Much is said these days about fairness. Even God is thought to be governed by fairness. God is not a fair God; He is a just God. “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he” (Deut. 32:4). Fairness, as is used today, suggests God treats everyone the same. Scripture refutes this concept. “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Rom. 9:13). Justice or righteousness is an attribute of God; fairness is not. God judges people with equity (Ps. 98:9) which denotes the impartial distribution of justice, not fairness, as some seem to think.

Justice is absolute; fairness is relative. Justice is upheld by God; fairness is demanded by men. Justice is objective, based on the law of God. Fairness is subjective, varying from person to person. Justice never changes because God and His Word are immutable; fairness is ever changing, based on the changing whims and emotions of men. Thus, the unchanging standards of right and wrong are altered by men today in order to produce the results they deem to be fair.

Believing it to be unfair that some are rich while others are poor, certain elitists seek to rectify this supposed inequity by unjustly redistributing wealth, which they must confiscate from some through high taxation to give to others who will re-elect them. Such policies never make the poor rich, but can only make all poor except, of course, the elitists who always find a way to enrich themselves at the public’s expense. Jesus said, “For the poor always ye have with you. . .” (John 12:8). After spending trillions of dollars on the Great Society, poverty has actually increased in this country. Even if we spend trillions more to eradicate poverty, the result will be the same because the poor will always be with us.