“Social justice.” Who in America today isn’t aware of how controversial that term is?

It’s at the center of a movement that is turning this country upside down. Call it the “Woke” movement, or “Woke Progressivism,” or “Cultural Marxism” with its “Critical Race Theory,” “Critical Gender Theory,” or just plain old “Critical Theory”—by whatever name, it’s tearing apart families, churches, and the nation as people line up on opposite sides of a very basic question:

What does it mean to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8) in twenty-first-century America?

If “social justice” meant simply equal justice for everyone in society, there would be nothing wrong. It would be totally Biblical.

Unfortunately, that’s not what it means to the SJW’s (social justice warriors) of the Woke movement.

Dr. E. Calvin Beisner makes a compelling case in Social Justice vs Biblical Justice: How Good Intentions Undermine Justice and Gospel that Biblical justice is in many respects the very opposite of what now goes by the name of “social justice.”

• Biblical justice requires impartiality; “social justice” requires favoring some groups over others.
• Biblical justice requires rendering to every individual his or her due, what is earned; “social justice” requires giving people benefits they haven’t earned.
• Biblical justice entails “negative rights,” that is, rights against harm, that can all be fulfilled without violating anyone’s rights; “social justice” entails “positive rights” to benefits that can be given to some only by depriving them from others.

Crucially important, embracing “social justice,” by twisting the meaning of justice itself, leads inexorably to a corruption of the gospel, the good news that sinners are justified—declared righteous in God’s sight—not by our own meritorious works but by grace alone through faith alone in the meritorious work of Jesus Christ alone in His atoning death and vindicating resurrection. “Social justice” leads directly back to a pseudo-gospel of justification by grace plus merit through faith plus works—not just Christ’s saving works but also our own.

Though the “Woke” movement has burgeoned mainly in the last three years, Dr. Beisner has been way ahead of the game. He began intense studies of the meaning of “justice” in the Bible in 1983, working on his master’s degree in economic ethics. He continued them in 1984–1986 chairing the economics committee of the Coalition on Revival; in 1986–1988 in writing his introductory textbook on economics, Prosperity and Poverty: The Compassionate Use of Resources in a World of Scarcity; in 16 years of teaching ethics and economics at Covenant College and Knox Theological Seminary; and in writing his booklet Social Justice vs. Biblical Justice: How Good Intentions Undermine Justice and Gospel.

Social Justice vs. Biblical Justice can help you explain to your children, their friends, your neighbors, and your fellow church members what the confusions are and how to correct them.

Knowledge alone won’t solve all our problems. There must also be changed hearts. God changes hearts through the gospel—and Social Justice vs. Biblical Justice clearly explains, too, how justice and the gospel are related.

Help bring peace, reconciliation, and true justice to your community. Get Social Justice vs. Biblical Justice now and share it with others!