Those who promote social justice ideologies such as critical race theory and groups like the 1619 project have in common their disdain for the founding of the United States. Simply summarized these activists would condemn our nation as a fundamentally flawed and racist endeavor. But their attempts to achieve justice by assigning guilt and innocence using human standards shows that their real quarrel is not with governments, but with God as the One Who creates men and women in His image.

Nations come and go, but God’s truth endures forever. The founding “self-evident” principles “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” though written by men, are not human ideas. Whether by natural or divine revelation, the founding fathers recognized the common ground that all individuals share is their Creator who judges impartially and Who has given to His creation a certain dignity worth protecting. Of course this written affirmation of eternal self-evident truth does not mean our country has always lived in accordance with it. Much like any person who aspires to follow a creed, law, or resolution does so imperfectly, our government has often failed to abide by its core value. But the truth remains that we are a created people, who share equally in the divine image of our Creator, and who all stand equally before His righteous judgment.

True justice is only found in God’s perfect standard.

The claim that we can achieve justice in this world by dividing people into groups of innocents or transgressors based upon physical attributes like race, gender, income, or achievement is in opposition to the Creator God who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds and will render to each man according to his work (1 Peter 1:17; Ps. 62:12). True justice can only be found in God who will not let a single wrong pass unpunished and true mercy can only be found in the Savior, Jesus Christ, upon whom God has poured out the wrath that our sin has earned. Judging a person by any metric other than God’s standard undermines the Creator by elevating human perspectives of righteousness and justice above the revealed truth of God. In ignoring our common guilt and the stain of sin that all human beings bear equally, social justice warriors elevate their own standard above God’s and they attempt to shift the timeline of ultimate justice into their own finite terms. Being nearsighted, they seek to somehow balance the books of justice on this earth through social and political means while ignoring the more weighty spiritual bankruptcy all people share.

It is in the ignorance of general human depravity and spiritual need that the social justice movement loses its way.

Wrongs will be made right, the guilty will be rightly judged, and perfect justice will rule one day, but that day is in God’s hands, not our own. And to you who look upon your neighbor and condemn him or her as less worthy than yourself remember that we all stand condemned before a perfect and righteous God Who does not suffer the slightest wrong or injustice . . . even those that occur in our thoughts. Therefore, we are all under the penalty of our sin. But for our sake, God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). By the loving mercy of God He provided for us a way of redemption so that our guilt and stain could be forever washed away. Jesus bore our shame and was condemned to die because of our sin, and by His perfect sacrifice we can be made new and stand justified before God our Creator.

Those who seek justice on earth desire a good thing. This world is broken in so many ways, but the answers are not found in human wisdom but only in God Who is the ultimate source of justice, love, and true mercy. Unity and healing among disparate groups then, is most profoundly revealed in those who have been made one, not through social reorganizing, but in the body of Christ. When we are able to view ourselves as God does, the superficial façades fall away, and we can rejoice together in Jesus, the One who takes our common sin upon Himself and provides a way of redemption to all who would look to Him in faith.