Just Men Made Perfect

Hebrews 12:23 speaks of “…just men made perfect” (KJV). I am intrigued by the word “just.”

Instead of that word, some translations use the word “righteous.” According to some of the information I have at my disposal, the Greek word that is used here can mean such things as “just,” “righteous,” “upright,” “virtuous,” etc. 

However, there is another use of the word “just” that comes to mind when I think of that verse. Often, we will use “just” in the sense of “merely.” We will excuse our behavior by saying, “I’m just human.” We may deflect some compliment by saying, “I was just doing what I was supposed to do.” Children of important or powerful people may have difficulty understanding why a parent is so popular. To the child, the parent is just Dad or Mom.

I am well aware that this passage does not use the word “just” in that sense. At the same time, the fact remains that God can and does use those of us who are merely people. 

In the chapter that precedes the one in which the verse being discussed is found, we find a long list of people. Some of them are named and some are unnamed.  I can think of fewer compliments higher than the one used in Hebrews 11:38: “of whom the world was not worthy…”

Were they not “just” in the sense of being righteous? Apparently, the Holy Spirit thought so. It is difficult to believe that they would have been included in this list if that were not the case.

Were they not also “just” in the sense of merely being human? Absolutely so! While they are presented to us as great examples of faith, the fact is that they were as human as you and me.

The same God still has, at His disposal, the same “raw material.” Superheroes are fascinating, but the real world is populated with folks just like you and me. We’re merely people.

Who knows what can be accomplished if I will stop focusing on my weaknesses and will start focusing on the God who offers to forgive my sins as I obey Him (thereby being seen by Him as righteous)? 

Please notice how the common condition of those of us who are merely human and the fact that God can see us as much more than that are discussed in this passage:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:  whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus (Romans 3:23-26; KJV).

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