The Bible teaches that fairness and justice are essential aspects of God's character and will for humanity. In Proverbs and Psalms, the importance of upholding fairness and doing what is right is emphasized, especially in relation to the vulnerable and marginalized. The New Testament, in books such as James and Hebrews, also stresses the need for fairness and impartiality, warning against showing favoritism or discriminating against others. Ecclesiastes notes that chance and circumstance can sometimes undermine fairness, but God remains just and faithful, as seen in Hebrews, where His fairness is demonstrated in His reward of those who serve Him.
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My brothers, as you hold out your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you lavish attention on the man in fine clothes and say, “Here is a seat of honor,” but say to the poor man, “You must stand” or “Sit at my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?
I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all.
For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so.
Honest scales and balances are from the LORD; all the weights in the bag are His concern.
Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and humble.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.
You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
My brothers, as you hold out your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism.
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ‘You also go into my vineyard,’ he said, ‘and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ he asked. ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. So he told them, ‘You also go into my vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and moving on to the first.’ The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when the original workers came, they assumed they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarius. On receiving their pay, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Did you not agree with me on one denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give this last man the same as I gave you. Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
“You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness. You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd. And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit. If you encounter your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you fallen under its load, do not leave it there; you must help him with it. You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits. Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous. Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. For six years you are to sow your land and gather its produce, but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove. For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you must cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the son of your maidservant may be refreshed, as well as the foreign resident. Pay close attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips. Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me. You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed. You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field. Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD. You must not offer the blood of My sacrifices with anything leavened, nor may the fat of My feast remain until morning. Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk. Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he will not forgive rebellion, since My Name is in him. But if you will listen carefully to his voice and do everything I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. For My angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will annihilate them. You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces. So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take away sickness from among you. No woman in your land will miscarry or be barren; I will fulfill the number of your days. I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run. I will send the hornet before you to drive the Hivites and Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. I will not drive them out before you in a single year; otherwise the land would become desolate and wild animals would multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out ahead of you, until you become fruitful and possess the land. And I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants into your hand, and you will drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods. They must not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.
Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.