Righteous Judgment

February 25th 2026

The Danger of Righteous Anger and Self-Examination

It can be tempting to want to wield power you think is done righteously, but we must carefully examine ourselves and our motives to assess if it would be sinful anger.

The Old Testament Theocracy and Its Purpose

When God revealed His laws to the Israelites, it was their governmental system headed by God through Moses, known as a Theocracy. In those laws, punishments are prescribed for many forms of crimes and sins against the community and their neighbours, some even requiring death for the perpetrator(s). Knowing these laws and what their intentions were is very important to our lives as Christians. We must not use them as justification for our actions, as even at the time, these laws did not apply to outsiders. The Israelites (and those who entered their nation) knew who God was, knew He was their leader, and as such were beholden to His righteous judgments through the law. These laws were intended to set Israel apart from the nations surrounding them (Leviticus 20:26).

The New Israel, The Church, as the Modern Called-Out People

Now the church is now believers who trust in Christ as their savior. I'm not here to argue about denominations, for our purposes we will continue on from here. Jesus Christ having gave himself up for us, drew all people to himself (John 12:32, 35-36) as our Head (Colossians 1:15-20), just as He was the head of the Israelites through Moses. This "church", then, is the new spiritual nation of Israel (Galatians 3:7-9, 26-29), and serves the same purpose for the Lord; We are to be set apart from the world as a people zealous for good works done through our faith in Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11-14).

Judging Within the Church – Not Outside

We must, then, be careful to only use our judgments as believers on those inside the spiritual nation of Israel. Christ said to try and reconcile with your brother if he is in sin. If he refuses, we are to bring 2 or 3 witnesses and try again. If he refuses yet again we are to tell it to the Church, and if he still refuses "let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector to you" (Matthew 18:15-20). St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, taught us that we are to judge our fellow believers, those inside the church and leave it to God to judge those outside the church (1 Corinthians 5:9-13). At the end of that passage, he makes a clear reference to Deuteronomy when he says “Purge the evil from your midst”, not at all meaning to stone sinful Christians (for most of us would have been stoned ages ago), but to not associate with a brother who bears the sin unrepentant.

Violence Does Not Win Hearts

You will not win the hearts of people by violence, Christ said as much himself when St. Peter cut the ear off the high priest’s servant (Matthew 26:51-53; John 18:10-11). When we resort to violence, we metaphorically cut people’s ears off.

Exposing Darkness Without Withdrawing

Do not be mistaken, this is not an instruction to sit idly by while injustices are carried out in your countries. We are called to expose the shameful works of darkness in this world because anything done in darkness that is brought into the light has a chance for the light of Christ to shine on it. This is the nature of what St. Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, and follows closely the teachings he also gave to St. Timothy in how to operate appropriately as a group of believers (Ephesians 5:1-21; 1 Timothy 5:19-25). We must then hold ourselves to a higher standard than those outside the church, but this is not a call to withdraw from ministering to those who are not saved. Jesus ministered to sinners (because of all of us are), but by that I mean not just the disciples who maybe struggled with little sins, but even prostitutes. He didn't associate with them in partaking in their sins, but He called out their sins, and called them to repentance and to believe in Him.

The Role of Governing Authorities

We must also understand that the national leaders we have (however stupid at times they may be) are there to enact punishments on behalf of God. St. Peter wrote about this in his first epistle (1 Peter 2:13-25), and we have zero excuse for not agreeing because at the time of its authorship, it would have been state policy to persecute Christians. Advocate for Christian leaders, vote for them, speak out on issues that matter in your country; be the change where you live, and it will ripple outwards.

The Reality of Living in a Secular Age

Unfortunately, we live in secularized countries where the influence of Biblical truth has diminished from the public consciousness and has been replaced with secular morality. Progress dictates what is and isn’t permissible, and ever increasingly it seems that our laws are maligned with Biblical truth. With this simple fact comes an uncomfortable truth: injustice will happen; criminals will go unpunished.

