Introduction
Since the mid-20th century, the term “social gospel” has carried both positive and negative connotations in different sectors of Christianity. The space limitations of this article will not permit any significant treatment of the polemic that developed between those who had different perspectives regarding the focus on this aspect of the gospel. Suffice it to say, the term “social gospel” emerged as a response to the negative effects of industrialization on the most vulnerable in society, particularly the poor. The efforts to address and possibly remedy these negative consequences became known as “social justice.” Consequently, it is understood that the juxtaposition of the term “social justice” with the Great Commission in the title of the article may provoke similar tensions.
Nonetheless, the premise of this article is that social justice and the Great Commission are not mutually exclusive but are inextricably linked. An evangelistic/discipleship hermeneutic is usually applied to the Great Commission (and rightfully so). Consequently, the metric of success of this mandate is often (though not exclusively) individual transformation. While this is at the heart of our evangelical tradition, it cannot be divorced from the fact that oppressive systems and structures also need to be exposed to the transforming power of the gospel. This is the social aspect to which the gospel speaks and demands justice—a justice that finds its source in the very nature of the triune God. Kallistos of Diokleia wrote, “Our belief in a Trinitarian God, in a God of social inter-relationship and shared love, commits us to opposing all forms
of exploitation, injustice and discrimination. In our struggle for human rights, we are acting in the name of the Trinity.”[1]
In Living the Justice of the Triune God, David N. Power and Michael Downey posit, “The pursuit of justice is central to the Christian life and constitutes a distinctive ‘spiritual life.’ What is needed is a Christian spirituality that grounds the quest for justice on the part of those who seek to live by the gift of the Spirit in their own time and place, in a world that is crying out for divine justice, for God’s own justice.”[2] The idea of the centrality of the pursuit of justice in Christian spirituality that Power and Downey propose is one that is often lost in the fervor of evangelicalism. Consequently, Chirstian spirituality must not only be concerned with the eternal soul of individuals, but also for the existential conditions in which they live and often suffer.
Justice in the Bible
The Hebrew word that is translated as justice in the Old Testament is mishpat. Leon Morris offers the following:
Mishpat is an attribute of God. Mishpat is not just something that God does; it is who He is. God is the originator and protector of mishpat, and everything He does shows His character. Mishpat flows from Him. When we act justly, we are not following some made up, meaningless human law; we are reflecting God’s character to the world. God loves and does mishpat, and He therefore expects His people to mirror that.[3]
Consequently, some of the many current issues that carry profound social implications and that must be addressed by the church in the pursuit of justice—God’s justice (mishpat)—are enumerated below:
- What does justice look like in the face of the immigration crisis in America and around the world?
- What does justice look like in the face of the humanitarian crises around the globe (despite the causes)?
- What does justice look like in the unequal distribution of wealth in the world that leads to poverty, homelessness, and starvation?
- What does justice look like relating to the lack of access to adequate healthcare resulting in health disparities that produce the innumerable negative health outcomes faced by so many poor, minority, and marginalized communities around the globe?
- What does all this have to do with the Great Commission?
These are difficult questions to wrestle with, particularly in the current socio-political climate. This article does not purport to answer these questions, but they are questions that cannot be ignored as we seek to reconcile the world to Christ through our evangelistic efforts empowered by the Holy Spirit. In this pursuit, the reconciling message of the gospel must be presented in the context of justice. This justice should be understood as a “right ordering” of society that seeks to align with the triune nature of God. Power and Downey offer the following:
To live by divine justice is to be conscious that humanity is justified not by its own configuration of justice but by the justice whereby God justifies a sinful race. All inner-worldly systems of just ordering have to render an account of what comes as a gift from the transcendent and leads to the quest for a common humanity that aspires a communion with what is given and finds in this the ground of a human order that makes authentic human development possible.[4]
This “right ordering” must be motivated by love—the agape love that reflects the nature of the triune God for the world and which becomes the power of the gospel. The Great Commission is the mandate to demonstrate God’s love to the world through the good news of Jesus Christ. Power and Downey write concerning this inextricable link between God’s love and justice, “Christian theologians must of necessity say that in the Christian dispensation love is the form of all virtues. Justice itself, with all its concern for good order and the well-being of all beings, collective and individual, is subsumed by charity.” What is being said is that there can be no justice without love, and conversely, there can be no love without justice. If the Great Commission is indeed motivated by love, then there can be no fulfilment of the Great Commission that is devoid of justice.
The Great Commission
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:19–20 KJV).
The mandate to teach all nations is none other than to spread the teachings of Jesus. These teachings focus on the spiritually lost and their need for reconciliation with the Father. The teachings of Jesus also focus on the least and the last. The least and the last are those who have been marginalized—pushed to the margins where the abundant resources of the world seldom reach. They are the most exposed and most vulnerable to the forces of globalization, socio-political and economic instability, corporate greed, and all the forces that unequally affect the poor. This holistic approach to teaching (fulfilling the Great Commission) should be the pedagogy of the church.
Next is the mandate to baptize. I posit that baptism should not only be understood sacramentally, but it must also be understood sociologically. It must be seen not only as an immersion in water as a public confession, but also as a spiritual immersion into the triune nature of God where perfect love and justice find their source. A spiritual immersion into the nature of the triune God is one that is reflected in the equality that is afforded to all people because they bear the image of God (image Dei). This requires a gospel that speaks to the demand for justice as a reflection of that image.
In the eschatological discourse found in Matthew 25, Jesus makes it clear that the response to the needs of the least and the last will be a metric of the fulfilment of the Great Commission:
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. (Matthew 25:34–36)
In conclusion, the evangelistic fervor engendered by the mandate of the Great Commission must include the pursuit of justice—one that seeks a “right ordering” of a society impacted by unjust systems and structures that disregard and even deny the God-given gift of humanity of “the least of these.” The message of the Great Commission is the gospel of Jesus Christ. This gospel targets both individual and societal transformation. This gospel of social transformation is one that requires justice on behalf of all of humanity. It is to this pursuit of justice that the church is called in the prophetic tradition of Amos 5:24 (NIV): “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
________________________________________________________
[1] Kalllistos of Diokleia. “The Human as an Icon of the Trinity.” Sobornost 8, no. 2 (1986): 12, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56a7e8a605f8e2daf71379af/t/65df4e679637630f43bf80d8/1709133419124/The+Human+Person+as+an+Icon+of+The+Trinity.pdf.
[2] David N. Power and Michael Downey, Living the Justice of the Triune God (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2012), xi.
[3] Leon Morris, The Biblical Doctrine of Judgment (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2006), 60.
[4] Power and Downey, Living the Justice, 63.
