Is social justice part of the gospel?

“In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: ‘Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern.’"

- Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963

This week marked the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. It’s an illustration of how Christians, based on their understanding of the gospel, can argue such different interpretations, and a reminder that politics and ideology strongly influence those differences. While this country has made progress since then, the debate about social justice continues. 

Some Christians say the gospel is only about redeeming sinners and not about social justice issues. But, if Jesus came to set into motion God’s kingdom on earth, aren't social issues part of that? Can we be "redeemed" while ignoring the plight of those who are poor or persecuted?

A debate two years ago between Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners, and Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, on the role of the church in social issues highlighted different perspectives within the Christian faith. 

Both agreed there’s a Biblical basis for social justice:

• Justice is an attribute of God and therefore God's people must work for justice.
• True justice is not just individual but always has social implications. Therefore, a true definition of justice must include "social justice."
• In order for Christians to be faithful to the Great Commission they must make disciples and teach what Jesus taught, and that means teaching Christians to be workers for justice.

However, they disagreed on whether it is an integral part of the gospel.

Al Mohler argued that, while justice is a good work that Christians should do, it is not the church’s mission. 

"There are many things that the church is involved with that are not essentially its mission but are nonetheless what Christ's people do precisely because they belong to Christ…."The Gospel is about how sinners who rightly deserve nothing but the eternal condemnation of God nonetheless are redeemed by His decisive act in Jesus Christ to redeemed sinners." 

Jim Wallis said that the gospel is about both personal salvation and social justice and they can’t be separated:

"Justice is integral to the Gospel itself," Wallis said.Conservatives and liberals each have gotten the Gospel wrong, Wallis added."Too many liberals have a social cause but have dropped the altar call -- no more conversion. … Too many conservatives have an altar call but no more mission to the world. We must move away from an either/or Gospel. It's time for both/and biblical thinking."

Does it make a difference whether we believe that social justice is just as integral to the gospel as personal salvation or that the gospel is about personal atonement and social justice is a good work we should do? The folks at Sojourners say it does:

If you say that the Gospel is first and foremost about an individual atonement for personal sins, you are quite likely to end up with a church full of people who don't want to go any farther.If an individual person is told that the Gospel is entirely about what it can do for her, she is quite likely to ignore the subsequent commands to actually do the hard work of following Jesus. It's what Bonhoeffer would call "cheap grace."

Even Dr. Mohler expressed concern that “a lot of Churches are REALLY bad at making disciples who actually do the things Jesus told us to do.”

If we focus only on personal salvation, I think we not only lose connection to the larger body of Christ in the world, but we also miss an essential part of what Jesus taught us: Not only are we to love God, but we are also to love our neighbors as ourselves. How we reach out to our neighbors in love becomes the light of Jesus’ presence in the world. 

“It’s not our words. Our words are not what’s going to stop the world in its tracks. Our words are not going to change the world. They’ve heard it all. …It’s not typically the music that’s going to stop the world in its tracks…. It’s not our buildings, as grand and beautiful as some of our church buildings are. It’s not the architecture that’s going to change the world. But I believe what will change the world is when we begin to love each other. And when we begin to love the world, and when we begin to reach out to the orphans and the widows, the lower income families in our communities …. When our houses are packed so full of love that we have to open up the back door to let it ooze out into the valleys and the suburbs and the city streets, when the world sees that kind of love, real love, they’re going to stop in their tracks, they’re going to say, ‘…Whatever you people have over there, you Jesus freaks, I want some of that… I want some of that Jesus for me if he’s doing all that.’”

- Toby Mac, intro to Love Is in the House

Is social justice an essential part of the gospel? If not, what is our calling as followers of Christ? Can we be "redeemed" while ignoring the plight of those who are poor, sick, or persecuted? Can you be a disciple of Christ without doing the things Jesus taught us to do? 

As you ponder these questions, here’s the full track of Toby Mac's Love is in the House: