Jesus And Social Justice by Apostle Emmanuel Iren: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Faith and Works: The Two Interpretations of One Text

There is a text in the Old Testament that is foundational to the entire theological fabric of the Bible — quoted repeatedly in the New Testament as the landing page for teachings on righteousness, justification, and salvation. That text is Genesis 15:6: "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."

This same text was interpreted in two seemingly different ways by Paul and by James. Handled carelessly, a reader might conclude the two apostles were contradicting each other.

Paul's argument in Romans 4: Abraham was justified by faith, not by works.

• Romans 4:2–3 — "If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast of — but not before God. What does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
• A person's only contribution to their own salvation is the sin that made it necessary. Everything else — the entire salvific transaction — is God's work. All that is required is sincere belief.
• Paul even notes that Abraham was justified before he was circumcised — meaning the physical sign came after the spiritual reality. Abraham is therefore the father both of the circumcised and the uncircumcised who believe.

James, however, writes in James 2:14–26 that faith without works is dead. He uses the same figure — Abraham — but points to a different event: not Abraham looking at the stars, but Abraham sacrificing Isaac.

There is no contradiction. The two apostles are making different but complementary arguments:

Paul teaches justification by faith using Abraham at the moment of belief — Genesis 15.

James teaches the demonstration of that justification using Abraham at the moment of obedience — Genesis 22.

The relationship between them is this: a person is not saved by works, but they are saved to walk. God gives salvation freely by grace. The saved person then demonstrates — not earns — that salvation through corresponding action. Someone who gets a job by the grace of a friend's connection still has to show up and work. Grace secured the entrance; faithfulness is now required of the one inside.

Ephesians 2:8–10 — "By grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. But we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works."

Works are not a prerequisite for salvation. They are the proof of it.

The Hebrew Word That Changes Everything

In Genesis 15:6, the Hebrew word translated "righteousness" is Tzedakah (צְדָקָה). Theology often treats this word in its Christocentric sense — a right standing with God, received freely by faith. And that reading is correct.

But Tzedakah is used almost everywhere else in the Old Testament to mean something broader:

• Justice — ensuring everyone receives what is due them, what is their right
• Moral integrity — consistency between inner conviction and outward conduct
• Faithfulness to covenant — the obligations that flow from relationship

Tzedakah is a performative word. God labels the person righteous in advance — and then the person must walk in a manner consistent with that label. For the New Testament believer who has received the Holy Spirit, this is not abstract. The Spirit animates and enables the very righteousness the label declares.

1 John 3:7 — "He that does righteousness is righteous." It is no longer just a label. The Spirit inside makes it possible to live it out.

And one of the things that righteousness demands — inseparably — is justice.

Righteousness Includes Justice: The Biblical Case

Proverbs 21:3 — "To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."

This was spoken in a time when the defining act of temple worship was bringing a sacrifice. God is saying: doing righteousness — which includes justice — matters more than religious performance. This is not a minor point. It reorders the hierarchy of what God considers important.

Justice, in this context, means ensuring people receive what is due them. Injustice is when someone is prevented from getting what is their right. And God declares this kind of active righteousness more important than sacrifice — more important than church attendance, religious calisthenics, or spiritual protocols kept without mercy.

Job 29:12–17 — Job, in his self-assessment, describes what qualified him as righteous before God:

• He delivered the poor who cried out, and the fatherless who had no helper
• The blessing of the perishing man came upon him
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Apostle Emmanuel Iren
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• He caused the widow's heart to sing for joy
• He put on righteousness and it clothed him — and justice like a robe and a turban
• He was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame
• He broke the jaws of the wicked and took the prey from their teeth

The consciousness of being righteous — of wearing righteousness — drove Job to do righteous things. Helping widows. Standing for the fatherless. This is not extracurricular Christianity. It is woven into the fabric of what righteousness means.

The Character of God Demands a Corresponding Character in His People

Deuteronomy 10:17–19 — "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore you shall love the stranger."

This text does two things. First, it tells believers who their God is: no partiality, no bribery, actively administering justice for the most vulnerable. Second — and this is the weight of the word "therefore" — it tells them to do the same. The character of God is not just a statement for worship. It is a template for behavior.

When a believer is brought into right relationship with this God, it must condition how they think, how they act, how they treat other people. The God who administers justice for the fatherless and the widow sent his people to do the same.

