Words matter. Because ideas matter. Particularly theological ideas. There are few theological words which have greater significance in the history of the church than the word, justice. It’s the root of justification — the doctrine, according to Calvin, which is the hinge upon which the faith turns. But there’s a deeper foundation to the doctrine of justification: the justice of God. This was His motive in offering His Son as a propitiation for our sins: that He would be just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus (Rom.3:26). With such profound theological and historical significance to the very heart of the Gospel, itself, it’s difficult to imagine that a conservative, evangelical organization called The Gospel Coalition would carelessly misuse the concept of justice. And yet that is precisely what they’ve done in the latest article by Greg Forster.
Charity = Justice?
“Economic justice,” Forster claims, was the answer from Jonathan Edwards on how to pursue truly spiritual discoveries. “Economic justice” isn’t Edward’s term, though. Edwards wasn’t as sloppy a theologian as that. No, “economic justice” is Forster’s term for what Edwards rightly called charity — aid to the economically poor. If Forster wants to inform the Church of Edwards’ position, though, why not call it charity, like Edwards does? Why use an entirely new term, which is foreign to the author whose position you are trying to present? I can’t read Mr. Forster’s motives, but I can tell you the obvious result of this term-shift, regardless of what his intentions were.
How The Gospel Coalition is Killing The Gospel With “Social Justice”
Charity = Justice?
“Economic justice,” Forster claims, was the answer from Jonathan Edwards on how to pursue truly spiritual discoveries. “Economic justice” isn’t Edward’s term, though. Edwards wasn’t as sloppy a theologian as that. No, “economic justice” is Forster’s term for what Edwards rightly called charity — aid to the economically poor. If Forster wants to inform the Church of Edwards’ position, though, why not call it charity, like Edwards does? Why use an entirely new term, which is foreign to the author whose position you are trying to present? I can’t read Mr. Forster’s motives, but I can tell you the obvious result of this term-shift, regardless of what his intentions were.
How The Gospel Coalition is Killing The Gospel With “Social Justice”
