Tim Keller on Generous Justice

I have spent a lot of time wrestling with the question of (1) what does God's justice entail? and (2) what response does that require from me?  I have read a few books on the subject and written a research paper on the topic, but in November Tim Keller published a book called Generous Justice.  I highly recommend it to everyone.  Yes, everyone.  It does a great job answering the questions I was asking, but also raising other questions as well.

Keller spoke at the Gospel Coalition Conference in Chicago this week, and I was fortunate enough to hear him speak on the topic Thursday night.  Unfortunately, the video/audio from that talk has not been posted yet.  Fortunately, he spoke on the topic a few years ago at another conference, and the video is posted on The Resurgence:



A few quotes from the book that I really liked:

“The rules for use of land in the Biblical laws challenge all major contemporary economic models.  They “suggest a sharp critique of 1) the statism that disregards the precious treasure of personal rootage, and 2) the untrammeled individualism which secures individuals at the expense of community."  (32)

“Jesus did not say that all this done for the poor was a means of getting salvation, but rather it was the sign that you already had salvation, that true, saving faith was already present.”  

“Before you can give this neighbor-love, you need to receive it.  Only if you see that you have been saved graciously by someone who owes you the opposite will you go out into the world looking to help absolutely anyone in need. Once we receive this ultimate, radical neighbor-love through Jesus, we can start to be the neighbors that the Bible calls us to be.”  (76-7)

3 Levels of involvement = Relief, Development, Social Reform (113)

"Don Carson writes that once we shed utopian dreams of producing a “redeemed culture,” we can look at history and acknowledge that it is possible to “improve and even transform some social structures.” (118)

End of the book:  

             On Judgment Day, don't say to the Lord, "When did we see you thirsty, naked, and captive?" Because the answer is--on the cross! There we see how far God was willing to go to identify with the oppressed of the world. And he was doing it all for us!

There Jesus, who deserved acquittal and freedom, got condemnation--so that we who deserve condemnation for our sins can receive acquittal. (Galatians 3:10-14; 2 Corinthians 5:21). This was the ultimate instance of God's identification... with the poor. He not only became one of the actually poor and marginalized, he stood in the place of all those of us in spiritual poverty and bankruptcy (Matthew 5:3) and paid our debt.

Now that is a thing of beauty. To take that into the center of your life and heart will make you one of the just.