I concluded my previous blog with the following questions: Was God fair to impose the condition on Adam and Eve? Was God fair in driving them from the garden, and forcing them to live by their own physical labor? Was it fair for Cain to kill his brother, presumably because he was jealous that God accepted Abel’s offering but rejected Cain’s? And finally, was it fair for God to impose on the entire human race the penalty for an act of disobedience committed by His first human family?

I then asked for input and/or insights from my readers, to which I received the following:

“Fair” is that which is equitable. An “if . . . then” statement sets the parameters of an exchange.

The most lopsided exchange ever was when God exchanged the life of His son for mine.

“Fair” is death for disobedience.

Maston Jackson

Was it fair for God to impose the condition on Adam and Eve? Since He is the Creator of all things, yes, it is totally fair. It was His prerogative to be creative to begin with, so therefore it’s His prerogative to set the tone, the standard, the rule.

Adam and Eve had ONE rule placed upon them to obey, and they failed; forfeiting their rights to live in God’s paradise, and to live in unbroken fellowship with Him. To be faithful to His character, God has to carry out His promise. God gave the meaning and set the standard for what fair is and should be.

Donnie W. Helms

I also received messages from others relating their appreciation for writing the blog, and their anticipation in reading part two. So, let’s move on. I would like to focus this week’s installment on passages of Scripture from which we might glean a deeper understanding, as well as a greater appreciation, for Biblical instruction on this controversial subject.

We must begin at the beginning if we are to grasp the Biblical teaching concerning fairness. The Bible begins with the simple, yet profound assertion: “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” That verse gives us everything we need to know to reach an understanding of fairness. To be overly simplistic, this verse teaches clearly that everything there is belongs to God. And the simple conclusion we can draw from that is, since we belong to God, He can do with us whatever He chooses. That verse establishes the fact the God created us, He owns us, and He can choose to do with His creation whatever He deems to be right. In other words, fairness is to be understood in light of God’s ownership. Let me now try to illustrate this by looking at a few Biblical characters which will give us a glimpse at what true fairness looks like.

First, think with me about the story of the universal flood that destroyed the entire human race except for Noah, his three sons, and their wives. Was it fair for God to destroy all of humanity? Some would argue that this event gives a picture of a capricious, angry, manipulating God. He created mankind, gave them the freedom to choose to obey or disobey, and then wantonly destroyed them when they used that freedom to go their way rather than God’s way. Was that fair?

Second, let’s consider the story of Moses (I will only use a very small ‘slice’ of his life due to time and space limitations). At the age of eighty, God spoke powerfully to Moses, instructing him to go to Egypt, stand before Pharaoh, and demand the liberation of the people of Israel. Moses then presented God with his excuses for not wanting to complete this task, culminating his reasoning with the following feeble attempt to walk away from God’s calling: “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent – either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant – because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.” Listen very carefully to God’s response to Moses: “Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?”

No one knows for sure what Moses’ speech impediment was, but it is clear that to him, it was an insurmountable problem which he felt would preclude him from accomplishing the task at hand. God’s response is profound: He says that He is the One who makes a person to be deaf, or blind. We are His, and He alone has the prerogative to establish limitations on individual humans. Again, is that fair?

A third Old Testament case study would be Joseph, the son of Jacob (Israel). His life was one challenge after another. Let’s focus our thoughts on that chapter from his life when he was sold by his brothers to a band of traders. This started a series of events that led to his promotion, to his demotion, to his arrest, to his release, to his becoming the second in command of all Egypt. Was it fair for his brothers to have treated him with such anger and animosity? From the human perspective we might think it was completely unfair. But from Joseph’s perspective, he saw it all as being brought about by the providence of God. In other words, it was all brought about by his brothers act of jealousy and envy, but it was orchestrated by the invisible hand of God. And again the question: Was that fair?

Time and space limitations will only allow two more examples from the New Testament. Consideration will be given to the Apostle Paul, and then to Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul was a man, after his conversion, who was totally committed to evangelizing the world. It is obvious from a mere cursory reading of Paul’s letters, as well as the account of his ministry found in the book of Acts, that he was a man consumed with the desire to make Christ known. It would seem reasonable to think that such a man would be protected by the providential hand of God, and yet, we see Paul suffer horrifically throughout his life of ministry. For his own recounting of some of his sufferings, please read Second Corinthians 11:24-29. His sufferings were extreme, much worse than anything most of us will ever experience.

Paul then gives us a bit of insight into how he viewed his suffering. In Second Corinthians 12:7-9 he informs his readers that he experienced something he referred to as a ‘thorn in the flesh.’ He then states that he prayed to God for deliverance from this ailment, to which God replied, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Paul’s response? “Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul understood that every situation and circumstance in life is an arena in which we have the opportunity to glorify God, our creator and sovereign Lord.

Finally, consider our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. God the Father set a plan in motion from before the foundation of the world that ordained Jesus to be slain for the sins of humanity. Jesus came into the world as one of us according to this preordained plan of His Father. His life ministry was filled with acts of rejection, humiliation, and ultimately crucifixion. Was it fair of the Father to ordain His Son to suffer such actions? From our perspective perhaps not, but from God’s eternal perspective it was the plan through which He provided salvation for fallen humanity.

There is a thread running clearly through each of the examples cited above: the thread of God’s sovereignty over His creation. Everything that happens is set by the standard of God. He can do whatever He chooses with His creation. He could have chosen to destroy His human creation after the rebellion in the garden, but knowing what man would do before ever creating him, He preordained a plan by which fallen man could be reconciled to God.

Every act of God throughout human history has been to make His plan known to the human family. Whatever happens to us as individuals should not be compared with what happens to anyone else, trying to determine if an experience is fair or unfair. Rather, we should look at the immensity of God’s love and grace, and realize that everything in life is designed in such a way as to reveal that love to us.

Fairness should be weighed as we look to God as the standard of what is truly fair. To think that He has gone to such lengths to demonstrate His love for us – even to the preordained plan of setting His own Son aside to be the sacrificial Lamb who would take away the sin of the world – should be the standard to which we look. And then, in the spirit of the Apostle Paul, let’s consider whatever comes our way as an opportunity to show and share God’s love with our world. To Him be the glory, both now and forever.