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The Gospel and Social Justice (In That Order) Thaddeus J Journal of Christian Legal Thought Putting First Things First 1 THADDEUS J. WILLIAMS A Primer on Cultural Marxism 10 P. ANDREW SANDLIN Victimhood is Not a Virtue 17 BRIAN G. MATTSON Who Do You Say I Am? 20 JEFFERY J. VENTRELLA Justice and Futility 24 JOSEPH BOOT Christian Statesmanship 27 HUNTER BAKER VOL. 8, NO. 2 (2018) STATEMENT OF PURPOSE The mission of theJournal of Christian Legal Thought is to equip Journal of and encourage legal professionals to seek and study biblical truth as it relates to law, the practice of law, and legal institu- tions. Christian Legal Theological reflection on the law, a lawyer’s work, and legal institutions is central to a lawyer’s calling; therefore, all Chris- Thought tian lawyers and law students have an obligation to consider the nature and purpose of human law, its sources and develop- ment, and its relationship to the revealed will of God, as well VOL. 8, NO. 2 (2018) as the practical implications of the Christian faith for their daily work. The Journal exists to help practicing lawyers, law students, judges, and legal scholars engage in this theological PUBLISHED BY and practical reflection, both as a professional community and The Institute for Christian Legal Studies (ICLS), as individuals. a Cooperative Ministry of Regent University School of Law The Journal seeks, first, to provide practitioners and stu- and Christian Legal Society. dents a vehicle through which to engage Christian legal schol- arship that will enhance this reflection as it relates to their daily The Mission of ICLS is to train and encourage Christian work, and, second, to provide legal scholars a peer-reviewed law students, law professors, pre-law advisors, and practicing medium through which to explore the law in light of Scripture, lawyers to seek and study Biblical truth, including the natural under the broad influence of the doctrines and creeds of the law tradition, as it relates to law and legal institutions, and to Christian faith, and on the shoulders of the communion of encourage them in their spiritual formation and growth, their saints across the ages. compassionate outreach to the poor and needy, and the inte- Given the depth and sophistication of so much of the gration of Christian faith and practice with their study, teach- best Christian legal scholarship today, the Journal recognizes ing, and practice of law. that sometimes these two purposes will be at odds. While the Journal of Christian Legal Thought will maintain a relatively EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD consistent point of contact with the concerns of practitioners, William S. Brewbaker, III it will also seek to engage intra-scholarly debates, welcome Associate Dean and inter-disciplinary scholarship, and encourage innovative schol- William Alfred Rose Professor of Law arly theological debate. The Journal seeks to be a forum where University of Alabama School of Law complex issues may be discussed and debated. Kevin P. Lee EDITORIAL POLICY Professor, Campbell University School of Law The Journal seeks original scholarly articles addressing the C. Scott Pryor integration of the Christian faith and legal study or practice, Professor, Campbell University, Norman Adrian Wiggins broadly understood, including the influence of Christianity School of Law on law, the relationship between law and Christianity, and Bradley P. Jacob the role of faith in the lawyer’s work. Articles should reflect Professor, Regent University School of Law a Christian perspective and consider Scripture an authorita- tive source of revealed truth. Protestant, Roman Catholic, Robert K. Vischer and Orthodox perspectives are welcome as within the broad Dean and Professor, University of St. Thomas School of Law stream of Christianity. However, articles and essays do not necessarily reflect the Editor in Chief: views of the Institute for Christian Legal Studies, Christian Michael P. Schutt Legal Society, Regent University School of Law, or other spon- Associate Professor, Regent University School of Law soring institutions or individuals. Director, Institute for Christian Legal Studies To submit articles or suggestions for the Journal, send a query or suggestion to Mike Schutt at [email protected]. Editorial Assistant: Ronia Dubbaneh 2018 Journal of Christian Legal Thought PUTTING FIRST THINGS FIRST The Gospel and Social Justice (In That Order) Thaddeus J. Williams Law & Virtue Guest Editor n an essay entitled “First and Second Things,” C.S. hard at the gym, getting into and enjoying God’s cre- Lewis puts words to a principle that explains ev- ation, caring deeply about the people God has put in his erything from why some people are obnoxious, life, preaching the gospel to himself often, then his anxi- Imiserable, and anxious to why some churches end up ety spikes would be less