God’s Perspective on Justice and Eternity

We as humans see our existence as a point in time moving along a line; God doesn’t see it that way. These injustices will not go unpunished; in fact, quite the opposite. God sees them all from His throne, every little injustice will be judged finally by Him. He is so just, that His judgment is that the unrepentant world—filled with injustices—will spend eternity separated from him. This is not a joyous fact—Revelation ends with God wiping away every tear and pain from us. That will be because we will have just watched everyone (even some people whom we love) who chose worldly passions over Him get cast into the lake of fire to be separated from our Lord by their own choices. In Romans 12:19, St. Paul says:

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." (Romans 12:19 ESV)

Leave it for God to punish, because violence will never win hearts and minds for the Lord, and boy is their punishment awful. True disciples of Christ do not revile for revile, they bless.

The Example of the Early Church in Acts

We need not go further than the book of Acts to show the appropriate way to get people to come to Christ, even among people who hate us.

Peter’s Preaching at Pentecost

Immediately following the pouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus, Peter began to preach in the name of Jesus in Jerusalem. He shared the truth with them, in love, so that they may come to repentance. (Acts 2:14-41) The scripture referenced ends with the following two verses:

40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:40-41 ESV)

Persecution and Boldness – Never Violence (Acts 4–5)

Not everyone will listen to us when we tell them they have sin in their lives. As time has gone on, our hearts have grown harder and harder to the truth. Peter continued to preach throughout Jerusalem, but he never once picked up the sword to force repentance.

In Acts Chapter 4, we reach a point where Peter and John are seized by the High Priest and his cohorts for performing a miracle healing of a paralyzed man. There, they testify that it was Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom they crucified, that made that man well. Giving the High Priests no ability to charge anything against them, they were forced to release them.

They did, however, attempt to attach a condition that the apostles would not be allowed to speak in the name of Jesus anymore. Peter and John had an excellent answer to that, replying:

“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20 ESV)

They can’t keep quiet about what they have witnessed. Following this, the rest of the believers got together, and they prayed for boldness to preach and for Jesus to stretch out His hand and perform miracles through them (Acts 4:23-31).

Chapter 5: The apostles have now been imprisoned for preaching and healing in the name of Jesus, but they are released by an Angel to continue preaching, this time in the temple. When the Sanhedrin caught word of this, they were afraid to drag them by force, but the Apostles went willingly (Acts 5:25-26) to them to testify, yet again. They were even considering killing them, but ultimately they did not because a wise man reminded them all other messiah movements have died with the leader, and that if this one was not from God, it too would fizzle out (spoiler alert! It didn’t).

They beat the Apostles for preaching in the name of Jesus (Acts 5:40-42). Did the Apostles beat them back? They were God’s chosen group, surely he would have supported them being violent to the chief priests, right? No? They continued to preach and do good works (miracles in their case) in the name of Jesus.

So why do you think Jesus would want you to be violent to people who don’t believe or may even persecute you today? We are told to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:43-48). I pray to God that I am able to fulfill that standard, and I may fail, but I praise God for the grace found in Jesus Christ.

The Martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 6–7)

At the end of Acts 6 and into Acts 7, Stephen, who is one of the disciples chosen to preach the word of God, is seized by the Sanhedrin on false pretenses of blasphemy. The entirety of chapter 7 is an excellent sermon given by Stephen to witness to the wickedness of all generations. He testified that even Moses was rejected by the people despite being chosen, and condemned them for being the children of those who killed the prophets who testified of the coming of the Righteous One, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom they crucified. He was then given a vision of Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father which he shared with the Pharisees. This enraged them so much that they stoned Stephen to death:

59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59-60 ESV)

Stephen was shown mercy, asking Jesus to receive him and even forgave those who were killing him! This is what we are called to do for Christ. Not to pick up the sword and kill for him, but to testify to His Glory—unto death if necessary—forgiving those who persecute us. Righteousness cannot be forced; this example is a clear case of injustice, and the disciples don’t answer with vengeance. They spoke out against it, answered with the truth—in love—with forgiveness, and mercy. They trusted that God had a plan and that ultimately He is the Righteous Judge who holds them securely.

Key Scripture Passage: 1 Peter 2:13-25 (ESV)

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 1 Pe 2:13–25.