God Is Not Unjust

“What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!” -Romans 9:14

The charging of God with injustice is evidence of our fallen nature. How could it be that the Creator and judge of the entire universe could be unjust. Hypothetically speaking, what could motivate injustice on God’s part? There is no one rich enough or powerful enough who could bribe him. There is no one or no thing that he himself did not create. There is no one that he answers to since he is the source of all life, all knowledge, all light—everything! So the suggestion itself is absurd and without merit.

So Paul raises the question of the fool, rhetorically, then responds with an emphatic, “by no means!” Ridiculous as it is, the question of God’s injustice is motivated by the rebellious human heart whose mind has fallen into futility (Romans 1:21ff). It is appalling to such a mind that God, the Sovereign of the Universe would act sovereignly and choose the destiny of his creation.

Paul will go on to reason through the principles of predestination; but to begin with, the most important thing for his audience to know is that because God alone is sovereign, by definition we are not. And because God is sovereign, whatever he, in his transcendent goodness, wills is, therefore, good—and never unjust!