Jesus and the Pattern of Social Concern

Of all the things Jesus stood against, one of the most consistent was performative, hypocritical religion — religion that had form without substance, that was confined to the sanctuary while people died in the streets.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus is deliberate about detail: the ones who passed by the dying man were a Levite and a priest — people coming from religious service. The one who stopped was a Samaritan, from a group the Jews despised.

Jesus is making an explicit point: it is possible to be completely inoculated with religion and still be indifferent to human suffering. He is naming the hypocrisy of vertical-only righteousness — performing all the sacred rituals while treating the horizontal dimension of life as irrelevant.

Matthew 23:23 — "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone."

The word "weightier" is the Lord's own assessment. Justice is not a secondary concern for spiritually advanced believers with extra time. It is a weightier matter of the law — and neglecting it while performing religious duties is hypocrisy.

The Dangers of Tribalism

One specific form of injustice that must be named directly is tribalism. Nigeria cannot move forward, and the church cannot be credible in its witness, while maintaining tribal hierarchies and ethnic prejudice. The history of Rwanda stands as a permanent warning: an ideology built on ethnic superiority — Tutsi versus Hutu — fueled by outside manipulation, resulted in approximately 900,000 deaths. Skulls were kept in museums as a permanent reminder of what tribalism produces.

The elites know this proclivity in human nature. Tribal cards are played deliberately to keep people divided and fighting each other. A believer who understands that every person is made in the image of God should be the last person susceptible to this manipulation.

This must extend to the smallest things. The tendency to treat more attractive children more kindly, to have blanket impressions of entire ethnic groups, to insist on marrying only within a sub-tribe of a sub-tribe — these are areas where the word of God must be allowed to reprogram thought patterns that culture has installed. Start in small things: a child is a child. Every child under a person's care must be treated with equal dignity. Train the instinct toward the heart, not the appearance.

Isaiah 58 — Why Some Prayers Go Unanswered

Isaiah 58:1–8 addresses why some people's prayers and fasting produce no visible result. God instructs Isaiah to deliver a difficult message to people who are genuinely religious — people who seek him daily, who fast, who attend to the ordinances — and yet receive no answers.

His explanation: in the days of your fast, you find pleasure and exploit all your laborers. You fast for strife and debate. You strike with the fist of wickedness.

The fasting God has chosen looks different entirely:

• To loose the bonds of wickedness
• To undo heavy burdens
• To let the oppressed go free
• To break every yoke
• To share bread with the hungry
• To bring the homeless poor into one's house
• When seeing the naked, to cover him
• Not to hide from one's own flesh

And then Isaiah 58:8: "Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard."

Justice and generosity are not just moral obligations. They are conditions under which certain blessings are released. Health, light, the glory of God as protection — these are connected, in this text, to whether one is doing the fast God chose.

Acts 10:4 confirms this pattern: an angel appeared to Cornelius and told him, "Your alms have gone up as a memorial before God." God registered Cornelius's generosity in heaven before the encounter with Peter even happened.

The Balance: Mercy as a Magnet for Mercy

Secular commentators have noted that even among the most successful people, there is a "luck factor" that cannot be fully explained by intelligence or hard work alone. The timing, the opportunity, the network — something beyond pure skill was involved.

Romans 9:16 — "It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God who shows mercy."

And yet Matthew 5:7 — "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."

There are things a person can do that attract more mercy to their life. Hardwork matters. Diligence matters. But sometimes what life ultimately answers to is mercy — and mercy is drawn to those who show it.

Deliberately create a budget for the poor. Create a budget for the vulnerable. Do it consciously. Because whatever else one knows about God, he is the father of the fatherless and husband to the widow. The person who aligns themselves with what God cares about positions themselves under the flow of what God gives.

The Practical Mandate

• Speak up against oppression and exploitation
• Speak up against corrupt and unjust governance
• Speak up against economic systems that create and sustain inequality
• Speak up against anything that causes social and community breakdown

Social impact is not extracurricular Christianity. It is not a bonus activity for churches with extra resources. It is embedded in the theological fabric of what it means to be a child of the God who shows no partiality, administers justice for the widow and fatherless, and says that doing righteousness and justice is more acceptable than sacrifice.

Whatever it is God is leading you toward — whatever gap you see around you that your gifts, your resources, or your voice can help fill — receive grace to step into it. You are not here as a consumer. God sent you here to contribute to the advancement of his cause on the earth.

Lord, help us to see our role in social impact. We take our place. Whatever I have received — time, resources, platform, influence — I give it back to you. I repent of tribalism, of indifference, of the comfort of religion without justice. Help me do righteousness and not just confess it. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen.