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What If Jesus Was Serious Series

What If Jesus Was Serious about Justice?: A Visual Guide to the Good News of God's Judgment and Mercy

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If God is love, then how do we make sense of the evil we see everywhere in the world?
 
In What If Jesus Was Serious about Justice?, Skye Jethani explores what the Bible really says about God's restorative justice and how he punishes evil and rewards good. The fifth in Jethani's popular What If Jesus Was Serious? series, this guide includes the author's hand-drawn illustrations in each accessible chapter.
 
Jethani examines the biblical understanding of justice as the restoration of right relationships both among people and between people and God. He considers themes of judgment and mercy in Jesus's ministry and explains Jesus's warnings about God's final judgment of those opposed to his kingdom of justice.
 
Readers will emerge with a better understanding of God's love, wrath, the cross, eternity, and more. In addition, Christians will find new ways to bridge the divide in the church over the importance of personal salvation and communal justice.

254 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 11, 2025

58 people are currently reading
2148 people want to read

About the author

Skye Jethani

26 books401 followers
SKYE JETHANI is an author, speaker, consultant and ordained pastor. He also serves as the co-host of the popular Phil Vischer Podcast, a weekly show that blends astute cultural and theological insights with comical conversation. He has been a sought after consultant for groups facing challenges at the intersection of faith and culture like The Lausanne Movement, The White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and the Interfaith Youth Core. Skye has authored three books, The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity, WITH: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God, and Futureville. Skye and his wife Amanda have three children: Zoe, Isaac, and Lucy and reside in Wheaton, IL.

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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
Profile Image for Esther.
149 reviews12 followers
April 10, 2025
Thought-provoking. The pictures (which look silly but are actually quite helpful) and concise chapters make this book accessible.
Profile Image for Faithful Intellect.
22 reviews8 followers
March 19, 2025
Book Review Rating: 9/10

This Book Is:
- A short, easy to read book.
- A visual guide with lots of pictures to explain concepts.
- A compelling argument for a "both and" approach to God's justice and mercy.
- Great for family devotional time.

This Book Is Not:
- An in-depth analysis of theological concepts.

My Takeaways:
- Both And Instead of Either Or: My top takeaway is the effectiveness of the both and approach to understanding many of the debates in the church. It is easy to pick a side and argue for a winner. It takes nuance and careful thought to see where the underlying biblical truth combines many aspects into a coherent whole, but it is worth the effort. I see this tension between the evangelicalism that focuses on personal salvation but often ignores social justice and the mainstream Protestantism that focuses only on social justice while throwing out the divinity and resurrection of Jesus. It seems clear to me that the most orthodox and biblical view is take both personal salvation and social justice seriously as a single gospel. We don't have to pick just one!

- The Cross is Bad News Before it is Good News: I typically view the cross as just good news. It is where Jesus defeats death, and my sins are forgiven. I often neglect to reflect on the fact that the cross first defeats me as an agent of evil in the world before it saves me. Evil is defeated on the cross, but it isn't just an abstract evil out in the world or in other people. The cross of Jesus also defeated the evil inside of me.

My Critique:
- Penal Substitution: Penal substitution is the concept that Jesus paid the penalty for the world's sin through his death on the cross. He was the substitute that took our place and took the punishment that we deserved. Skye Jethani describes the problems that arise from the extreme of viewing the cross as "divine child abuse". He finds arguments for and against the concept of penal substitution "misguided" and "flawed". While it is clear what he has against the extreme side for penal substitution, it isn't clear what is wrong with the arguments against penal substitution. I would have liked to hear more about this debate from his perspective and also what a better alternative would be.

Click here to read the full review at Faithful Intellect.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Rajean.
6 reviews
November 30, 2025
My father in law recommended this book to me, and I’m honestly so glad he did. As a black woman and a social worker, I’m constantly surrounded by conversations about inequality, harm, and systemic injustice. This book put language to a lot of what I’ve felt but haven’t always known how to express to be honest...

What surprised me most was the author’s focus on hell….not in the fire and brimstone way, but as a way of showing how seriously the consequences of injustice are taken. His reflections on hell as the result of ignoring suffering or misusing power were some of the strongest parts of the book.

Even though it’s written from a Christian perspective (for my friends on here that are not believers) it isn’t heavy-handed I promise. It’s accessible, reflective, and really fitting for the political climate we’re in!!!

It pushed me to think more deeply about justice, compassion, and my role in the work I do every day. A short read, but one that sticks with you.
Profile Image for Jake Preston.
238 reviews34 followers
February 17, 2025
4.5. A highly accessible guide to justice. Jethani carefully unpacks the biblical view of God's judgment and mercy, showing that many traditional depictions of God's wrath are extra biblical at best, unbiblical at worst.

