Love, mercy and justice. These words were already discussed in the previous section as being of central importance for the diaconate. In this part we intend to look at them separately and in some more depth. The first term that we will address, and which has such an important place in the biblical proclamation, is the word love.

1.6.1  Love⤒🔗

When we speak of love in connection with the diaconate it is not about the love between a husband and wife in marriage or about the love between parents and children in the family context, however essential this love is. Instead, it is about love as a social bond between man and his fellow man in human society in general and in the church as a community of believers in particular.

This love is not some kind of exaggerated infatuation of one human being with another, not some kind of soft sentimentality, but a deep sense of responsibility. It involves knowing oneself to be called to support and help the other, especially when the latter is evidently in need of special care and assistance. It expresses itself in a loving service by word and deed for the person’s wellbeing and development of life.

The Bible repeatedly calls for this love, even to such an extent that it can be said that in a world in which there is such great lack of love and where indifference is found among people, the task to show love is an essential part of the biblical proclamation.

In Leviticus 19:18 God commands everyone to love his neighbour as himself. The neighbour is every person one meets on one’s path in life. He should be approached and treated as he would like to be met and treated himself. The “Golden Rule,” positively stated by Jesus in Matthew 7:12, applies here: “Do to others what you want them to do to you.” This applies especially to those who are in need and dependent on the help of others. Thus it is stipulated that when the harvest is brought in, one should always leave something for the poor, as the Bethlehemite Boaz did in his field (Ruth 2:14-17). Furthermore, one was not to extort one’s neighbour, nor misuse someone’s circumstances, nor withhold earned wages. In terms of justice, everyone’s rights were to be asserted. In short, people were to promote the welfare of their fellow man. And then it makes no difference whether one is dealing with a fellow citizen or a foreigner (see Leviticus 19:9-18)

Foreigners in Israel were all those of non-Israelite origin living among the people. Often they were migrant workers who remained in Israel unemployed, often under very poor conditions, or refugees who were expelled from their own country and sought asylum in Israel. These too were often entirely dependent on the support of others, as were widows and orphans with whom they are often mentioned in the same breath (Deuteronomy 14:29, 24:19, 26:12-14; Jeremiah 7:6; 22:3; Ezekiel 22:7). They were among the socially disadvantaged among Israel. The people of Israel are constantly reminded that they themselves were at one time strangers in Egypt and were oppressed there. They ought to know what that means, and having been set free by God they will have to be mindful of the freedom and welfare of others and to make every effort to that end — especially for those who have come into a dependent position and depend on help from others (Exodus 22:21, 23:9; Leviticus 19:32-37)

It is clear that loving one’s neighbour, which is called for, is not merely a feeling of affection, but the loving act toward one’s fellow man by assisting him and providing for his needs when he is unable to do so himself, so as to give him the possibility of life.

In this love to one’s fellow human being the love for God must take shape. Love for God needs to be expressed in love for one’s neighbour. Someone who says he loves God, but shows no love to his neighbour, is a liar (1 John 4:20). And the love for God must be the answer to the love of God that he showed to the people when, according to the oath which he also made to the fathers out of love, he led them out of the house of servitude, out from under the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt (Deuteronomy 7:8). The love of God was an act of redemption and deliverance, of help and rescue. Therefore, the people are called to reciprocal love of him by walking in his ways and keeping his commandments and not just formally, but with all their heart and soul (Deuteronomy 10:2). This return of love for God will take shape in their actions. The love from the heart for God needs to show their gratitude for what he did out of love and it needs to be visible in their obedience to his commandments. This includes not in the least the love they are to show to their neighbour, to be imitators of God in this, just as he in love assisted and liberated his people. They are to assist and help their neighbours who are in need or in slavery, the sojourners, the widows and orphans (Deuteronomy 10:18).

