No Justice in Violence

By Chris Kaufman

In the day and age of instant news and video clips, it is far too easy to give ourselves over to instantaneous reactions. Like me, when you heard the news of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, you were probably filled with a sudden rush of emotions and reactions. While there isn’t much we can do to stop those reactions from entering our heads, we can control how we handle and process them and what we do with them moving forward.

Regardless of the political side or affiliation you claim, I want to invite you into a space to handle and process what has happened and what is going to happen moving forward. Take a moment right now, breathe, and if you can say this next part out loud wherever you are, I would encourage you to remind yourself: There is no justice in violence.

Across the internet as I type this, some people are joking about an attempted assassination that has left two people dead. Some people are using this tragedy to leverage political superiority and conspiracy. In the days and weeks that follow, some may legitimately attempt to justify this attempt with any number of other “issues,” and some may even call for retaliation. As Christians, we must reject and condemn these reactions. What has happened here is a powder keg ready to explode, and we Christ-followers have the potential to disarm it both individually and as a collective group within this nation.

In American contexts, when we think about the word “justice,” we have a collective imagination that tends to view it as some form of getting even through punitive means. In many of our churches, we think of the God of justice as being one who hurts and harms wrongdoers and claims vengeance on those who deviate from His Word. Look no further than the most well-known American Awakening sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” The title alone speaks of a God who is determined to enact justice through retribution.

“Justice is the act of restoring and redeeming what was broken or twisted.”

Biblical Justice

This is not the biblical understanding of justice. What has infected our collective imagination is a parasite. I don’t have time here to address every single story from the Tanakh that has led American Christianity to this assumption, but many of those stories that we read to inform the wrathful God we have imagined are not as violent, or not even condoned by God or the authors at all. Regardless, much of the Tanakh also needs to be read through the lens of Deuteronomy 32:35 where God tells the people: “Revenge is my domain, so is punishment-in-kind” — i.e., justice that is carried out through violent and retributive means is reserved for God and God alone, and not for us.

If biblical justice was always about paying “the other” back for what they have done, we certainly wouldn’t need the Gospels. The Good News of Christ is that God is working to restore and redeem all things, and this is what is at the heart of true justice. Justice is the act of restoring and redeeming what was broken or twisted. The problem with using violence as a tool for justice is that it cannot function in this way. Violence begets violence. It doesn’t end anything, and it doesn’t break any cycles. Instead, violence perpetuates injustice because it does not leave room for redemption or restoration.

“But Chris!” I can already hear, “Isn’t Jesus’ violent death God’s act of justice to pay for our sins?” Look, I’m not here to argue atonement theory with anyone. I will say this though: Christ’s death is not where God’s justice is enacted. Instead, God’s justice comes in the form of Christ’s resurrection. In the words of someone much smarter than I am, “If Christ hasn’t been raised, then our preaching is useless and your faith is useless” (1 Corinthians 15:14).

“If our example is Christ who commanded us to love our enemies and pray for those who mistreat us, then violence is not an option.”

The violent death that Christ suffered on our behalf is actually the greatest injustice that could have happened, yet God restores and redeems Christ by raising Him from the dead, defeating death once and for all in the greatest act of justice the world has ever known. It is this Christ that we follow today — Christ who called His followers to imitate Him in suffering and weakness because, through that suffering and weakness, God can redeem and restore anything.

If our example is Christ who commanded us to love our enemies and pray for those who mistreat us, then violence is not an option. It also means that our work in this world today is the same work that Christ focused on: justice. We work to restore and redeem, not to cut lives short. We don’t cheer when an enemy is killed. We don’t foster communities where conspiracies thrive. We don’t have time for that, because the work of justice is too encompassing. We are peacemakers first, and our allegiance to the justice of God cannot and should not be superseded by the contorted thing America calls “justice.”

Agents of God’s Justice

So what can you do? The days, weeks, months, and years ahead look to be getting dark. The good news there is that dark days provide the perfect environment to be agents of God’s justice in this world. We just have to be strong and brave enough to resist the call to hatred and violence. Instead, you can bring healing and hope through your words and actions.

“If we don’t take our roles seriously, we can actually end up fostering violence and leading people further away from the heart of Christ.”

You can and should vote based on these principles of justice. You can hold political actors accountable without resorting to retribution or to talk of retribution.

The way you post on social media should foster restoration and redemption and not division. Your conversations around water coolers and dinner tables can be intentionally crafted to do what Christ Himself came to do when He said: “He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18–19).

These conversations and actions are justice work. If we don’t take our roles seriously, we can actually end up fostering violence and leading people further away from the heart of Christ. Of course, this isn’t going to be easy, and of course, you’re not going to be perfect at it.

But those truths don’t give you an excuse to sink into the anger and retribution that we falsely call “justice.” We must reject violence and embrace true justice. In Christ’s community, there is no justice in violence.

Chris Kaufman is the lead pastor at Hub City Church, an exciting and fresh church plant in La Grande, Oregon. He has worked as an associate pastor in Pendleton, Oregon, and Canton, Michigan, and planted a church in Detroit, Michigan. Kaufman is the author of two books: “Kingdom Over Empire: Following Jesus in the American Empire” and “Fun With Satan: A Raucous Debate About the Devil’s Identity.” He also serves on the board of the Justice Network of the Free Methodist Church.