Biblical Foundation
Holy Scripture is God’s authoritative revelation to humankind setting forth the character and heart of God, and offering to believers training in righteousness, that the man and woman of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.1 From Scripture we learn that the Creator is a God of justice and righteousness;2 that he measures the acts of individuals against an absolute standard of divine holiness.3 We learn that every person, without distinction,4 is created in the image of God5 and is precious in His sight; that so great is God’s love for each of us that He gave up his only Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem from sin and death any who would believe in His name.6 We learn, too, that all persons are fallen creatures, with evil inherent to their natures.7 We learn that the sinful nature of humankind and the fallen state of the world are manifest in the evil that humans visit upon one another.8 We learn that this is a world in rebellion against God, a world in which power and deceit are used to take from men and women those good things given to them by their Creator; namely, life, liberty, dignity, and the fruit of creation, love and labor.9 We learn that the Creator God judges, condemns and punishes those who so abuse others.10 We learn that He has compassion on those who suffer this evil and injustice; that he sees them and hears their cry.11 We learn that God intervenes in human history by raising up righteous prophets to plead for the oppressed and intercede on behalf of the afflicted.12 We learn that God has sent the disciples of His Son to be salt and light in the midst of this world’s darkness and corruption to preach the Good News of salvation in Christ and demonstrate, in word and deed, God’s love and mercy toward those who suffer.13 We learn that a visible measure of Christian faith is the sacrificial love extended to those in need;14 and that while the earth awaits its final redemption in Christ,15 faithful men and women of God will obey His call to preach the Gospel,16 to seek justice,17 to reprove the ruthless,18 to plead for the weak,19 to remember the ill-treated20 and the afflicted and to deliver them,21 to speak for the voiceless22 and defend the rights of the afflicted,23 to loosen the bonds of wickedness, and to let the oppressed go free.24
Upon this foundation, therefore, we offer our sacrifice of mercy and service in obedience to Christ, in support of His Gospel, and for the advancement of His Kingdom.
1 2 Tim. 3:16-17 (16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.).
2 Ps. 97:2 (righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.); Deut. 32:4 (He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.); Ps. 89:14 (Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.).
3 Ps. 9:8 (He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.); Is. 5:16 (But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness.); Ps. 96:13 (they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.).
4 Rom. 2:11 (For God does not show favoritism.); Acts 10:34-35 (34Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.).
5 Gen. 1:27 (So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.).
6 John 3:16 (“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”); 2 Peter 3:9 (“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”); Rom. 5:8 (“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”).
7 Rom. 3:22b-23 (“There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”); Ps. 51:5 (“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”); Eph. 2:3 (“All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”).
8 Ps. 10:3-11 (“3He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD. 4In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. 5His ways are always prosperous; he is haughty and your laws are far from him; he sneers at all his enemies. 6He says to himself, ‘Nothing will shake me; I’ll always be happy and never have trouble.’ 7His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue. 8He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent, watching in secret for his victims. 9He lies in wait like a lion in cover; he lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net. 10His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength. 11He says to himself, ‘God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees.’”); Ecc. 4:1-3 (“1Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed – and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors – and they have no comforter. 2And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive. 3But better than both is he who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.”).
9 Rom. 3:10-18 (“10As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; 11there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.’ 13’Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.’ ‘The poison of vipers is on their lips.’ 14’’Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.’ 15’Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16ruin and misery mark their ways, 17and the way of peace they do not know.’ 18’There is no fear of God before their eyes.’”); Is. 59:1-5 (“1Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. 3For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things. 4No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. 5They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched.”).
10 Ps. 11:5-6 (“5The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates. 6On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot.”); Pr. 14:31 (“He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”); Ps. 5:4-6 (“4You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. 5The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong. 6You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors.”); Is. 10:1-4 (“1Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, 2to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. 3What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches? 4Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives or fall among the slain. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.”).
11 Ex. 3:9 (“And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.”); Ps. 10:14-18 (“14But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. 15Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out. 16The LORD is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. 17You hear, O LORD , the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, 18defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.”); Ps. 9:12 (“For he who avenges blood remembers; he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.”); James 5:4 (“Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.”).
12 Ex. 6:6 (“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.’”); Is. 59:15-16 (“15Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. 16He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.”); Is. 1:17 (“learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”); Is. 58:6 (““Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?”); Jer. 22; Hos. 10:12-15 (“12Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you. 13 But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors, 14the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be devastated – as Shalman devastated Beth Arbel on the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children. 15Thus will it happen to you, O Bethel, because your wickedness is great. When that day dawns, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.”); Amos 5:12 (“For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts.”); Jer. 21:11-14 (“11‘Moreover, say to the royal house of Judah, “Hear the word of the LORD; 12O house of David, this is what the LORD says: ‘“Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done – burn with no one to quench it. 13I am against you, Jerusalem, you who live above this valley on the rocky plateau, declares the LORD – you who say, ‘Who can come against us? Who can enter our refuge?’ 14I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the LORD. I will kindle a fire in your forests that will consume everything around you.”‘”).
13 Matt. 5:13-16 (13“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”); Luke 4:16-21 (“16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18’The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ 20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’”); Matt. 28:19-20 (“19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”).
14 James 1:27 (“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”); James 2:14-17 (“14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”); I John 4:20-21 (“20If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”); Matt. 25:31-46 (“31When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ 41Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”).
15 Col. 1:19-20 (“19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”); Rom. 8:20-21 (“20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”); Rom. 3:21-24 (“21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”).
16 Mark 16:15 (“He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.’”)
17 Mic. 6:8 (“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”); Amos 5:15 (“Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.”).
18 Is. 1:17 (“Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”)
19 Jer. 5:27-29 (“’27Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful28and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor. 29Should I not punish them for this?’ declares the LORD. ‘Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?’”).
20 Heb. 13:3 (“Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”).
21 Ps. 82:3-4 (“3Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. 4Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”); Jer. 21:12 (“O house of David, this is what the LORD says: ‘Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done – burn with no one to quench it.’”).
22 Pr. 31:8 (“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.”).
23 Pr. 31:9 (“Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”).
24 Is. 58:6 (““Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?”).