Now, the Global South believing community has the same ethical challenge before it. We are the descendents of Abraham by faith in Jesus. We too are called to keep the way of the Lord. If we walk in the way of the Lord ”“ by following the instruction of the Lord ”“ in other words God’s word is to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths. Scripture has to be our guiding factor in our decision making.
If we pursue justice ”“ that is if we seek course correction ”“ if we act as a plumb line showing where the wall has gone off plumb then we would be acting as the light to the nations. We can only be a light to the nations by doing justice ”“ by this we are calling people to be accountable. Peter proclaims to the Jews in his encounter with Cornelius that he was proclaiming Jesus whom God appointed judge of the living and the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of the final putting-to-rights of all human injustice. In the light of the Resurrection, the Covenant Community must never stop reminding the world’s rulers and authorities as well as its own rulers and authorities that they themselves will be held to account, and that they must do justice and bring wise, healing order to God’s world ahead of the day of the Lord’s coming.
The Global South of the Anglican Communion is called to be a light to the nations. As the covenant community we need to illumine the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can remove the veil that blinds.
[blockquote]Two Hebrew words sedeqand mishpat account for the comprehensive concept of justice in the OT. Sedeq is the art of maintaining loyalty and reliability throughout the ever changing flow of life. It refers to the ‘standard’ or ‘norm’ or the ‘rightness’ as things ought to be from God’s perspective. Mishpat on the other side is the act of righting the wrong; of making the scales equal in a balance. It is the act of restoring people, to give them a new chance if they had fallen off from the mainstream of life. In many ways mishpat is giving course correction and restoring things.[/blockquote]
I believe this is a critically important understanding of the word “Justice” and should be measured against what TEC understands the word “Justice” to mean. The Rev Dr Paul Swarup offers up an important phrase “comprehensive concept of justice”.