Deut 25:1 “If there is a dispute between men and they come into court and the judges decide between them, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty, 2 then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offense. 3 Forty stripes may be given him, but not more, lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight. 4 “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.
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Acts 16:19 ... they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20 And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. 21 They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. . . . . . . 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” 38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. 39 So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.
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God's instructions for punishment in Deuteronomy imply justice, a measure of punishment which fits the crime. There is a caution against excessive punishment which aims at humiliation. God may humble us, but it is not His character to humiliate us. But God's concept of justice is broader than mere punishment. Through justice God also plans to bring about the complete reconcilliation of creation. This means judging "the living and the dead" but also extending those blessings mentioned in the sermon on the mount - so there is a carrot and a stick to his justice, or perhaps a rod and a staff.
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Jesus and the disciples (and Paul is no exception) encounter a profound perversion of justice on their quest to proclaim God's Kingdom message. First, Jesus is crucified for claiming to be God, ironically, for telling the truth, and also for other things which he certainly did not do. Where else in history is an innocent man "brought to justice" for telling the truth? This is the greatest inversion of justice of all time, that the Son of God, claiming to be exactly who he is, would be held accountable by man as a liar and egomaniac (which is actually man's rudimentary sin and Satan's nature). Not defending himself, Jesus took the humiliation of our perverted justice on himself when His own justice would never have required humiliation. Paul, likewise, is seeking to restore God's nature to creation and culture through the good news of God's Kingdom. He is beaten without just cause and then responds with a posture of worship rather than humiliation. Then, when given the opportunity to leave, he boldly holds the justice system accountable for its own injustice. God's Kingdom Judges our justice system!
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