At first I told Leah that I couldn't wrap my mind around this idea. To me, fair and just are both synonyms for right. How could a God who is perfect and Holy ever not be right? Psalm 99:4 - The strength of the King loves justice; You have established equity; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. God loves justice. He is a just God, and Psalm 9:8 in the Hebrew says that He will judge the people with equity. And the New Testament is not silent on the issue either. Colossians 3:25 - But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.
Equity is defined as the quality of being fair and impartial, and God established/made/created/thought up the concept of equity. So what's the deal? Is God fair as the scripture says or is He unfair but somehow still right, still just? Leah had given me something to chew on, and I love it when she does that. So I went looking. I haven't listened to the program that she did, because I didn't want my study to be about proving anyone right or wrong but about seeking the answer,the truth. I did see enough in my research this morning to know that the preacher she heard is not the only one who makes the claim that God is not fair but just.
First, let's look at the definition of fair. Fair is right, impartial and honest. Justice is right, faithful to the standard and conforming to what is morally upright or good. To me is still seemed like you can't be just and be unfair, so I started looking at what some of these preachers were saying wasn't fair and the difference between fair and just or right. The results surprised me. Is God fair? Yes. No. It depends on how you look at it? Is He just? Yes.
Now that may seem like a cop out answer, but it's not, because the answer will vary depending on who's answering. But in the end, if we are honest, the answer is that God is indeed fair. The problem lies in the fact that fairness is subjective, while justice is objective. So I had to take a look at why some were saying God isn't fair. The real life examples were all about lives filled with hardship and failed expectations. And I can understand where those questions come from, the pain and loss that births them. They are all variations of the questions why is my life harder for me than that person's or those people's and why did they get what I want when I didn't get what I want? Why should I lose all my children before birth and never get to be a parent while someone who seems no better qualified than I, or even less so, has six or seven kids? Why did my marriage fall apart when I did everything I could to be a good husband or wife and my neighbor, who is a total jerk and hurtful to his/her spouse is about to celebrate 50 years of marriage? Why is it that I did drugs and drank like crazy for around 30 years and lived, still relatively able to think straight, while so many others died of their overdoses or permanently fried their brains or bodies? Etc. There are probably as many examples of different variations on the idea as there are people in the world.
And when you look at it from that aspect, it does seem or appear that life is not fair. We don't all get born with equal IQs, with equal physical attributes, abilities or even body parts, and we're not all born into families, much less families with equal economic, social and psychological qualities or qualifications. So from the start life isn't equal. It isn't fair.
Who says? I do, because I didn't get the advantage or ease that I perceive in someone else's life. I think so and so is a jerk and he has a good portion of the things I dream of having. He doesn't deserve it any more than I do, therefore it is not fair that he should get what I want when I don't. Either he shouldn't get those things either or I should get them. But I'm wrong, and everyone else is equally wrong who looks at life that way.
The Scripture that continually gets thrown up to defend the idea that God is not fair is Jesus' parable about the workers found in Matthew 20. I actually read someone write that this parable shows that even Jesus didn't think the Father was fair. For those unfamiliar and who do not wish to look it up, the basics are these: A vineyard owner hires some day workers in the morning for an agreed upon wage (which is a fair wage for a day's labor). Later he sees he needs more workers and finds more. Repeat as the workday is almost over. At the end of the day he pays everyone the same thing.
The people in the parable who were hired first throw a fit. It isn't fair. I worked all day for, let's say, $100. Why should these people who only worked 2 hours get the same $100? That's not fair! We shouldn't get paid the same. I deserve more than them! You are favoring them over me! And the folks who say and feel that God is unfair are doing the same thing. The issue is not with God being right but with the idea of impartiality.
We look at this parable, more than that, we look at life, and say we're not starting or ending in the same place with the same stuff and the same amounts of pain and joy and therefore God is favoring some over others. God is not fair. I walked with God for 50 years and this evil man who hated God and everyone for 40 years got saved after learning he had cancer and died less than a year later and gets the same heaven as me. Not fair!
So, the gist of the argument is that we say there is and feel there is partiality, unfairness, from our perspective, and it seems logical. But Scripture says God is not partial, that He is no respecter of persons and doesn't favor. So either God shows favoritism and we are right to say He is unfair, or He is impartial and we are wrong. Let's rid ourselves of the subjectiveness of the issue of fairness.
Is God impartial? Ultimately, yes. Every single person who has lived, is living or will live will have an opportunity to say yes to Jesus. Everyone. Regardless of anything and everything. We all have that chance. Every single person who accepts the gift of grace, what Jesus did for them on the cross, will find His death taking the place of their own. It doesn't matter male or female, every race, every everything, any and every label you could put on a person is equally and impartially covered by grace, should they say yes to the call to relationship with Daddy through the work of Christ. That's impartiality on an eternal scale.
