
who are in the right. Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you
may live and occupy the land that the Lord your God is
giving you.” This justice is to be measured against the priorities of the God
who values every created person, and who ascribes particular value to those on the social
margins of human cultures because humans do a poor job of appropriately valuing them. In the case of Hebrew culture those on the social margins were the widows,
the orphans, the foreigners (the ethnic and cultural other), women and the poor.
Because of the human tendency to abuse these classes of their brothers and
sisters for the benefit of both themselves as individuals and for their group,
family or nation, God institutionalizes their protection in the form of the
law. In doing so God articulates and institutionalizes God’s priorities which, I
argue, are rooted in justice, love, grace and mercy. If as Christians we are to
embrace law and order, I argue the law and order we embrace must enact and
institutionalize these same principles and reflect our valuation of the people
on the margins in the same way God values them.
The founder and long time director
of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover is credited with saying that, “Justice is incidental
to Law and Order.” In other words, justice is to be measured by order, not the
other way around. Here, order is the sole evidence that justice has been
enacted under the law. I argue that this construct is the exact opposite of the
notion of justice articulated in scripture. I am afraid that Hoover's description
of justice, law and order describes the notions of law and order as they are
articulated by this administration. I am even more concerned by my perception
that many Christians may reflexively go along with these sentiments. I am
concerned because these sentiments miss the Divine heart at the center of justice,
and the miss the Divine measure of justice as something rooted in the very
character of God. They miss the justice, fulfillment, flourishing and delight
for which humans have been created. They miss the Divine concern for the
flourishing of those on the social and economic margins, and they miss the
Divine concern for righteous justice, mercy, grace and love. So yes, Christians
should support law and order, so long as it is this law and order that in the
words of the prophet Micah does justice, loves kindness and walks humbly with
God. Christians should be holding every other iteration of law and order up to
this standard, and insisting law and order reflect these priorities. Christians
should be dissatisfied with anything other than shalom.
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