Thayer Thursday – My Problem with God’s Judgment
Two years ago I was in India working with indigenous pastors. JM, Talbot Davis, and I were helping provide them with tools to understand and teach the Bible.
Whereas there are thousands upon thousands of books and tools available in English, there aren’t many at all for those whose native language is Oria (the official language of the Indian state of Orissa/Odisha). Ironically, though, as fortunate as I have been to take theological classes and have innumerable books available to learn from, there are some topics I will never understand as well as my brothers and sisters in Orissa.
When I read 2 Thessalonians 1:4-10, it is like nails on a chalkboard. I have a hard time reconciling how God can so radically pursue the restoration and redemption of all humanity – sending His own Son to die on a cross – yet also say that He will repay the trouble that the Thessalonian church is receiving by bringing judgment on the persecutors.
I suspect I am not alone in this feeling. However, as I reflect on the scripture and what I have learned from my brothers and sisters in Christ in India, I am beginning to see why these verses bother me: my view of the reality of evil and the character of God are slightly skewed.
The Kandhamal district of Orissa was the location of intense persecution where thousands of Christians were displaced, had their homes burned, and many were murdered.
Unfortunately, much of this persecution continues, and not just in Orissa. Every week Christians gather in the face of fear that they could be physically harmed for professing the name of Jesus. Christians in Orissa sometimes lose their jobs and are ostracized from their communities solely because they acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
After one of our teaching sessions, we sat down with 24 pastors who could speak English. We asked them how many of them had been persecuted for their faith in Jesus. Twelve of them, half, raised their hands. At random, Talbot asked one of the gentlemen who raised his hand how he was persecuted. He said that his father was killed and he was beaten because he was a Christian.
I’ve never experienced evil as unhindered as our brothers and sisters in Kandhamal. I’ve experienced evil in much more subtle ways throughout my life. In other words, when I try to intellectually and emotionally connect my understanding of who God is with His response to the situation of the church in Thessalonica (or indeed any evil), there is a disconnect. What they are going through is not a masked evil. It’s displayed in all its vileness. When I look at this situation through their eyes and not my own, I begin to see that God’s response to this, or any evil, is not disproportionate or unjust. In fact, He would not be acting according to His heart and character if He didn’t bring justice to evil in whatever way it is displayed, if He didn’t correct it and restore his creation to how it should be.
As N.T. Wright says in his For Everyone commentary on Thessalonians, we have a hard time thinking of God’s justice without the idea of improper retribution. This difficulty causes us to view God’s judgment in an inadequate light. He writes:
God is not a petty or arbitrary tyrant, who throws his political opponents into jail simply for being on the wrong side. God is the living and loving creator who must either judge the world or stand accused of injustice of letting wickedness triumph. People who have lived in societies where evil flourishes unchecked will tell you that it is a nightmare. To live in a world where that was the case for ever would be hell.[1]
Perhaps this topic will always cause me some unease. Perhaps it always should. I don’t want people to face the judgment of the Almighty God of this universe and stand condemned.
However, I also would find God unjust and capricious if He indefinitely allowed violence and injustice to continue for eternity without judging it.
He has given people the chance to submit to His authority and given them the ability to do so through the gift of His Holy Spirit. He never delights in the punishment of the wicked (Ezekiel 18), but He will bring justice to this world.
When we unmask evil and see it in its pure form, we begin to understand God’s reaction toward it and judgment of it.
Categories: Biblical Theology, Blog, New Testament, Theological issues