God intended the entire culture of Israel to learn and teach how to do justice in a way that shaped their hearts as well as their behavior.

From the beginning, God’s justice has been transformational -- restoring the world back to right again and covenantal -- restoring our relationships with Him and others.

People took ownership of the shalom and wholeness of their community; and, if something was wrong, they worked to right it, even if it wasn’t their fault.

Doing “justice and righteousness” means loving the things that lead to life and actively righting the wrongs that keep people from experiencing life as God created it to be.

Doing “justice and righteousness” means honoring and expressing God’s intended order and His ways for life. That means doing things that lead to wholeness, freedom, and prosperity for people and His physical world.

Another major difference between justice in the Bible and our modern views of justice is that in our world, justice has to be enforced by institutions like the police force, courts systems, and prisons. This gives rise to the impression that doing justice is the responsibility of only a few people. If something is broken and it’s not our fault, then we commonly assume we don’t have to do anything to fix it. In the biblical world, however, justice was done by everyone and was everyone’s responsibility. Because of that, justice was taught not merely enforced.