Likewise, everyone who rejects relationship with their Creator will find themselves judged based on their performance, and they will all be held to the same law and the same standard and receive the exact same reward for being perfect and the exact same punishment for not living up to the standard of perfect holiness. There will be no partial credit and no partiality. But that's eternity, after we die. What about now? That's what we're worried about, right?
Wrong. Look at it like this. You and two other people all happen to find winning lottery tickets on the ground. None of you purchased them, none earned them, but the three of you are about to freely receive and split $300,000,001. Since you can't split a penny, each of you is about to get, for absolutely nothing but happening to pick up a piece of paper, $100,000,000.33. Oh, and one of you will get an extra penny. If you're not the one getting the penny, are you really fighting over it and throwing a fit at the unfairness of it all? Are you turning down the hundred million because you think you've been jipped for a penny? Of course not! How petty and foolish would that be? If you were the one getting the penny and someone was screaming about the unfairness of it, how quickly would you give them your penny? After all, what does that one penny matter?
That's even less extreme than the reality we are in. We are about to receive, unearned,paid for by another, and undeserved, an eternity of ultimate joy, perfect peace, everlasting love with no pain, sorrow or tears. What is 100 years compared to eternity? It's less than a penny compared to a hundred million. No matter how good or bad it is or was, it just isn't worth quibbling over. And if you aren't heading for that eternity, I promise, even if your penny is the prettiest and shiniest and best penny of all time, it won't make not receiving the rest any better. Eternity will suck without God, no matter how wonderful your 80 - 100 years is.
But I'm saying it doesn't matter, even though it feels like it matters. I understand. I sometimes still ache and cry over the unfairness of my life. It is unfair, and it hurts when it is. That penny matters when it's all you know and have experienced. The hundred million is a concept we have no way to comprehend. So here's the truth of it, and that parable. What are we comparing? If I compare my life to yours and yours to mine and remove eternity, life is unfair. It just is. Life is not equal or impartial. The scales don't balance. It's not fair for the end of the day workers to get the same pay as the ones who labored all day. God is not fair.
Now, for once, let's get as narcissistic and self centered as we naturally are and eliminate every other person. No one matters but you; you and the One who Created you. That's the reality of it, after all. When we stand before the throne, no one matters but us and the judge. I promise you won't be worrying about who had more or less at that point. All that will matter is do I have grace or am I to face justice for what I have done? Put yourself in the parable and eliminate everyone else.
You are standing at a place where day workers are hired. A man offers you a day's wages to do a days work. You work for a day and receive a day's pay. Is that fair? Of course it is. Now, you are standing in the same place but there's only two hours of workday left. You work two hours and receive a day's pay. Is that fair to you? Of course it is. It's more than fair! The truth is that when we remove others and look at ourselves, God is just and He is fair, at minimum, to all but Himself.
No one is getting less than fair and just from God. We get plenty of unfair and unjust from men. Two men commit the same crime. One does five years while one gets probation. The only difference between them is the color of their skin or their income level. Is that fair? No. Just? No. Is it God? No. That's people showing partiality and being evil and unjust. That's a result of fallen humanity and the curse of sin on the world. That evil is exactly what Jesus died to destroy and defeat. If we're going to discuss fairness, is it fair to blame God for the unfairness and evil of people and life under the curse when He came and died to rectify both of those issues?
The standard is perfection. The standard is 100% is passing and anything and everything else is failure. Passing is life and failing is death. Have I been perfect? No. Did I instantly die the second that I failed the first time? No. I was given time and the opportunity to say yes to Jesus. I accept what Jesus did for me, and now all my imperfection is put on Him and not me. I didn't get everything I want, my penny hasn't been as shiny and pretty as I'd like, but it wasn't destroyed as the law demands. Is that fair? No. It's more than fair. It's generously in my favor. In fact the only reason that it can still be called just is because the price was paid and the exact standard of the law was satisfied with the death of Christ in my place and in yours.
When we compare our lives to other people's it may seem that God is unfair. But when we get honest with ourselves and there's no one else to consider but us and Him, we see that not only is He fair, He is generous and more than fair. We will either get exactly what we deserve according to the law, no more and no less, the minimum, and perfectly fair because it is the same for everyone who gets that, or we will receive grace we can't and didn't earn, not because of who we are but because of who He is. Everyone who receives grace gets the same amount, all that is needed. No one will receive more than they need, and no one will get less, regardless of who they are. That is impartial. That is generous and more than fair.
Here, you can have my penny. It's not as shiny as some, but it's better than some others out there. I just want to split the rest of eternity with you. If you're penny is prettier than mine, that's OK too. God has been more than fair with me.
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