The Holiness, Justice, and Love Framework for Making Decisions

One of the ways Sinapis integrates the concept of Kingdom business into our training is through what we call the Holiness, Justice and Love Framework. Below is a summary of some of the main ideas from this framework that we teach in our Entrepreneur Academy as a way to make ethical decisions:

God is simultaneously holy, just, and loving. As such, when we are faced with challenging ethical dilemmas, we will make the best decisions by ensuring that all three characteristics of God’s character are reflected.

It’s helpful to think about it as a Venn diagram in which holiness, justice and love are circles that overlap. The only place truly ethical decisions exist is in the center where all three overlap.

The problem with holiness alone

If you were holy but did not have justice or love, you would have privatized purity — like a monk living alone in purity without interacting with others, Often God calls us to more than this.

The problem with justice alone

If you were strong with justice only, you would be fair but would lack personal purity and compassion that comes from love. Perhaps like a judge that makes fair judgements in terms of due process and equal protection under the law in the court room but is a sinner in their personal life and has no compassion for others.

The problem with love alone

If you were only loving without holiness and justice, you would be in danger of letting your love for others lead you into sin and temptation — letting your love for others interfere with just consequences for their actions. Perhaps like a mother that loves her son so much that she lies in a murder trial saying that her son was with her the whole night even though she knew he was not and was guilty of killing another.

Any two in isolation from the other leads to imbalance.

The problem with holiness and justice but without love

If you were holy and just but did not love, you could be in danger of being condemning. Perhaps like the Pharisees — they knew the rules of the Bible, followed them religiously and enforced justice, but had no compassion or empathy or willingness to sacrifice for others.

The problem with holiness and love but without justice

If you were holy and loving but did not adhere to justice, you could be in danger of allowing favouritism. Perhaps like a teacher that is God-fearing and loves her students but has a soft spot for one disadvantaged student from her own region. She might be extra lenient for that student or give more tutoring to them at the expense of the other students.

The problem with justice and love but without holiness

If you have justice and love but without holiness, you might be in danger of allowing permissiveness with your own sin and the sin of others. Perhaps like a pastor that loves his sheep and does a great job being fair but struggles constantly with pornography at home. True ethical decisions must be in the centre.

It is only in the center where we find a true reflection of God's glory, and our decision must reflect this.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself next time you need to make a decision to help consider it in relation to holiness, justice, and love.