Christians often hear the question, “If God is just, why does He allow so much injustice?” People look at the world — wars, oppression, suffering — and conclude that a loving God would never permit such things. Albert Facey, reflecting on the horrors of war, wrote: “Anyone who has taken part in a fierce bayonet charge… must doubt the truth of the Bible and the powers of God, if one exists.” [i] Many who experience the evils in society today feel the same. They refuse to see evil as a consequence of man’s fall into sin.
But even we, believers, wrestle at times with God’s justice. We confess that God exists, created the world, and governs all things. Yet we struggle with the apparent injustices we see — not only in life, but even in Scripture itself. Abraham deceives Abimelech, yet Abimelech is punished. Jacob manipulates Esau and Laban, yet God blesses him richly. Saul is rejected for offering sacrifices too soon, while David commits adultery and murder yet remains king. God uses Assyria to discipline Israel, then punishes Assyria for its cruelty.
These accounts raise a real question: What does God’s justice actually look like?
Prof. B. Holwerda, preaching on Lord’s Day 4, [ii] argues that our confusion arises because we misunderstand the very nature of God’s justice. We assume God’s justice works like human justice — strict fairness, equal treatment, reward for good behaviour, punishment for wrongdoing. But Scripture presents a different picture. God’s justice is not primarily about fairness. It is about covenant faithfulness.
Human justice vs. divine justice
When people say, “If God were just, He would…”, they reveal their assumptions. They imagine God as a cosmic accountant who pays out wages according to performance. The Pharisees thought this way: righteousness meant God giving everyone exactly what they deserved.
But Paul rejects this view. For Paul, God’s justice is revealed precisely when He acquits the guilty on account of their faith (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:5). The fact that God forgives the guilty because of their faith is a radical statement. It is not justice as humans define it; it is justice rooted in God’s covenant relationship with His people.
Holwerda insists that the Pharisees’ view is not God’s justice but human justice. They have detached the idea of “repaying each according to his works” from the covenant context in which God revealed it. God’s justice cannot be understood apart from His covenant.
Justice in Scripture is always covenant justice
In modern Western society, justice does not require a relationship between judge and accused. A judge can be just without loving the defendant. But in Scripture, justice always presupposes a relationship — a bond of love and loyalty. Justice means acting faithfully within that relationship.
Holwerda explains: “Justice… means acting in everything in accordance with the bond of love that exists with one’s neighbour”. A person is just when he acknowledges the relationship and keeps its obligations. Justice is relational, not merely legal.
Therefore, God’s justice is His faithfulness to the covenant relationship He Himself established. It is His steadfast commitment to treat His people as His beloved children, to seek their good, and to uphold the bond of fellowship He created. God’s justice is virtually the same as His kindness, mercy, and steadfast love.
This is why God’s justice cannot be reduced to strict fairness. God is just when He keeps His covenant — when He acts as the faithful Father He promised to be.
Covenant justice in Creation
Even before the Fall, God’s justice was covenantal. God did not create Adam merely as a creature. He created him for fellowship, adopting him as a child. The triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — enjoy perfect eternal loving fellowship. And now the truly amazing thing is this: in creating mankind the Triune God enabled humanity to share in their fellowship!
God says I have loved you with an eternal love and adopted you as My heir, and you shall love Me above all and humbly honour me. No other creature, no animal, no angel, only man gets this. It is the love of the covenant! No other creature receives so much or is asked so much. And if people are given so much that even angels desire to see, then we are also asked much – which angels cannot pay.
God treated Adam as a son, and Adam was to respond with childlike love and obedience. Justice meant mutual recognition of the bond of love.
The Fall: human injustice and divine faithfulness
When Adam sinned, he broke the covenant bond. He rejected that wonderful fellowship with God and chose independence.
It is like in a marriage, says Holwerda. If your wife dies or disappoints you there is an absence that no-one can fill. And when Adam breaks the covenant there is an absence for God. To be sure, God remains self-sufficient, yet there is a loneliness that cannot be filled by angels for no angel can replace a person. [iii]
This was Adam’s unrighteousness: refusing that wonderful relationship God established. And once broken, Adam could not repair the covenant. Only God could restore what God had created.
Now the question arises: What must God do? Should He abandon Adam? Relax His demands? Dissolve the covenant?
