In a previous post (see Come Out from Among Them), I challenged the idea that America is or was a Christian nation. In this post I want to continue some of those thoughts, showing why the church must pull away from American culture (including, and especially, American political culture). In this post we’ll focus on the idea of justice in America.

Recently, I was looking at the Pledge of Allegiance. I read about the history of it and learned that the current version (for the most part) dates to the 1880s. What captured my attention, however, was the concluding phrase: “ . . . with liberty and justice for all.” What exactly is justice, and can it say that we see “justice for all” in America?

In the original languages of the Bible, there are two primary words translated justice. In the New Testament, Greek krisis is most often rendered justice. It has the primary meaning of “the process of investigation, the act of distinguishing and separating.”^[1] So, in that context, justice means investigating facts, and distinguishing or separating out the good from bad, the true from false, and right from wrong. Thus, true justice often requires discernment.

The Old Testament is where we find the most uses of the word “justice” and the broader context of the word. In the OT, the Hebrew word mišpāṭ is most often rendered justice. The primary meaning of the word is “judgment; rights.”^[2] It’s used a) to describe one sitting as a judge (e.g., Eccl. 12:14); and b) to refer to “rights” belonging to a person (e.g., Exod. 23:6, “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor [i.e., the rights of the poor] in his lawsuit”). This second use of the word is one we need to look closely at.

The OT is replete with this idea that people have rights. This is, no doubt where the idea of “inalienable rights” that are given by the Creator comes from in the Declaration of Independence. Scripture, however, often focuses on the rights of the vulnerable–the poor, destitute, widows, orphans, sojourners (foreigners), and other people who are susceptible to being marginalized. Just a few examples:

● A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge. (Prov. 29:7)

● Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. (Prov. 31:8–9)

● They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy. (Jer. 5:28)

We cannot escape the fact that Scripture repeatedly calls for justice for those who are vulnerable. And why should Scripture be so insistent? Doesn’t the Lord desire justice for all? He does indeed; in fact, He loves justice (Isa. 61:8). But justice often comes easier for those who are rich, powerful, and well-connected, whether it’s because of better lawyers, more money, knowing the right people, or whatever. The Lord calls the righteous to speak out for justice–especially justice for those who are the most vulnerable in society. Any nation that claims to honor God or that could be called a “Christian nation” must be a nation where this kind of justice is present.

The question we must ask ourselves, then, is: Is America a land of justice, especially for those most vulnerable among us? How can the answer be “yes” when, since its founding America has been a land of privilege, controlled by the powerful and wealthy people, often at the expense of the poor? As a nation, we have pushed out those who were here before us (and brutalized them along the way), oppressed (and enslaved) minority groups, and made it virtually a crime to be disabled, deformed, or homeless. At the same time, we see story after story of the rich and powerful evading justice on seemingly technical grounds, such as whether something was actually “false” as opposed to simply “misleading.”^[3] We have those in power who are ethically shady, yet avoid punishment because what they do is not “legally” wrong. We see the “tough on crime” approaches, with stiffer penalties and cash bail or no-bail, disproportionately harm the disadvantaged of society because they cannot afford to hire the “best” lawyers and have little means to defend themselves.

Can we say we have justice in the land when allies are pardoned (particularly those who were convicted of bribery and similar offenses), while opponents are prosecuted? Do we live in a land of justice when the gap between the rich and the poor continues to increase, the most vulnerable are left behind in our “nation first” mentality? Can we say we inhabit a land of justice when those who come to this country (by whatever means and for whatever reason) are treated as less than the image-bearers they are?

We certainly live in a “nation of laws,” and we often hear people talk about “law and order.” The number of just federal laws (actual statutes or regulations) in this country is staggering–and virtually impossible to accurately count.^[4] The Old Testament law has nothing on the United States Code!^[5] We have so many laws and yet have so little justice in the land.

This is why the church must begin to recover a correct understanding of justice–specifically justice for the vulnerable and oppressed. The church must cry out for true justice and live that out in our interactions with one another and with the world. The church must be the instrument that shows the world what God’s justice is. Why must the church be that instrument? Because only in the gospel do we find true justice. Only as people are renewed by the Spirit can they learn and extend true justice. Political maneuvering and legalities will not bring about the kind of justice that God requires.

Yet, the church cannot effectively call for justice while mired in the American ways of thought and deed. Must this mean a complete separation–pulling away entirely from the corrupt system? I suggest that the answer is yes–at least for long enough to recover the biblical identity and mission of the church. One who is addicted to alcohol will not break the addiction in a bar. A sexual addict will not break the addiction by having pornography lying around. And a relational addict will not break the pull of unhealthy relationships while in the current relationship.

Therefore, church, let us come out from among the corruption and “let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream” (Amos 5:24). And let us “do justice . . . love kindness, and . . . walk humbly with [our] God” (Micah 6:8).

^[1] W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White Jr., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1996), 119.

^[2] Vine, 126.

^[3] “The justices unanimously said a law prohibiting ‘any false statement or report’ did not cover misleading assertions that fell short of outright lies.” See “Supreme Court Rules for Chicago Politician in Bank Fraud Case,” The New York Times, March 21, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/us/politics/supreme-court-chicago-politician-fraud.html. Accessed October 1, 2025.

^[4] See Jeanine Cali, “How Many Federal Laws Are There?”, Library of Congress, March 12, 2013. https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2013/03/frequent-reference-question-how-many-federal-laws-are-there/. Accessed October 1, 2025

^[5] The United States Code, according to the Government Printing Office is “the codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. It is divided by broad subjects into 51 titles and published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives.” See Cali, “How Many Federal Laws Are There?”