N.T. Wright on judgment

The justice of God is primarily a restorative justice rather than a retributive justice. That is why the Psalmists often cried out ‘how long O Lord!’. When that day comes, these people will cry out ‘finally!’ Finally there will be justice, finally all things will be set right.

I first became aware of this idea of judgment being a good thing while recently finishing N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope. In this masterpiece (which should be a must read for all Western Christians), Wright says,

‘In a world of systematic injustice, bullying, violence, arrogance and oppression, the thought that there might be a coming day when the wicked are firmly put in their place and the poor and weak are given their due is the best news there can be. Faced with a world in rebellion, a world full of exploitation and wickedness, a good God must be a God of judgment.’

This is good news for those who really know what suffering is. Interestingly, these are exactly not the people who tend to question how a good God would send judgment. People who know suffering tend to look forward to judgment. I wonder if the complaints of those of us in the comfortable West actually betray a sense of guilt for our complicity in much of the suffering of the world.