frequent and less catastrophic. If culturally irrelevant. The very same principle explains that irrelevant church made revering God and faithfully how much of what goes under the moniker of “social preaching His Word its primary mission, then it would justice,” which is currently sweeping through the legal become exponentially more relevant than it ever could and political world, can ironically result in injustice. A through pandering to the perceived felt-needs and con- principle with that kind of explanatory range should not sumer demands of the culture. be taken lightly. Here it is in Lewis’ words: What, then, does Lewis’ First Things Principle have to do with the quest for social justice that has become a Every preference of a small good to a great, or defining mark of so much of the legal and political world partial good to a total good, involves the loss of the 21st-century West? Here is my thesis: If we make of the small or partial good for which the sacri- social justice the first thing, our primary mission, then fice is made…. You can’t get second things by we will not only lose the real first thing—the gospel— putting them first. You get second things only we will end up losing social justice too. by putting first things first.1 The man who makes his “first thing” getting every- “OF FIRST IMPORTANCE” one to like him becomes obnoxious because he is too In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul states one of the earliest creeds preoccupied with himself to genuinely care about any- of the first-century church: one else. The woman who puts her own happiness first ends up chronically dissatisfied with her life. The poor Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gos- soul whose first priority is staving off another anxiety -at pel I preached to you…. For I delivered to you tack will be constantly on edge. The church that makes as of first importance what I also received: that being relevant to culture its first mission, either by con- Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scious design or by the slow descent of good intentions Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was gone wrong, will become utterly irrelevant to culture. raised on the third day in accordance with the Why? Because likeability, happiness, peace of mind, and Scriptures…2 relevance are not first things. They are second things, -by “The gospel” (τὸ εὐαγγέλιον) according to Paul, is ἐν products, not goals. Make any second thing a first thing πρώτοις, which could be rendered “of first importance,” and you not only lose the real first thing; you lose the “most important,” or “chief significance.” In Lewis’s cat- second thing too. Let us call this “Lewis’ First Things egories, the gospel is “the first thing.” What exactly is Principle.” this gospel Paul elevates above all else? According to the If the obnoxious man genuinely cared about the ancient creed, it is the good news of salvation through people around him more than his own likeability, he the sin-atoning death and bodily resurrection of Jesus. would end up more liked. If the sad woman put loving That is Scripture’s first thing, and it should be ours too. God and loving people well ahead of her own happiness, Does this prioritization of the gospel render jus- she would likely end up exponentially more satisfied tice irrelevant? Let us be clear. God does not sug- with life. If our poor soul exerted zero energy on not be- gest, He commands that we “Do justice and righteousness, ing anxious, pouring that energy instead into exercising and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has 1 C.S. Lewis, First and Second Things, in God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics 280. 2 1 Corinthians 15:1, 3-4. 1 Journal of Christian Legal Thought Vol. 8, No. 2 been robbed” (Jer. 22:3). Jesus launched his public min- may seem self-evident and which we assume istry with the stated mission to “proclaim good news to are obviously biblical categories, when actu- the poor…. liberty to the captives and recovering of ally they are rather undefined and culture sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are op- relative…. The meaning of the phrase social pressed” (Luke 4:18, quoting Isa. 61:1, 2). “Seek justice” justice has become opaque over the years as it (Isa. 1:17) is a clarion call of Scripture, and those who has become a buzz expression.4 box their ears to that call are simply not living by the The term could be used to describe what our an- Book. Justice is not the first thing. The gospel is. But that cient brothers and sisters did to rescue and adopt those does not render justice an irrelevant or non-essential precious little image-bearers who had been discarded component of the Christian faith. like trash at the literal human dumps outside many The Bible also commands, not suggests, that we tell Roman cities.
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