3. The practice of justice in court and business dealings (vv.15-16, 35-36)

Justice is to be practiced in an evenhanded way. Here is one of the few texts in Scripture where partiality is prohibited concerning the poor as well as the rich (v.15). Spreading slander is also prohibited as a miscarriage of justice. The use of honest scales and weights in commercial transactions is commanded (vv.35-36).

These moral rules make specific the nature of holy living. Each in its own way shows the concrete meaning of living according to God’s love and justice. The Wesleyan doctrine of Christian holiness has frequently appealed to biblical laws in order to demonstrate the true character of Christian perfection. (See John Wesley’s sermons on the Sermon on the Mount.)