Written by Nicholas T. Batzig |
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
If we are in the habit of thanking God for everything that He gives us, we will continue to thank Him! When we rest on God’s word, care about the needs of others, and continually thank God for His provisions, we can remain calm in the midst of the greatest trials.

How can I remain calm under pressure? This has to be one of the most significant questions we find ourselves asking throughout our lives. What is the secret to pressing through the challenges and trials of life without fretting or being overwhelmed by constant anxiety? The answer is found—at least in part—in what Luke tells us in Acts 27 about Paul’s experience when he was shipwrecked while a prisoner of the Roman army.
Paul had warned, to no avail, that they were going to suffer a tragic loss (Acts 27:10–12). The centurion who was guarding the apostle rejected Paul’s warning about the turbulent voyage. Instead of acting in frustration, Paul rested on the word of God. An angel had revealed to him that God was going to carry him along in his ministry, so that Paul would ultimately stand before Caesar. The Lord had also promised to protect those who were with Paul (vv.21–26). Paul reminded the soldiers and the others on board the ship, “take courage, men, because I believe God that it will be just the way it was told to me” (v.25). When we rest on the word of God in Scripture, we can confidently go through every circumstance of life in which He places us with a calmness. 
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In this booklet, Dr. Beisner does not start with ideas from the Social Justice Movement and move from there to God and His Word. Instead, he first understands Scripture as sufficient and authoritative, and uses it to evaluate the Social Justice Movement. In that way, he accurately shows what God and His Word say about the Social Justice Movement, avoiding what the Social Justice Movement says about God and His Word.

In 2018, Dr. E. Calvin Beisner published Social Justice vs. Biblical Justice: How Good Intentions Undermine Justice and Gospel. In his usual scholarly fashion, Beisner analyzes the arguments of the social justice movement that have become especially popular in the last decade.
After Beisner covers what some Christians say is a Biblical principle on wealth redistribution and equalization, with short sections on The Sabbatical Year Law (p. 12), The Jubilee Year Law (14), the sharing of goods at the church in Jerusalem (15), and the Pauline collections for believers who were suffering famine (17), Beisner gives the Biblical definition of justice and the Biblical way it is to be carried out.
Dr. Beisner is especially careful to avoid eisegesis, “making Scripture align with his own thoughts,” and exegetes, “making his own thoughts align with Scripture,” what the Bible says about justice. He shows four Biblical criteria for justice (20-23).

Justice requires impartiality and equal application.
Justice requires rendering to each his due.
Justice requires proportionality between acts and rewards or punishments.
Justice requires conformity to the standard God set forth in His law.

These four things imply that a person has rights. Beisner distinguishes negative “rights against harm” from positive “rights to certain benefits” (23). “Properly understood, rights are not guarantees that something will be provided for us but guarantees that what is ours will not be unjustly taken from us. That is, properly speaking, rights are not positive but negative” (24-25). That means, in the case of a positive right, there is no way of knowing what a person has any right to. Different eras and different geographic locations present differing needs. If a person has a right to food and clothing, how much food would a person have a right to? And what kind of clothes? And if a person has such “positive rights,” how can those rights be provided for without violating another person’s “negative rights”? A person’s right not to have their possessions taken from them, whether it be food, clothing, or money to buy things, must be trampled upon if other persons have positive rights. Beisner shows that “positive rights” are not Biblical rights.
In the next section Beisner gives the Biblical prescription for five types of justice: Commercial, vindicative, retributive, punitive, and remedial.
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Written by Harry L. Reeder III |
Saturday, July 23, 2022
We have been saved by the “word of life” that brought us to Christ; therefore, Christians need to speak words of life even in the most challenging situations. Jesus said, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ ” (Matt. 5:37). Speak truth truthfully and lovingly even when addressing difficult subjects. Do not choose words that destroy, pollute, or poison others. The more difficult the issue, the more careful the choice of words.

My father and grandfather loved aphorisms—short, memorable statements of wisdom. I not only inherited their love for them but became personally fascinated by the development and use of aphorisms. My fascination grew in response to my pastoral call. How can I say something with an economy of words that is memorable and precise and that communicates biblical wisdom? It is challenging and rewarding in conversation and preaching.
In Colossians 4:6, the Apostle Paul writes, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” Much of this text is captured in this aphorism: “Say what you mean, mean what you say, and never be mean when you say it.”
 Right Words
Proverbs 25:11 tells us, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up.”
Communication is possible because we are made in the image of God, but it is never neutral. Perhaps you have heard this misleading aphorism: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” The reality is that it doesn’t take long for the wounds from sticks and stones to heal, but hurtful words hurt deeply and linger interminably.

We have been saved by the “word of life” that brought us to Christ; therefore, Christians need to speak words of life even in the most challenging situations. Jesus said, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ ” (Matt. 5:37). Speak truth truthfully and lovingly even when addressing difficult subjects. Do not choose words that destroy, pollute, or poison others. The more difficult the issue, the more careful the choice of words.
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