Holwerda argues that if God did any of these, He would be unjust. God’s justice is His unwavering faithfulness to the covenant. If He abandoned the relationship, He would deny His own nature and contradict His own will to fellowship.
Therefore, God must uphold the covenant even after the Fall. He must continue to treat humanity according to the relationship He established. He must continue to demand the childlike love and obedience that belong to the covenant.
Holwerda says: “It is justice only when He upholds His will to fellowship even after the Fall.”
This is why God continues to require faith and obedience from fallen humanity. His demands are not cruelty but covenant faithfulness. God remains Father even when His children rebel. His justice is His refusal to abandon the relationship.
Why God demands of us that which we cannot do
Lord’s Day 4 asks: Does God not do injustice to man when He demands of him in His law what he cannot do? We confess that we are “inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbour… unable to do any good.” So why does God still demand obedience?
Holwerda’s answer: because God is just. His justice is His covenant faithfulness. If God stopped demanding loving obedience, He would abandon the covenant. He would cease to be Father. He would deny His own will to fellowship.
Holwerda writes: “If God had withdrawn His book of law… that would have been injustice; for precisely in that, He Himself would have abandoned the covenant.” God’s continued demands are not harshness but love. They show that He has not given up on fellowship with His people.
This is why the law remains unchanged after the Fall. The law is the expression of the covenant relationship. God’s justice requires Him to uphold it.
Covenant justice after the Fall: a dark word and a bright hope
Holwerda acknowledges that it is a “dark word” that we can no longer of ourselves do what God asks. It is misery. Yet it is also “a piece of paradise”. Why? Because God’s continued demands prove that He remains Father. The unchanged law is evidence of His unwavering covenant love.
Human sin and powerlessness are tragic. All the evil and calamities in the world are a result of the fall into sin — the covenant curse that rests on humanity. When humans rejected fellowship with God and chose fellowship with Satan, they were banished from Paradise.
But the fact that God still calls us to obedience shows that He has not abandoned the covenant. His justice — His covenant faithfulness — remains intact. Holwerda concludes that God’s continued demands are “the only thing that is still beautiful in the world”. They show that God is still committed to fellowship. They show that Paradise is not lost entirely. The law remains because God remains faithful.
Covenant Justice and the Gospel
God’s faithfulness to the covenant, says Holwerda, prepares the way for the gospel. God’s love seeks a Person who pays for the first person’s sins and does what the first Adam failed to do. If God’s justice is His covenant faithfulness, then His justice is revealed most fully in Christ, who restores the broken covenant. Christ absorbed the full weight of God’s justice in order to redeem those who believe in Him. Through Him, God’s people receive a foretaste of the perfect fellowship they will enjoy when Christ returns.
Christ not only paid for our sins but arose from the dead, ascended into heaven and is seated at God’s right hand. When He intercedes for us, that intercession—says Holwerda—is the incense that God seeks from His people.
God’s justice is not primarily retribution but restoration. He is just when He forgives, just when He saves, just when He keeps His promises. As Paul says: God is just when He justifies the ungodly. This makes sense only when justice is understood covenantally. God is faithful to His covenant even when His people are unfaithful. He restores fellowship through Christ. He upholds His will to be Father.
Thus, for Christ’s church God’s justice is not a threat but a comfort. It is the guarantee that God will never abandon His people. It is the assurance that He will restore what we have broken.
Conclusion: God’s justice Is His covenant faithfulness
Holwerda’s central insight is that God’s justice is not measured by human standards of fairness; it is measured by His covenant. God is just because He remains faithful to the relationship He established with His people. He is just when He blesses, just when He forgives, just when He demands obedience, and just when He restores fellowship through Christ.
The unchanged law, the continued demands, the persistence of God’s call to obedience — all these are signs of His unwavering covenant love. God remains Father even when His children rebel. His justice is His steadfast commitment to fellowship.
This is the heart of covenant justice: God’s faithfulness to His own promise, His own relationship, His own love. And because God is just, He will never let go of His people.
[i] Albert Facey, A Fortunate Life, Penguin, Ringwood (Vic.), 1981, p. 314
[ii] B Holwerda, De Dingen Die Ons van God Geschonken Zijn (The Things God Has Given Us), Oosterbaan en LeCointre, Goes, 1953, pp. 51-68
[iii] Ibid, p. 88 (in relation to LD 6)