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Righteousness and justice often function as exact synonyms – except when they are used together! When they are used together, righteousness refers to the standard of communal practice, while justice refers to the execution of that standard.
You could easily imagine a situation where righteous laws are applied unjustly. If the community is organized according to the right standard, then you can easily correct the problem of injustice. But if the community is organized in a fundamentally unjust way, then you have a problem “in the place of righteousness” – not just in the place of justice.
Think about this in the context of race relations in Missouri. From the reports we’ve heard, it is obvious that there has been a systemic problem. It’s not just a case of wickedness in the place of justice – an occasional failure to do the right thing; it’s pretty clearly a case of wickedness in the place of righteousness – the communal standards in Ferguson are not what they should be.
I think it’s safe to say that any time a city looks like a war zone in a time of peace that is evidence that communal standards are not what they should be!
This happens all the time – all over the world – and has ever since the days of the Preacher.
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