Among the prophets we find this message of love most clearly with the prophet Hosea. He uses a word for love which also means faithfulness, commitment and responsibility for one another. Hosea reproaches the people for the fact that there is no love found among them. Instead there is falsehood, deceit, adultery, violence and injustice (Hosea 4:1-2) In contrast, God demands love among and for one another. Without this love, all religion is meaningless to God; it is only a show without substance, likened to clouds without rain, or dew that quickly disappears (Hosea 6:4, 6). God himself proved his love for Israel when he brought them out of Egypt. He cared for them as a father cared for his child, and “led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love” (Hosea 11:3-4). Thus Israel is told to “return, to hold fast to love and justice, and to wait continually for their God” (Hosea 12:6).

In the New Testament we hear no other message. For Jesus, the fulfillment of the law of God consists of only one thing: love. One can also speak of two things, but the second flows from the first and is included in it: Loving God with all one’s heart, all one’s soul and with all one’s mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depends all the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 22:37-40). In saying this, he repeats what was already taught to Israel under the old covenant (Deuteronomy 6:5, 10:12; Leviticus 19:18). Jesus even commands us to love one’s enemies and not to repay their enmity with enmity, but to do them good (Matthew 5:44).

For Paul, too, love is the fulfillment of the law: “For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet’, and any other commandment are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’” (Romans 13:8-10). We are called to only do good to the neighbour and not evil. Paul shows in this how to be a follower of Christ. In the church of Christ, love should be practised by not grieving one another (Romans 14:15). One should build one another up and be of support (verse 19). Without love, death reigns in the congregation (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Everything in the church should be done in love (1 Corinthians 16:14). People are called to serve one another through love (Galatians 5:13).

Where the Holy Spirit is at work there is love, for the Spirit works love (Romans 15:30). In fact, love is the first and chief fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).

By that love one must grow toward Christ (Ephesians 4:15), and walk and act according to his love, which he gave as the great example of what love is by sacrificing himself for his church for a fragrant aroma to God (Ephesians 5:1-2) Likewise, God’s people should give themselves for one another for one another’s service and support. Christ left us his love as an example, that we may do as he did (John 13:14).

By this the congregation also shows love to the heavenly Father who, as he once delivered his people Israel from Egypt, “has delivered them from the power of darkness and transferred them into the kingdom of his beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). That is the kingdom in which Christ, the Son of God, is King; in whom God, the heavenly Father, has revealed his love, and in which, after the example of God, the Father, and of Jesus Christ, his Son, love should reign and should always be the guideline of all our work. God is love and he revealed his love toward us in that he sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. If God has so loved us we too should love one another. He who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. He who loves God must also love his brother, says John, the apostle of love (see 1 John 4:8, 11, 16, 21). By this “we know that we have passed from death into life, when we love the brothers.” And that we love them means that we lay down our lives for them, as Christ laid down his life for us (1 John 3:14, 16). “This is his commandment… that we love one another, just as he [Christ] has commanded us” (verse 23).

As in the Old, so also the New Testament shows that by love is meant the act of love, the actual love for the deliverance of our fellow man from need and destruction, for his well-being and happiness in life, as was and is the case with the love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ for the salvation of sinners. That love will be the source and example of our love, to which we are called in a life of gratitude to the benefit of our fellow man and to which the work of the Spirit directs us.

It is clear that this has everything to do with the office of the deacon. It is this special ministry in the church of Christ that is born of the service of love and seeks to give expression to it. The whole congregation is called to the service of love based on the love of God and after the example of Jesus Christ, who is its Saviour and Head. The office of deacon is therefore not a substitute for the call that comes to each believer, but rather it makes it visible. On the other hand, meanwhile, the deacon’s office should have an effect on the whole congregation in order to stimulate this service of love and to keep it alive. This love should bind the whole congregation together and be directed toward helping and assisting one another, especially those who are particularly dependent on it because of their life circumstances. Following the example of the sojourners and foreigners in the Old Testament, this love extends, where necessary and possible, even to outsiders, so that in their need they too may experience something of the love of Christ and of that love to which, in his name and in the name of the Father, the congregation of Christ is commissioned and which is worked by the Spirit.

