Whats the difference between Justice and Revenge?

Question

According to the bible it is wrong to take revenge, but in our current life, we seek justice if crimes are made... but justice is like getting revenge... and getting revenge is a sin...

Answer 1

Justice is not always revenge. If someone owes you money, and the court forces him to pay you, that is a form of justice.

Justice is fair. Revenge is not always fair; if your girlfriend breaks up with you and you take revenge by slashing her tires, that is unfair.

Answer 2

People get revenge, governments mete out Justice. Laws are passed to protect the people. When criminals break the law, they are punished. This is NOT for the purpose of revenge, but to keep them from doing it again and to prevent others from committing the same offense.
If a sex offender murdered your child, you should forgive him. But the state should kill him. That way, some other parent should not have to be trying to come to grips with the feeling that they should forgive that person again.

Answer 3

Justice pertains to judgment, which is the assignment of merited rewards or punishments. As anyone who has taken a psychology class knows, punishment is anything that decreases the likelihood of an action in the future. If a person is sentenced to eternal damnation, then there is no future for them; their soul will dwell there in unimaginable suffering and agony for all eternity. Because there is no future for the person who has been condemned there, hell is an invalid punishment. This means it can only be revenge, not justice.

Answer 4

Justice is what the universe eventually serves to those who have done wrong. It may not happen immediately, it may take years, but justice will eventually find you if you've deserved it.
Revenge is what people do to those they believe have hurt them or done them wrong.
For example, my ex-husband thought that sleeping with my cousin was revenge for me kicking him out for his drug habit, but the justice was in the fact that he fell in love with her and she ripped his heart out.
My mother thinks that telling me she never loved me and never wanted me is revenge for my disagreeing with her opinion on something. The justice is that now that she's pushed me away, she doesn't get to see her grandkids who she actually does love.
My partners ex-girlfriend has spent the last two years badmouthing me to anyone who'd listen as revenge for what she percieves as me stealing him (event though they'd been broken up a year before I came on the scene). Now justice has come along and served her a dish of her own medicine by making her job as public relations for a local company cause her to be on the recieving end of some badmouthing!
You see how it works. I call justice Karma, it's a way the universe has of balancing things.

Answer 5

In legal context, justice is when a criminal is punished for his crime after due process of law.

Revenge is taking justice or the law on our own hands. That's why revenge is considered sin.

Hope that helps.

Answer 6

What God means is that a government can imprison someone for a crime against another but the person cannot take revenge of themselves! If someone murders my brother, God has given Governments the right to kill that person under His directives mentioned in the Bible. But I am not allowed to kill this person! It is revenge taken by me. If someone steals from me, I have the right to have them arrested under certain conditions but God may tell me by His Spirit to allow the man to have it and go! Jesus said if a man takes our cloak, give them your coat, also. He was saying if the man was in need enough to steal then maybe we should give them even more! That depends on the circumstances, of course. If he threatened my family, I have a right to defend them. He may be killed in the process and I would not be judged by the Lord. I was defending my family. We live in a world that is full of sin and God said unless a man changes by having God's Spirit inside them, their heart runs to evil. He even mentions of the making of evil devices. He did not mean nuclear weapons or weapons of war, but devices that help us to sin! We are in the end times and people are making many evil devices. God bless. Earl

Answer 7

"Vengence is Mine, says the Lord"
Revenge is a personal thing, and is never satisfied. It is about anger. In Ancient Israel, there were "cities of refuge" where someone could flee, if he killed someone by mistake or in self-defence, but wanted to go before a judge (in this case, likely a prophet as well), to have his innocence discerned before the vengeful relatives would put him to death in anger before his case could even be heard.

Justice is completely different. In First Corinthians 13:6 states that "Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth". It is not loving to enable someone to continue in error. There is love when Godly justice is rendered, and not anger.

As for being fair, I am grateful every day of my life that Jesus Christ paid my debt by dying for my sins. I deserved eternal death, and justly. I had earned it. The law required it. But, just like I could have a credit card wiped clean if someone else paid it for me, Jesus paid this debt for me. If I am angry with someone who hurt me, no matter how bad, I am compelled to recall that I was forgiven for so much, and to ask for the grace to forgive this person- for me and my standing with God, as much as for that person. Only then, when I have removed the beam from my eye, can I think of justice.

There are times when a person will never accept grace. God is not mocked. If a thief continues to steal, and does not care how many times he is caught, then jail time may be the best thing for him, because he has allowed himself to be twisted inside. Maybe he will get still, and turn back to God. We can discus many other crimes. There is evil in the world, and there is a time for locking up a criminal for a season. But, the attitude must be a willingness to forgive, and not act or decide out of anger or a desire to get even. After all, it is written that if once we have hated another person, we have committed murder in our hearts.

Let me cite an example that may clarify this. During WWII and before, Adolf Eichmann was second in command under Heydrich, of the Jewish Affairs section, and was personally responsible for much of the murder of nearly six million Jews. Revenge would be impossible. Could we kill him that many times? Could we make him feel even a significant fraction fo the pain and fear he inflicted on humanity? No. But, in the 60's, in Jerusalem, he was tried and convicted, and hanged, in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. The trial was extremely will done, and very much according to law. Factual evidence was considered, and a decision was rendered that was fitting for humanity. There was no meanness in his manner of execution. Was he guilty? Yes. Was he judged? Yes. Was there vengence? Definitely not.

One last thing: In judgement, there is a recognition of the grace and sovereinty of God. In vengence, there is not.

Answer 8

Justice is fair. Revenge is mean-spirited and ugly.

Answer 9

revenge stems from hatred and grudges. a simple example is murder or attempted murder. someone who puts your loved one's life in danger is surely going to set off some heat in your mind, which would provoke you to do something about it. you would take revenge but hurting that person who tried to jeopardize the life of your loved one. however, justice stems from a desire to put things right. you can also think of it as virtue? which implied not taking the situation into your own hands but notifying those who have the power to get that person off the streets by keeping him/her in prison.

Answer 10

for example. if i killed ur parents and u came an killedd me after , that wud be revenge..if i got arrested and put in jail. that is "justice"