These acts are meant by the following words of the Lord: “It is fitting
for me to fulfill all the justice of God”(Matthew 3 : 15 ); also by these words
in the Old Testament:
Behold, the days are coming when I will raise up for David a righteous
offshoot who will reign as king and execute justice on earth.And this is
his name: Jehovah is our Justice.(Jeremiah 23 : 5 – 6 ; 33 : 15 – 16 )
I speak with justice;I am great in order to save. (Isaiah 63 : 1 )
He will sit on the throne of David to establish it with judgment and jus-
tice.(Isaiah 9 : 7 )
Zion will be redeemed with justice.(Isaiah 1 : 27 )
Our contemporaries who hold high offices in the church describe 96
the Lord’s justice in a completely different way. In fact, they say that
what renders the faith capable of saving is that the Lord’s justice is
written into us. The truth is this: because of its nature and origin, and
because in and of itself it is purely divine, the Lord’s justice could not
become part of anyone or produce any salvation any more than the
divine life could, which is divine love and divine wisdom. The Lord
does come into every one of us bringing his love and wisdom; but
unless we are following the divine design in our lives, that life,
although it may indeed be in us, makes no contribution whatever to
our salvation. It gives us only the ability to understand what is true
and do what is good.
Following the divine design in the way we live is following God’s
commandments. When we live and function in this way, then we
acquire justice for ourselves; but we do not gain the justice of the Lord’s
redemption, we gain the Lord himself as justice. This is what the follow-
ing passages mean: “Unless your justiceis more abundant than that of the
scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of the heavens”
(Matthew 5 : 20 ). “Blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of
justice,for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens” (Matthew 5 : 10 ). “At the
close of the age angels will go out and separate the evil from among the
just”(Matthew 13 : 49 ), and elsewhere. Because the divine design is jus-
tice, “the just” in the Word means those who have followed the divine
design in their lives.
The justice itself that the Lord became through acts of redemption
cannot be ascribed to us, written into us, fitted into or united with us
§96 the lord the redeemer & redemption 131