As it relates to the office of deacon, another important term from Scripture is the word mercy.

1.6.2 Mercy←⤒🔗

Mercy and love are closely linked together. One could call mercy a form of love. In mercy, compassion with the circumstances of the other person plays a role and in this the loving attachment to and responsibility for the person is expressed. And just as love in the Bible is not merely a feeling of solidarity or affection, but a loving act, so too mercy is not simply compassion or empathy as such, but it represents the act of helping and serving others in their need.

In our time, the word “mercy” often has a negative connotation because it is associated with the idea of condescending benevolence, of extending help “from above” where the other is placed in a dependent position. The acts of charity then often serve more towards the self-gratification of the person giving help or care, who ends up praising him- or herself and wants to be praised by others, rather than for the actual relief of the one to whom mercy is shown. The way in which mercy was sometimes practised in the past is not foreign to this connotation. Jesus also points this out. In Matthew 6:2, he speaks of hypocrites who give alms in order to receive praise from people.

Biblical mercy is something else. There it is the moving act of doing good to the other person by helping him out of his need, by doing justice to him, by working on his welfare, to truly serve him as being called to do so.

In Zechariah 7:9, the command of the LORD of hosts, who asserts his authority with this name, is: “Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another.” Clearly, love and mercy are aligned here. Love (kindness) is mentioned first, which has to be expressed in mercy. And if we then ask what this mercy consists of, the same verse and the following one list as acts of mercy, the following: to do justice, not to oppress widows and orphans, sojourners and the poor, and not to plot each other’s misfortunes. The negative mode of expression must  be understood in a positive way. One needs to pay attention to the socially disadvantaged in society, to keep their wellbeing in mind, and to seek to achieve this. It is not a matter of voluntariness, but it is a divine requirement: “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy” (James 2:13). God himself is a God of mercy, and he wants people to practise mercy toward one another as well.

We read again and again that God is gracious and merciful (Exodus 34:6; Deuteronomy 4:31; Psalms 103:8, 111:4, 145:8). He takes care of man in his need and misery, as a father cares for his needy child (Psalm 103:13; Jeremiah 31:20) and as a mother cares for her infant, who is entirely dependent on her help (Isaiah 49:15). Orphans receive mercy from him (Hosea 14:3), and therefore a man can also always appeal to his mercy in his need (Psalms 25:6, 69:14, 79:8, 119:77, 156). His mercy never has an end (Lamentations 3:22).

In its most rich and abundant way God has shown his mercy in the gift of his Son, whom he gave for the salvation of sinners, fulfilling his promise to the fathers of salvation and renewal and forgiveness of sins (Luke 1:50, 54, 72, 78). God is rich in mercy by his great love with which he loves his own, by raising them with Christ from spiritual death, into which they have fallen because of their sins and transgressions. He gives them a place with Christ in the heavenly places, to which he has ascended, and showing them in the future the overwhelming riches of his grace according to his goodness in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:4-7). Peter extols the great mercy of God in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, by which life was radically renewed with a living and sure hope of a new and eternal future (1 Peter 1:3). Paul calls God the Father of mercies (2 Corinthians 1:3). He speaks in the plural to express the unlimited and infinite greatness and richness of God’s mercy, and he calls God the Father of these mercies, because he is the origin of it and is himself full of mercy.

With an appeal to that mercy, the apostle urges/exhorts/encourages us to show mercy (Romans 12:1; Philippians 2:1). In doing so, no one should consider only his own interest, but that of the other (Philippians 2:4). Such mercy is to be performed with joy (Romans 12:8), and to be applied to everyone (Ephesians 4:32).

Jesus, too, calls for showing mercy in imitation of the mercy of God: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36).

He himself set the great example of mercy: Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant...and humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).

