Social Justice: Wray’s Essential Aspects of Biblical Law and Justice

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Various Interpretations of Biblical Laws and Justice
The Four Assumptions of Biblical Laws and Justice
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Wray’s essential aspects of Biblical Law and Justice in light of what it offers religious educators for the classroom study of justice. A large portion of the Bible has been dedicated to the issue of law and justice.

Therefore, religious educators who teach about justice in classrooms today must go back to the Bible and look at biblical legal codes and justice.

Justice has become a matter of concern for many people in modern societies. Nevertheless, it is a concept that is socially constructed, meaning that it is subject to contextual interpretation.

Various Interpretations of Biblical Laws and Justice

Wray has conducted an extensive study on the subject of social justice and suggests that students taking any course on law or social justice must go back to the origins of these laws and justice, in this case the Bible.

He maintains that biblical laws and justice should be taught in the classroom in a bid to tackle some of the prevalent issues affecting modern societies, including laws, prohibitions and injunctions (Wray, 2011, p. 161).

Indeed, the quest for social justice has been highlighted by many social philosophers for many centuries since the emergence of enlightenment and industrial revolution.

The industrial revolution and the emergence of capitalist economies gave rise to social decay and the erosion of social values as most people were subjected to hard social and economic conditions.

The world is divided between the haves and the have-nots. In theory, social justice is an attempt to address the question of equity and fair distribution of income and resources.

The theory of justice implies that people should be treated equally (Miller, 1999). The concept of social justice is widely used today to refer to the fair distribution of resources amongst the members of the society.

For many centuries, this concept has been applied in various societies, but it is evident that even today discrimination of the poor from the market economy still continues (Miller, 1999).

However, regardless of what has been researched, written or formulated as part of our social policies, justice is far from being realized. Perhaps it can be argued that humanity have rejected the origins of these laws and regulations and came up with mere philosophies that does not address the real problems.

The best model for social justice is in the Bible which in Borg’s view is the foundation for political and personal transformation. Any attempt to fight for social justice must be based on the word of God because the Kingdom of God is the heart of justice (Borg, 2003).

Borg also argues that although the American society promotes the principles of individualism, all humans are part of a wider social-economic, political, cultural, and faith systems that promotes social lives in the community (Borg, 2003).

Borg goes back to the biblical account to show God’s passion for social and political justice. He maintains that Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom of God in the New Testament is all about justice (Borg, 2003).

Similarly, views have been expressed by O’ Donohue who states that the biblical concept of justice is intrinsically connected to human relationship.

He argues that God demands for justice that does not appear in abstract, but the kind of justice that exists within our human lives. True justice emerges from the relationship between humanity and God and fellow humanity. It starts with the individual then moves on to society (O’ Donahue, 1977).

This is the line of argument that Wray has followed. In his view, biblical law and justice should be the main text for students studying social justice and other law related courses.

The most important part of these texts is that which deals with Torah on the Old Testament and the Kingdom of God in the New Testament.

These texts contain the golden rules upon which we derive our mannerism and ways of treating other people. The purpose of the biblical laws was originally given to regulate human behavior in a manner that was intended by God from the beginning (Wray, 2011).

Consequently, these laws have become the cornerstone for legal codes that governs modern civilized societies. This is not to say that the modern societies are perfect.

But regardless of their levels of civilizations crime, injustices and immoralities are still the order of the day. We still have many cases of rape, murders, theft, slandering, corruption, fraud, and lying, even as the bible prohibits such behaviors.

Our jails and prisons are full of people have been locked up for going against these laws. These laws have governed the world since the days of ancient Israel when they were first given to control humans but their behaviors are still the same (Berger, 2007).

This does not imply that these laws are ineffective. In fact, they are still unique and effective if applied appropriately. Wray laments that most religious educators and preachers do not discuss biblical justice with the laws of Israel.

This means that one cannot teach about observing the laws without first developing a relationship with the lawgiver, who is God. For instance, treating other people fairly, defending the poor and the weak can only demonstrate the existing covenant relationship with God.

The Four Assumptions of Biblical Laws and Justice

Wray also outlines four main assumptions connected to the interpretation of the biblical laws and justice (Wray, 2011). The first assumptions that are commonly held by many people purports that the Ten Commandments were given by God and therefore God’s people are obliged to abide by these rules and regulations.

In Wray’s view, the ten commandments should be treated like’ formulaic prohibitions’ that controls human behaviors and legalizes how the community needs to relate with each other (2011, p.162).

He continues to suggest that the interpretation of the law should not be confined to the Ten Commandments only, but should include the entire Torah including other 600 laws.

However, there are divergent views concerning the interpretation and practice of Torah (biblical laws from genesis to Deuteronomy) between various Christian denominations and other world religions (Wray, 2011).

The second assumption suggests that when one breaks these laws then they are subjected to punishment which in Wray’s view has given birth to retributive justice.

The interpretation of this concept has brought lots of complications to the understanding of crime and punishment, commonly referred to in the bible as an eye to eye.

Wray claims that biblical laws are divided into two areas, the apodictic laws which include the Ten Commandments which in most cases are prohibitory nature.

He argues that this group of laws does not contain any elements of punishment attached to them, rather they were meant to deter the offenders from committing the offence.

In other words, they are precautionary or preventive rather curative. They are unique and different from any other laws found in Ancient Near Eastern regions (Wray, 2011).

However, Wray indicates that the second type of the laws can be grouped as casuistic because they are more of case laws which were common in the Ancient near eastern societies and commonly used in court cases in even in those days.

From his assessment of these two types of laws, Wray concludes the entire Torah were specifically give to the Children to regulate their devotion to God and control how they behave towards their human beings (Wray, 2011).

According to Wray, the third assumption supports and advocates for Golden rule. This rule suggests that we should treat others fairly and then expect the same in return.

He argues that the Golden Rule promotes justice and fairness in the society. It addresses the notion of fairness and justice and especially to the weak, oppressed and poor.

While the fourth assumption purports that justice is about caring for those people in the society who are less fortunate, socially disadvantaged and marginalized (Wray, 2011).

Conclusion

This paper has attempted to evaluate Wray’s paper which suggests that the essential aspects of biblical law and justice must be taught to classrooms for those studying justice and law related a subjects.

Social justice is still a major concern for many societies and the solution is to go back to the basics. The author argues that justice is socially constructed; meaning that its interpretation differs from one society to another.

Wray argues that the biblical laws upon which our modern legal code and social values are based were originated given by God to govern human behaviors and regulate how they relate with God and fellow humanity.

Therefore, true justice must start with the individual’s close relationship with God and then be reflected and translated back to the society.

This implies that our view and practice of justice must begin with the individual person and stream down to the society. Furthermore, it supports the argument that religious educators must teach the individual students to change their own views and attitudes as individuals before they can go out there and transform the rest of society.

Reference List

Berger, R. M. (2007). What the heck is social justice? Sojourners Magazine, 36(2), 37.

Borg, M. (2003). The kingdom of God: The heart of justice. In The heart of Christianity. pp. 127-148. San Francisco: Harper Collins.

Miller, D. (1999). Principles of social justice. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

O’Donahue, J. (1977). Biblical perspectives on justice. In Haughey, J. (Ed). The faith that does justice. pp. 68-112. New York: Paulist Press.

Wray, T. J. (2011). What the Bible really tells us: The essential guide to biblical literacy. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield.

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