What does a good person feel when they witness an injustice?
“He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust.” ~ Thomas Aquinas
Does that mean that if you feel anger when you witness an injustice you are a good person?
“ ... the satisfaction we feel when wrong comes to grief. Why do we feel this satisfaction? Because we hate wrong, but, not being righteous ourselves, more or less hate the wronger as well as his wrong, hence are not only righteously pleased to behold the law’s disapproval proclaimed in his punishment, but unrighteously pleased with his suffering, because of the impact upon us of his wrong. In this way the inborn justice of our nature passes over to evil. It is no pleasure to God, as it so often is to us, to see the wicked suffer.” ~ George MacDonald, Unspoken Sermons
God takes no pleasure in the suffering of anyone, and when God has finished making us, neither will we.
“To regard any suffering with satisfaction, save it be sympathetically with its curative quality, comes of evil, is inhuman because undivine, is a thing God is incapable of. His nature is always to forgive, and just because he forgives, he punishes. Because God is so altogether alien to wrong, because it is to him a heart-pain and trouble that one of his little ones should do the evil thing, there is, I believe, no extreme of suffering to which, for the sake of destroying the evil thing in them, he would not subject them. A man might flatter, or bribe, or coax a tyrant; but there is no refuge from the love of God; that love will, for very love, insist upon the uttermost farthing.” ~ George MacDonald, Unspoken Sermons
“there is… no extreme of suffering to which, for the sake of destroying the evil thing in them, he would not subject them.”1,2
Nothing but repentance can satisfy God's justice. (See from the 37th minute in the following interview).
Like God, we must never seek the punishment of an evil doer for the sake of revenge. To do so harms our souls. This does not mean punishment is not necessary. Punishment often plays a part in bringing about repentance. But if we are honest with ourselves, we are most satisfied when those who have wronged us genuinely repent. There is no true satisfaction in revenge.
“There is no satisfaction of revenge possible to the injured. The severest punishment that can be inflicted upon the wrong-doer is simply to let him know what he is; for his nature is of God, and the deepest in him is the divine. Neither can any other punishment than the sinner’s being made to see the enormity of his injury give satisfaction to the injured. While the wronger will admit no wrong, while he mocks at the idea of amends, or rejoices in having done wrong, no suffering could satisfy revenge, far less justice. Both would continually know themselves foiled. Therefore, while a satisfied justice is an unavoidable eternal event, a satisfied revenge is an eternal impossibility.” ~ George MacDonald, Unspoken Sermons
1. If someone who hates God finds themselves hungry and working in a pigsty, it’s for their good. He is trying to bring them to their senses.
“But doesn’t God only work for the good of those who love him?”
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28)
The verse above says nothing about those who don’t love God. God’s love is eternal and unconditional. Nothing we can do or say can make him love us any more or any less than he already does. Whether or not we enter into his salvation, and begin to appreciate his love, that is a different issue (see What is the Gospel?)
2. Some people think that once a person is forgiven, they won’t be punished. Forgiveness can certainly mean that. But forgiveness can have more than one meaning. It can also mean not desiring that that person suffer, desiring their good, and seeking to help them to become the very best person they can be. Good parents always desire and seek these things for their children. When punishment is needed, punishment is what they give (even though they don’t want to see their child suffer), because they are seeking their child’s highest good. They know that punishment can help open their child’s eyes. If the child comes to see that what they did was wrong, they will grow in character, and be healthier and happier for it. God is a loving Father. His purpose in punishing is to bring a person to see the harm they have done. God being all wise, never punishes any more, or any less, than is absolutely necessary. (Note: If you are suffering it does not mean you are being punished by God. There are many injustices in this world and God is in the process of setting things right by first changing people's hearts.)