20 Moreover one of God’s very attributes is justice, and that is understood in Scripture as His perfectly correct response to any and all actions commensurate with the nature of that action. It is what we are due based on God’s standards. We then take our cues about the content of justice from the God revealed in the Scriptures, not from man-made ideas. Since humans will attempt to evade God’s standards, and since God is holy, He must also be just in not overlooking man’s rebellious nature. In the realm of personal salvation, God can justly show mercy because of Jesus Christ’s work of atonement. But in the realm of public and private law, justice must be administered according to God’s standard. That realm is the realm of external behavior and comprehends both believers and unbelievers here on earth during its existence. But law is also concerned with procedure, and procedure is also related to human nature. Since humans are not perfect or perfectible, it is necessary that when law intervenes, that is, when individuals are charged by the state, the state itself, consisting also of human judges and juries, must be constrained by arrangements that preserve the God-given rights of those charged. These rights are procedural because they do not guarantee a certain outcome, but they do maximize the chances that the outcome has been arrived at fairly and justly. Otherwise the possibility for arbitrary actions by the state would be enormously increased and at some point would become rampant. In addition, when we speak of law we should also mention the concept of the rule of law, by which laws are known, relatively clear and especially applied to all, including those who make the laws. The rule is Lex, Rex, “law is king” — not “the king is law.” Because of the universal sinfulness of human nature, we can no more trust the officers of the state to act perfectly than we could trust ordinary citizens to behave perfectly. Though we would welcome both, we can count on neither, so a rule of law is absolutely essential. Conclusion Humans have a definable nature that has been created by God, first in Adam and Eve, and that was then distorted, though not destroyed, by the Fall. The image of God in all humans involves several innate (but, of course, marred) characteristics that make us in some way “like God.” God has made humans to be essentially rational, creative, sociable, free, and potentially capable of having a relationship with Him. These elements are important as we consider how humans can best serve God in their
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