God Is Not Fair

On Saturday mornings at 6:00 am, while the sensible person lies asleep in bed, I join a group of guys at the local Panera Bread to discuss theology.  During this season, we’re going through a course by John Harrington called “Biblical Theology of Mission.”  We’re discussing the purpose of the kingdom of God, His eternal purpose, and how history is driving towards that goal.  This week, we began with a passage from the book of Genesis, chapter 3:

“I [God] will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” – Genesis 3:15, ESV

As we talked about this passage, I was struck with the immensity of the goodness of God.  When disaster strikes on a major scale, for example, Hurricane Katrina or the bombing of the World Trade Center, we always hear news reporters interview spiritual leaders asking the question, “How could a good God allow such a horrible thing happen?”  Most of the world approaches God with an attitude of bitter contempt.  He is viewed as the instigator and sustainer of suffering and unfairness.  ”If you would just get out of the picture,” they effectually say to God, “we could just figure things out on our own.”  In Genesis, however, there is a different story that has the power to open your heart to the extravagant kindness of God.

The Covenant Made

God’s interactions with mankind is built on the concept of “covenant.”  Historically speaking, a covenant was a lifelong, binding agreement between two parties.  If both parties upheld their end of the covenant, there were certain blessings to enjoy.  If, however, one party did not follow the contract, there were significant consequences (curses).  After creation, God made a covenant with the first man (i.e. Adam) that resulted in two important things: rulership over all creation and uninterrupted intimacy with God.  These blessings were dependent on one thing alone, Adam and Eve were not to eat the fruit from this tree called the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 1:17).

The Covenant Broken

We all know what happened next.  Adam and Eve ate from the tree, which led to a break in the covenant.  As a result, the blessings they experienced (i.e. rulership over creation and intimacy with God) turned into curses.  Curse one: Man’s sovereignty over Creation was transferred to Satan and, in so doing, mankind became slaves.  Curse two: the kind of intimacy that man had, the walking-with-God-through-the-garden closeness, was ripped from them by sin.  Man was sentenced to walk through the world alone, servant to a sadistic and twisted master and feeling the distance from God that many still feel today.

The Covenant Restored

In Genesis 3, God is standing in front of Adam and Eve in the garden, while Satan (in the form of a serpent) slithers around their feet.  The covenant has been broken, the couple is guilty, and there are no words spoken to their defense.  Behold, however, the unearthly goodness of God in this scenario.  God knows that there is no way that the covenant can be restored by Adam and Eve.  Even if He did call a mulligan, they would probably make the same mistake again.  But wait, God pulls a rabbit out of His hat that no one expected.  He promises the woman that one day one of her offspring with crush Satan and restore the covenant.  What she didn’t understand, and neither did Satan, was that this was not going to be any ordinary person; this One, this Seed, was going to come from God Himself – Messiah Jesus.  He would be 100% God and 100% Man.  He would relate to both parties.  He would mediate between the two groups.  The Apostle Paul reflected on this after the fact:

“But in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4,5 ESV).

In effect, God sent His Son Jesus to uphold our side of the covenant between Him and us.  When Adam and Eve broke the covenant, God could have legitimately walked away from us, leaving us without hope or restoration.  However, He didn’t!  In this situation, God chose not to be fair.  Fairness would have dictated an irrevocable sentence of death and separation.  Instead, God chose to be extravagantly generous, by restoring the covenant in such a way that it could never be broken again.  Jesus’ death and resurrection re-sealed the covenant that God made with Adam.  No longer were God and mankind seated on opposite ends of the table with no mediator in between.  Jesus walked in and sat down on both sides of the table.  And the beauty of this arrangement is that Jesus will always agree with Jesus!

This was an event that rippled both ways through the fabric of time, permanently sealing mankind’s dominion over the earth and the opportunity for unbroken intimacy with God through the God-Man (100% God, 100% Man), Messiah Jesus.  That is one reason why He will return one day to set up a tangible kingdom upon the Earth, but that’s for another blog post.

So the next time someone tells you that God isn’t fair, you tell them:

“You know what?  You’re absolutely right!  Let me tell you what He is…”

2 Responses to “God Is Not Fair”

1. Mickey says:

   July 28, 2009 at 11:11 am

   Great article! I love the fact that God covenants with us and is not just in a “live-in” type relationship where the back door is open to bail on us. He is so wonderful in His commitment to us. What a tremendous relationship to have at the foundation of our lives!
2. Tapiwa says:

   December 16, 2009 at 6:21 am

   But that covenant wasn’t made with me but with Adam was it. I did not choose to be born, nor do I deserve to be branded a sinner because I was born the seed of another sinner. I’ve been a christian all my life (who is to say maybe I wasnt chosen to begin with) but all of it never made sense to me. What person allows for this much suffering in the name of love, holiness or whatever else it is. I write this not with a sense of victory or jubilation, or contempt, for who am I but man that I can declare war against God? I do not desire to win against God. God knows all I want is to love Him, but how can I honestly say I do when in all sincerity it just seems to me like He just doesnt care or He’s too consummed in His holiness to consider the fact that not a single one of those souls that are ’sending themselves to Hell’ chose to be made for whatever reason. I am truly sorry for offending anyone with this most of all God.