Is Your Desire for Justice Sinful? (Father Spyridon)
Father Spyridon argues that human justice demands punishment while divine justice calls for forgiveness. A look at the parable of the ungrateful servant and at meekness.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
For Father Spyridon, the human desire for justice is corrupted by anger and vengeance, while divine justice calls for forgiveness and faith. Those who do not forgive, he warns, block God's own mercy from reaching them.
Justice is one of those words everyone uses and almost no one defines. Father Spyridon, in a series of video reflections, draws an uncomfortable distinction: what the world calls justice is often something else. When we defend others, he says, we feel noble and virtuous, but we rarely know how to tell our passions —anger, vengeance— apart from God's true justice. The worldly notion demands that someone pay the price to satisfy a personal craving for satisfaction. That logic, he argues, stems from fallen human reasoning.
## The parable of the servant who did not forgive
The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, contains the parable of the servant whose master forgave a great debt. Freed from that burden, the servant was unable to show mercy to a fellow servant who owed him far less. Father Spyridon uses this passage to place the believer in the position of the forgiven servant. We have received immense mercy, and any offence committed against us must be forgiven.
Denying forgiveness to others is no small matter. On this reading, it is a grave sin that separates us from God and blocks the reception of His own eternal mercy. Divine justice is not grasped through human reasoning, but through faith and obedience to Christ. The Epistle to the Hebrews sums it up: the just shall live by faith.
## Meekness: the heart that obeys a mind that has conquered
The Church Fathers, Spyridon notes, did not separate love from divine justice. The world sees mercy as a abusa of justice, as letting someone get away with it. In God, both coexist in perfect harmony. Psalm 26 points to this: He shall teach the meek His ways. Meekness, here, is not weakness. It is the condition in which the heart obeys a mind that has conquered its passions —lust, anger— and submits to God. It was Adam's condition before the Fall.
From this trinc a political and social consequence. True authority cannot exist, nor can justice be sought in politics or society, if leaders and citizens are ruled by their passions. That, he warns, only leads to disaster.
## False mercy and the rejection of modern terms
There is one point Father Spyridon stresses harshly. The Church Fathers warn that it is a sin to show mercy toward whatever strengthens the enemies of virtue. Such compassion they call imprudent or false mercy. Divine mercy, he holds, does not accept sin disguised as compassion, diversity or inclusion. There is no compatibility between the love of God and evil.
The stance he proposes is uncomfortable for the contemporary Christian. Even if the world redefines values and labels authentic Christian love as intolerance or phobia, believers must hold fast to the eternal reality of God's justice and mercy. Out of true love for one's neighbour, he says, everything that leads to hell must be condemned and rejected.
This kind of approach touches on matters of faith and conscience that each person weighs according to their own judgment and, where applicable, with the guidance of a professional or their religious community.
Justice is one of those words everyone uses and almost no one defines. Father Spyridon, in a series of video reflections, draws an uncomfortable distinction: what the world calls justice is often something else. When we defend others, he says, we feel noble and virtuous, but we rarely know how to tell our passions —anger, vengeance— apart from God's true justice. The worldly notion demands that someone pay the price to satisfy a personal craving for satisfaction. That logic, he argues, stems from fallen human reasoning.
## The parable of the servant who did not forgive
The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, contains the parable of the servant whose master forgave a great debt. Freed from that burden, the servant was unable to show mercy to a fellow servant who owed him far less. Father Spyridon uses this passage to place the believer in the position of the forgiven servant. We have received immense mercy, and any offence committed against us must be forgiven.
Denying forgiveness to others is no small matter. On this reading, it is a grave sin that separates us from God and blocks the reception of His own eternal mercy. Divine justice is not grasped through human reasoning, but through faith and obedience to Christ. The Epistle to the Hebrews sums it up: the just shall live by faith.
## Meekness: the heart that obeys a mind that has conquered
The Church Fathers, Spyridon notes, did not separate love from divine justice. The world sees mercy as a abusa of justice, as letting someone get away with it. In God, both coexist in perfect harmony. Psalm 26 points to this: He shall teach the meek His ways. Meekness, here, is not weakness. It is the condition in which the heart obeys a mind that has conquered its passions —lust, anger— and submits to God. It was Adam's condition before the Fall.
From this trinc a political and social consequence. True authority cannot exist, nor can justice be sought in politics or society, if leaders and citizens are ruled by their passions. That, he warns, only leads to disaster.
## False mercy and the rejection of modern terms
There is one point Father Spyridon stresses harshly. The Church Fathers warn that it is a sin to show mercy toward whatever strengthens the enemies of virtue. Such compassion they call imprudent or false mercy. Divine mercy, he holds, does not accept sin disguised as compassion, diversity or inclusion. There is no compatibility between the love of God and evil.
The stance he proposes is uncomfortable for the contemporary Christian. Even if the world redefines values and labels authentic Christian love as intolerance or phobia, believers must hold fast to the eternal reality of God's justice and mercy. Out of true love for one's neighbour, he says, everything that leads to hell must be condemned and rejected.
This kind of approach touches on matters of faith and conscience that each person weighs according to their own judgment and, where applicable, with the guidance of a professional or their religious community.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (1 replies).
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