During his stay on earth, he repeatedly showed his great mercy in his deep compassion for the fate and misery of unfortunate people. Moved by mercy, he healed a leper (Mark 1:41); his heart went out to the widow in Nain whose only son had died and who was now on her way to bury him, and he raised the boy from the dead (Luke 7:11-17). Moved with mercy he healed two blind people (Matthew 20:34), and numerous other sick people (Matthew 9:35). His mercy did not end with only an inner emotion or a deep compassion, but it took shape in an action. Nor did his mercy concern only physical needs and illnesses. He had compassion for the multitude when he saw them harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). Their leaders withheld true spiritual guidance from the sheep. They tormented the sheep with all kinds of legalistic rules, but they knew no mercy (Matthew 23:23). Jesus began to teach the multitude (Mark 6:34). He proclaimed the gospel to the people and gave them spiritual guidance (Matthew 9:35). He pointed them to true rest for their souls (Matthew 11:28-30).

Quoting from Hosea 6:6, he reminded the spiritual leaders of the people that mercy is better than sacrifices and all formal, outward religion (Matthew 9:13). Then they would not have chastised and unreasonably condemned the people, but taught and guided them (Matthew 12:7). Mercy is a first requirement of the gospel and forms the constitution of the kingdom of God. Jesus calls the merciful blessed, for mercy will be shown to them (Matthew 5:7).

As a paragon of mercy, Jesus depicts the merciful Samaritan in a parable, Luke 10:25-37. A priest and a Levite passed by the half-dead man on the side of the road between Jerusalem and Jericho without doing anything. They did not extend a hand. But a Samaritan passing by on his journey, when he saw the man, was moved by compassion. And this was not an inner feeling of mercy alone, but he expressed it in actions. Mercy, in the Bible, implies being moved to action. The Samaritan went to the unfortunate man, bandaged his wounds, poured oil and wine on them, put him on his mount, took him to the inn, cared for him, and gave the innkeeper money to take further care of the man, telling him that if the innkeeper incurred additional expenses he would reimburse him on his way back.

It is remarkable that Jesus gives such a broad description of the Samaritan’s act of mercy. Even the lawyer, whom Jesus wants to teach through the parable, has to admit that the Samaritan showed mercy. That means that he showed it by his actions. Mercy is not merely felt—it is done. Biblical mercy is an action that a person does, not to be served himself, but to serve the other person, to help him in his need, and if possible to lift him out of it.

As the moral of the parable, Jesus gives the command: “Go and do likewise.” Mercy is something that requires action. It means to follow the example of the Samaritan.

Clear lines are shown from this to the diaconate, often referred to as the service or ministry of mercy.

In the first place, all the emphasis falls on service, as Jesus, like a merciful high priest (Hebrews 2:17), did not come to be served, but to serve (Matthew 20:28). Mercy must be done out of love, with a compassionate heart, in order to actually assist the other person and, if possible, to help them out of their distress or at least to alleviate it. This compassion has to be in place, because otherwise all work of mercy becomes formal, dead and cold. Then mercy becomes high-handedness. But compassion alone is not sufficient. True compassion expresses itself in action. The deaconry is to be a service to one’s neighbour in need through action from a compassion in which something radiates from the compassion of Jesus Christ, with which he showed mercy to those in need. Something of his mercy should be present in the diaconal ministry in the church of Christ.

Furthermore, it becomes clear that the Bible deals with needs of various kinds, in which mercy is to be extended. In the Old Testament there is a strong emphasis on deliverance from all kinds of social distress, to which mercy is called, because social abuses in those days were often the cause of bitter distress such as lack of justice, oppression and poverty. The prophets in particular fulminated forcefully against these conditions as contrary to the mercy of God. No one should suffer through injustice; no one was to perish in poverty. Widows and orphans, who were often left to their fate and doomed to beg or perish, have a right to a dignified existence and should be helped, and those who were or became unfortunate due to physical circumstances should be cared for.

The church of Jesus Christ, also in our time, should not resign itself to all kinds of social injustices but will have to protest against them if necessary and, where possible, promote innovations, and it has an instrument for this in the ministry of the deacons. Of course, also in the preaching of the Word, in which God’s mercy and the demand for mercy are central, all kinds of abuses cannot be ignored and there needs to be a call for conversion and renewal. But it is in the ministry of the deacon where the Church comes into action.

