Forming Faith Blog

Justice Is the Kingdom

Posted on July 1 2026 by Gregory Rawn

The kingdom of God is a key part of Jesus’ message. This kingdom—where God’s will reigns completely—cannot exist apart from justice.

A man holding a megaphone in a group of protesters. Justice is integral to the kingdom of God.
On Justice

This marks the fourth and final blog post in a series on biblical justice. It has been inspired by the lesson topics of our five-lesson Learning Together unit, Do Justice (Honor the Image of God, Work for Shalom, Protect the Vulnerable, Love Your Neighbor, and Justice in God’s Kingdom). While those lessons introduce the topics in general, my blog series takes a more concrete perspective on them:

This final post covers one of my two favorite concepts in the Bible (along with shalom): the kingdom of God.

Defining Justice

In my reading of the Bible (informed by what I have been taught by others), I understand justice to be the ultimate will of God in our broken world.

Justice is the work toward a world defined by mutual love between God, us, and each other.

As I wrote about in the previous post, this love is not a feeling of fondness or goodwill, but active work toward the benefit of others. This is God’s grace toward us and our obedience to the double commandment of love for God and our neighbors. A world defined by love is a world of shalom: wholeness and flourishing for everyone. Loving others leads to doing justice (making changes to benefit others, especially those most in need). Doing justice leads to a world of shalom. A world of shalom is the kingdom of God.

The Centrality of the Kingdom of God

In the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), the concept of the kingdom of God (kingdom of heaven in Matthew) is central to Jesus’ message. It is half of the content of his first proclamation (Matthew 4:17 and Mark 1:14-15, Luke doesn’t mention it first, but the kingdom is specifically stated as Jesus’ topic of the good news in Luke 4:43).

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus’ first recorded teaching is what I have heard called his “mission statement”:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Luke 4:18-19 (NRSVUE)
What Is the Kingdom of God?

While Jesus spends a lot of time telling parables about the kingdom, I find the simplest definition in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:10.

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

This is an example of synonymous parallelism, a literary device often found in Hebrew poetry: a juxtaposition of two phrases or sentences to repeat, emphasize, or elaborate. What is God’s kingdom? God’s will being done. What is God’s will? God’s will has been given to us in the Torah (law), which Jesus summarizes with a double commandment: love God completely, love others as we (should) love ourselves. So, what is this kingdom that we pray will come into our world? A reality of complete and mutual love: shalom. Working towards God’s kingdom is the work of justice (within the “loving your neighbor” and “on earth” side of things*).

Justice and Repentance

In Jesus’ first proclamation about the kingdom, the announcement that “the kingdom is near” is coupled with the command “repent.” But what do the two have to do with each other and with justice? We can discuss repentance in depth at a different time, but at its core, repentance is about changing your thinking and behavior (both). It is about turning away from our own way of doing things (which will have some level of selfishness) and turning toward God’s way of doing things. God’s way. God’s will. God’s kingdom.

Our thoughts and actions tend toward selfishness. So, when we create systems (larger ways of doing things), the systems tend toward selfishness. Selfish systems benefit the creators of those systems (and their allies/descendants). If a system is intended to benefit one group of people, it likely harms another group. Selfish systems are therefore unjust and require justice work to change. And turning from a selfish way to God’s way is repentance. [Systems intended to help all people will often unintentionally cause problems somewhere due to human limitations and brokenness. So, system-creators and sustainers need to have humility and a willingness to turn back to God’s way as a continual process.]

So, justice work, loving in the long-term, is the work of repentance on a larger scale. Individuals aren’t the only ones who need to repent. All types of systems need repentance, too.

Faith Formation and the Kingdom of God

The kingdom of God is at the center of the gospel. As our faith itself is centered on the good news of Jesus, this means that the kingdom of God is at the center of our faith. Elsewhere, I have written on the mission of the church (hint: it has to do with the kingdom), where I connect the kingdom and faith formation.

However, what is clear here is that justice and the kingdom of God are not tangential to faith formation but at the center of it. This doesn’t mean that every Sunday school lesson needs to be about bringing about justice (or even service, love in action over a short term). But it is also not a subject that can be ignored without truncating our faith and the faith of our participants.

Blessings to you as you do your ministry,

Gregory Rawn (Publisher)

*The connection between loving others/combating systemic injustice and loving/worshipping only God is a bit complicated. Jesus, the prophets, and the apostle James make it clear that one cannot love God without loving others/doing justice. But can you do justice without loving/worshipping only God? Perhaps that’s the key difference between doing justice and spreading God’s kingdom. One cannot spread God’s kingdom without also loving others/doing justice, but loving others/doing justice is only half of spreading God’s kingdom.

In the summer, I am busy finishing up the spring quarters of our 2026-2027 faith formation resources (related to the Revised Common Lectionary and Narrative Lectionary). So, I am taking one series from the past and revising it. That is what I am doing with this Justice series. Brand-new posts will be coming in July and August!

Order Faith Formation Resources

Are you planning for summer and the 2026-2027 faith formation programming? Order an affordable VBS-ready Learning Together unit and program-year curriculum for the Narrative Lectionary (Year 1, 2026-2027), Revised Common Lectionary (Years A & B, 2026-2027), or Key Bible Stories (non-lectionary, PK-2nd, 3rd-6th).

New RCL faith-at-home resource!

I’m excited to announce a new product series for Spirit & Truth Publishing: Taking Faith Home. Taking Faith Home is a set of weekly devotional resources (often distributed as worship bulletin inserts) that follows the Revised Common Lectionary. We offer it as a Church Year (Dec. 2025 to Nov. 2026) and a Program Year (Sept. 2026 to May 2027). You can also purchase by quarter, such as Summer and Fall. Learn more here and read a review!

VBS, Events, Retreats, and More!

Are you looking for resources for VBS, topical Sunday school, family/intergenerational events, retreats, and more?

Learning Together is a series of affordable, five-lesson units on a variety of topics. Our faith formation resources are easy to use, theologically sound, and inclusive. Each unit can be used at any time in many different settings, but here are a few suggestions:

+ VBS: Paul’s Adventures (NEW!), Celebrations, Created to Care, God’s Gift of Water, Heroes of the Bible
+ Education, Events, and Retreats: The I AM Statements of Jesus (free!), Travelers (Immigrants and Refugees), Do Justice, Celebrations, Women of the Old Testament, Bible 101

Building Faith has recommended two of our units as VBS curriculum: Paul’s Adventures (reviewed in 2026) and Celebrations (reviewed in 2025)!

You can also read outside reviews on both our Do Justice and Created to Care units.

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