Justice

==Divine command and Religious Theories of Justice==

{{Main|Divine command theory}}{{See also|Divine command}}
Advocates of divine command theory say justice, and indeed the whole of morality, is the authoritative command of God. Murder is wrong and must be punished, for instance, because God says it so. Some versions of the theory assert that God must be obeyed because of the nature of God's relationship with humanity, others assert that God must be obeyed because God is goodness itself, and thus doing God's command would be best for everyone.

An early meditation on the divine command theory by [[Plato]] can be found in his dialogue, [[Euthyphro]]. Called the [[Euthyphro dilemma]], it goes as follows: "Is what is morally good commanded by the gods because it is morally good, or is it morally good because it is commanded by the gods?" The implication is that if the latter is true, then justice is beyond mortal understanding; if the former is true, then morality exists independently from the gods, and is therefore subject to the judgment of mortals. A [[Argument from morality|response]], popularized in two contexts by [[Immanuel Kant]] and [[C. S. Lewis]], is that it is deductively valid to say that the existence of an objective morality implies the existence of God and vice versa.

[[Judaism|Jews]], [[Christianity|Christians]], and [[Islam|Muslims]] traditionally believe that justice is a present, real, right, and, specifically, governing concept along with [[mercy]], and that justice is ultimately derived from and held by [[God]]. According to the [[Bible]], such [[institution]]s as the [[Law of Moses|Mosaic Law]] were created by God to require the [[Israelites]] to live by and apply God's standards of justice.

The Hebrew Bible describes God as saying about the Judeo-Christian [[patriarch]] [[Abraham]]: "No, for I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice;...." ([[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 18:19, [[New Revised Standard Version|NRSV)]]. The [[Psalms|Psalmist]] describes God as having "Righteousness and justice [as] the foundation of [His] throne;...." (Psalms 89:14, NRSV).

The [[New Testament]] also describes God and [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]] as having and displaying justice, often in comparison with God displaying and supporting [[mercy]] ([[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 5:7).