One can think of the churches of the Secession in the mid 1800s, where deacons joined hands to improve social conditions, to establish homes for orphans, the weak, the blind and the deaf. There are also wonderful examples of private initiative by Christians. Deaconesses founded hospitals to care for the sick. Deacons do not have to do everything. The office of deacon can and should encourage and stimulate others to show mercy. In any case it belongs to the office of deacon that it is to be the hand of Christ in doing mercy.

In the New Testament we see Jesus addressing all kinds of physical needs, fulfilling in it his messianic task (Isaiah 35:5-6, 42:3; see Matthew 12:5-21). When John the Baptist has questions about the messiahship of Jesus, he is told that “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news [gospel] preached to them” (Matthew 11:5). Hardly anyone at that time looked after such unfortunate people. And so Christ has left an example for the church of all ages. Even if we cannot perform the miracles of Jesus or raise the dead, the church has rightly understood in its mercy a calling throughout the ages not to abandon the deaf and blind, the sick and lepers, the afflicted and impoverished, but to care for them and help them if possible.

Deacons can also organize in the congregation the visitation of the sick, care for orphans, and help for those who are feeble or handicapped. It is a calling that extends to the entire congregation. And to the outside world, deacons can provide help in cooperation with other deaconries and, if necessary, with the government, to provide help for the churches far abroad, wherever there is need.

The task of the deaconry is broad and varied because the needs are broad and varied, and mercy knows no bounds. And the deacons will never be able to perform their task when the congregations do not fully support them, or do not understand their calling and do not support the work of the deacons with their funds and prayers.

Finally, it should be noted that the ministry of mercy should not consist only of material support and help in physical need, but should focus on the whole person: body and soul. Jesus healed the sick, but he also taught the multitudes and proclaimed the gospel to them (Matthew 9:35; Mark 6:34). Relief that consists only in material support and is limited to help in financial and physical needs, becomes no more than social service. But mercy in the sense of Scripture implies more. The deacons are to bear witness to the mercy of Christ by both word and deed. The comfort of the gospel cannot be missed. The form for the ordination of deacons instructs the deacons not only to manage the offerings and to distribute these according to need, but also “to encourage and comfort with the Word of God those who receive the gifts of Christ’s love.” This can and will be of great help in needs and difficulties.

The third term associated with the office of the deacons is the word justice.

1.6.3 Justice/Righteousness←⤒🔗

“Justice” in the Bible — and especially in the Old Testament — is something different from what we in the West often understand by it. Following the example of the ancient Greeks and Romans, we often understand justice as ”giving each his due.” As a symbol of justice, Lady Justice is often depicted blindfolded and holding a pair of scales, carefully balanced on the left and right. As per the biblical intention, Lady Justice should rather be depicted with her eyes open and her hand outstretched to the person in need to help in order to lift him or her up.

Justice in the Bible is much less a legal concept, not even primarily ethical in nature, but first and foremost a religious matter. Justice, as far as it relates to man, concerns the right relationship in which he stands before God by doing his commandments. In Deuteronomy 6, when the people were reminded of God’s Ten Commandments, Moses said in verse 25, “And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.” Righteousness is doing God’s commandments. He who does so is called righteous. Righteous is he who practises righteousness (1 John 3:7), who delights in the law of God to do it (Psalm 1:2). Thus Noah is called righteous because he lived according to the commandments of God in distinction from the wicked world around him; he walked with God (Genesis 6:9).

In the New Testament Zacharias and Elisabeth are called righteous (Luke 1:6). The same is true for Joseph of Arimathea (Luke 23:50), and the Roman centurion Cornelius, who had passed from being a pagan to the Jewish faith (Acts 10:22). Also Abel and Lot are called righteous (2 Peter 2:7; Hebews 11:4). The expression indicates the faithful and pious relationship in which they stood before God and his commandments.

