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God is Unfair

October 6, 2011

Here's a phrase I hear a lot from people, "God is unfair". Many of the people who say that, like some dear friends of ours, can point back to some moment of intense pain or tragedy that makes them question how God can be "good" and be so "unfair" at the same time. Many people use that seeming contradiction as a reason to deny His existence altogether.

It's not a new charge against God. The Israelites themselves made that same charge against God several times and I've heard it repeated on a frequent basis from mothers who've lost children, sons who've lost fathers... from men who just lost their job... from women whose husbands are divorcing them. "God is unfair". And my heart goes out to them, precisely because they are correct. God is unfair. God is grossly unfair.

Let me say it again... the God of the Universe is not fair.

Before you pick up stones to hurl at me however, let me say though that the "unfairness" of God is seen nowhere more prominently then in the miracle of our salvation. The most unfair act in the history of time is Christ being sacrificed to redeem mankind. It is not fair that "He Who knew no sin, became sin for us". It is precisely because of God's unfairness that you and I can stand justified in His sight, through Christ. Let me point you to a few verses:

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. 1 Peter 3:18

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:7-8

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

...when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son... Romans 5:10

It is grossly unfair that God sent Christ to die an agonizingly horrible death for a race of perpetual sinners that had turned their backs on Him. It us beyond unfair that while the world stood in rebellion against God, God would, in His mercy and love, provide a way of forgiveness and reconciliation. There is no "fairness" there. The fair thing to do would have been to give them their "due penalty" for their sin. Namely eternal separation from God. Thank You God that you are unfair! Thank you that you did not give me what I deserved! Thank you that while I was still your enemy because of sin you sent your Son into this world to take my sins upon Him.

The Bible tells us that:

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14

All this is from God... that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21

However, so we're clear let's look at something that people often confuse. While God is not fair, He is however always just. "Justice" means moral rightness or the "quality of being right" Many people will similarly charge God with being "unjust" and that one is far from the truth. God is eternally and perfectly just and the sacrifice of Christ proves that. People have asked... why did our salvation and forgiveness cost the death of Jesus? Why couldn't God have just waived a wand and said "I forgive you"? The answer is specifically that God is Just. His justice is a bedrock principle upon which the world turns. Therefore His justice required payment for our sins. That payment was found in Christ. The Bible tells us:

God presented [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished- he did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Romans 3:25-26

In God's justice, He had not demanded payment for the sins of the world (meaning He could have demanded payment at any point in History and the only available payment would have been the lives of every man, women and child) but instead, in preparation for a future day of judgment, God provided His Son to pay for the past, present and future sins of mankind. In fact the Bible tells us that Christ's death is "sufficient" payment for all the sins committed and such payment become ours if and when we accept Him as Savior. God is never unjust and we can see that distinction in the miracle of salvation through Christ.

So the next time that events in your life, painful though they are, make you want to call God "unfair", remember that it's precisely because He is unfair that you even have the freedom to make that statement. Every time I think God is not being "fair" to me, I immediately use that as a moment to praise Him for His "unfairness" in Christ.

God sent his sinless Son into the world to save the world. I can think of nothing more unfair then that. Thank You Jesus!

Art: The Sinner by Ron DiCianni

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Posted by: Wayne E. Hunt at October 6, 2011 03:41 PM

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