In relation to the poor and needy person, being mindful of his welfare and promoting this is called righteousness (Deuteronomy 24:13). For such are the commandments of the LORD (verses 10-15). Righteousness is, according to the commandment of God, to assist and to save man in distress. He is righteous whose life is marked by it. The righteous takes care of the poor and distributes to him from  his own goods (Psalms 37:21). The righteous distributes, gives to the needy, and his righteousness endures forever (Psalm 112:9). Righteousness here takes on the meaning of generosity, and it should have no end. The righteous is always ready to help his needy neighbour. “The righteous gives and does not hold back” (Proverbs 21:26). Job was such a person. He says of himself, “I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him...I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban” (Job 29:12-14). Again, righteousness is charity, help provided to a man in need. Righteousness enveloped his whole person and he was known by this.

Everyone is called upon to pursue and to practise righteousness in this way (Deuteronomy 6:20). King Josiah practised righteousness by doing justice to the wretched and poor, by assisting and helping them out, in contrast to his son Jehoiakim, who was only interested in his own advantage and who did not shy away from theft, violence and even murder (Jeremiah 22:15-17). The prophet Amos impresses upon the people that justice is to roll down like waters, and righteousness to be like an ever-flowing stream (Amos 5:24). Righteousness must be practised without ceasing. Thereby he has in view the care and well-being for the poor and lowly, instead of oppressing and trampling them in order to enrich oneself more and more, as was all too often the actual practice in his days (Amos 4:1, 5:11-12).

Justice consists in beneficence and mercy. That righteousness and mercy go together is evident from the word presented to King Nebuchadnezzar. He is told to break off his sins and iniquities by practising righteousness and showing mercy toward all (Daniel 4:27). Justice consists in showing mercy to the poor and wretched.

The extent to which justice and mercy are identical is also shown by the fact that, in later Judaism, the word “righteousness” is readily equated with mercy and beneficence. We have an example of this in Matthew 6:1, where Jesus says that your righteousness should not be done before other people to be noticed by them. Some ancient manuscripts have use the word “almsgiving” here, the same word translated as “reward” in verses 2-4. One can also fill in the word “benevolence” there. It means charitable gifts to support the poor and needy. One should not do this in order to be praised by people. The left hand should not know what the right hand is doing. One should do this out of love, out of a tender readiness to help the other. That is righteousness.

That righteousness and love are on a par is evident from Hosea 10:12 — “Sow for yourself righteousness; reap steadfast love” — and Proverbs 21:21. All of life must be governed by righteousness and kindness.

Paul also mentions righteousness, love and faith in the same breath as the most important virtues (among others), to be pursued in life (1 Timothy 6:11).

It is clear that in the Bible love, mercy and justice have everything to do with each other. We saw earlier the connection between love and mercy and called mercy a form of love. Now it turns out that both in turn are expressions of righteousness. And just as the practice of love and mercy should be a reflection in people’s lives of God’s love and mercy, in the practice of justice by people something of his justice must become visible.

Often God’s justice in the Bible is understood unilaterally as his punitive justice, in contrast to his love and mercy. And this punitive justice of God is indeed present, but then as the flip side of his liberating and saving justice. In God’s justice his love and mercy are revealed, see also Heidelberg Catechism, q/a 11.

God’s justice means that he is faithful to his word. Justice and faithfulness are synonymous with him (Psalms 36:6, 40:11, 96:13, 143:1. See also 1 John 1:9): “God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin.” Faithful and righteous are synonymous. God keeps his word. That means punitive justice for his enemies. And in that way he also keeps his word, in that he does not allow enmity to remain unpunished. His hand is full of righteousness (Psalm 48:11). Punishing righteousness is given to his enemies (verses 5-9), but redemptive and saving righteousness to his people, revealing himself in mercy (verse 10). In righteousness he fulfills his promises that he made to his people, namely, that he delivers them from distress and misery when they call upon him.

We therefore hear people appealing to his justice and righteousness again and again, especially in the Psalms:

• Psalm 5:8: “Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness”;
• Psalm 31:1-2: “In your righteousness deliver me!...Rescue me speedily”;
• Psalm. 71:2: “In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me, incline your ear to me, and save me!”;
• Psalm 143:1: “In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!”;
• Psalm 143:11: “In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!”

Initially Luther did not understand these statements, because he understood the righteousness of God as merely punitive righteousness, in a legal sense as giving each his due, and then man could not expect anything but condemnation for himself as a sinful man—until he realized that in the Bible the righteousness of God is something else, namely his mercy and faithfulness to show forgiveness and compassion in our need according to his promise. Calvin is correct to note, in Psalm 5:8, that God’s righteousness represents his faithfulness and longsuffering, which he demonstrates in protecting his believers, and so the psalmist can derive from God’s righteousness the hope that it will guide him. And in the case of Psalm 40:10, where the righteousness of God is equated with his faithfulness, redemption, goodness and truth, Calvin notes that God’s righteousness is his constant protection by which he protects his own, and as a consequence his mercy and redemption, by which he continues to visit his own by helping them without ceasing, until he has given them safety on solid ground.

In Psalm 98, the righteousness of God is his mercy and faithfulness toward the house of Israel, by redeeming the people of Israel, and the nations witness this, verses 2, 3. This psalm was probably composed in response to the deliverance of the people of Israel from their Babylonian exile. In that deliverance God proved his mercy and faithfulness by keeping his word and delivering his poor and oppressed people. In that faithfulness to his promise, he shows his righteousness. The righteous acts of the LORD (Judges 5:11; 1 Samuel 12:7; Micah 6:5) are his acts of redemption in the history of his people, because in them he reveals his justice as a God who is faithful to his word and delivers people from their miseries. He works justice for all who are oppressed (Psalm 103:6), and his righteousness endures forever (Psalm 111:3). Therefore the generations of the righteous rejoice over God’s abundant goodness and his righteousness, (Psalm 145:4-7). The believers will proclaim it (Psalms 22:31, 35:28, 71:24). God’s righteousness is his salvation, his redemption, and his deliverance (Isaiah 51:6, 8). By his righteousness he grants relief from distress (Psalm 4:1).

Righteousness also characterizes the person and work of the Anointed, the Messiah. He rules justly, that is, in the fear of God (2 Samuel 23:3). Righteousness and the fear of God belong together. Justice is the fruit of the fear of God. Acknowledging God, acting according to his commandments, means righteousness and salvation for man. That righteousness is called the belt of his waist (Isaiah 11:5), means that he is clothed with it, that it is his ornament and characteristic. He hastens to exercise righteousness (Isaiah 16:5), and that means that for the oppressed he is as a shelter against the wind and a refuge from the storm (Isaiah 32:2). He does justice in the land, and his name is “The LORD is our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6, 33:15). In him God exercises justice for the redemption of the wretched.

In the kingship of the Messiah, the righteousness that was looked forward to under Israel with each new king, is fulfilled. He will save the poor who cry out for help, the miserable and those who have no helper; he will have mercy on the humble and the poor; he will redeem the lives of the poor. He will deliver their lives from pressure and violence (Psalm 72:12-14). He is the servant of the LORD, of whom it is true that he will not break a bruised reed, nor will he extinguish the faintly burning wick (Isaiah 42:3). And the evangelist Matthew sees this fulfilled in Jesus who took care of the oppressed and who healed the sick (Matthew 12:17-21). It is the righteousness that belongs to the kingdom of God, which we are all called to pursue and to which we must give expression (see Matt 6:33).

Exercising justice through love and mercy is the task of the diaconate. The office of deacon is as much the service of justice as it is the service of love and mercy. It gives shape to God’s righteousness and the righteousness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. His righteousness is service to the Father for the salvation of people. And not only are we saved by his righteousness (Romans 5:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21), we are called to display it: “Present your members to God as instruments for righteousness” (Romans 6:13). “Having been set free from sin [we] have become slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:18). In all the labour in the church, righteousness is to be regarded as help and support of one another, as Christ gave himself for his church.