He also exposes the warped view of penal substitutionary atonement that is prevalent in many evangelical circles, the idea that the Father is a cosmic child abuser who inflicts his active wrath on the Son. Instead, the Bible presents Jesus as enduring the passive wrath of the Father, where centuries of evil and violence, once kept at bay by God's grace, are unleashed on Jesus so that their power can be extinguished. This is a compelling (and biblical vision) of the atonement that is seldom taught.

The final section of the book deals with unbiblical beliefs about hell. Jethani shows how both universalism and eternal conscious torment (ECT) are not accurate reflections of biblical theology. He makes the case that hell (literally "Gehenna") cannot be only a physical location outside the city gates of Jerusalem used as a garbage dump and a place for child sacrifice, but it must also be the place where God's enemies are ultimately judged and destroyed at the Second Coming. And contrary to ECT, Jethani advocates for a type of annihilationism that upholds God's proportionate justice and the biblical testimony. In my view, he makes a compelling case for this view.

This is a superb book. It's engaging and complex enough for the seasoned follower of Jesus and accessible enough for a skeptic or new believer. Highly, highly recommend.
Profile Image for Mike Doel.
142 reviews8 followers
May 22, 2025
This is another decent entry in the series.

I’ve read each of Skye’s books in this “What if” series. The first, where he applies the sermon on the mount to today, remains the best. This one was in the middle somewhere. As a daily devotional, it works well. Some of essays got a little repetitive, particularly toward the end, but there was enough thought provoking material that I would recommend this to Christians who are looking for a structured treatment of justice and mercy or would appreciate having something that encourages them to engage with scripture daily.
6 reviews
April 6, 2025
You need to read this if you think God is happy about all the anti-DEI rhetoric going on right now. He’s not.
Profile Image for Mariah Williams.
24 reviews9 followers
October 24, 2025
The deepest deep dive into God’s justice! The level of detail left it a little repetitive, in my opinion, but the layout and chapters and pictures make it completely attainable.
Profile Image for Emily.
377 reviews18 followers
December 16, 2025
Helpful explanations and handy pictures. Aesthetically a nice hand size rather than the slightly larger picture book or magazine size I was somehow expecting. Although I read What If Jesus Was Serious about the Church?: A Visual Guide to Becoming the Community Jesus Intended and I seem to remember that was also smaller than expected. I still feel like that one had more pictures or maybe the sections were shorter and the subject felt lighter whereas this one feels like it has more text and is heavier with the theories or practices it's debunking.

Part 1 Order and Chaos
Chapter 2 (p. 27) "Here's a simple analogy. LEGO sets begin as a chaotic pile of bricks (unorder), but they can be carefully assembled into, say, a tower, a house, or a truck (order) and then knocked down or crushed by a tyrannical toddler (disorder). In the creation story, when everything is properly ordered, God calls it "good." This is what the Bible means by "justice" - everything is just as it should be. Evil, on the other hand, enters the scene when the serpent brings disorder to God's world by breaking the proper relationship between people and God, between the woman and the man, and between humans and the creation. To seek justice, therefore, is to cooperate with God against the state of unorder and the forces of disorder. Justice means joining with God in his creative and redemptive work to make things right again."

AACPL new stamped May 2025. I put in a request for its purchase but that didn't put me on the hold list and I borrowed in November when I was trying to read new books ahead of possible Goodreads Choice Awards (it wasn't on it).
Profile Image for Hugh Dunnett.
215 reviews15 followers
May 7, 2025
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. In the case of this series, maybe not a thousand, but often the sketch at the start of each ‘reading’ adds clarity or defines a concept better than a text-heavy chapter could.

What if Jesus Was Serious About Justice is certainly another great little book from Skye Jethani. As is the case with this series, the book is written in a conversational style but contains enough theology to give the reader something to think about. It consists of around 50 ideas, succinctly expressed, each with an accompanying sketch which often helps make sense of the text.
However, ‘justice’ is a wide concept and it can on occasion feel like an argument (admittedly, well-presented and well-reasoned) is placed in the book because the author feels strongly about it, rather than it precisely fitting the title of the book. But to be fair, that is not really a criticism as the whole book hangs together very well under the title.

The format makes it easy to treat as a ‘daily devotional’ (even for people who hate daily devotionals…) and it could be read in that way, but equally, it is a page-turner, with each section drawing you in, and drawing you on to the next. It really is short enough to read in a couple of sittings but taking the time to process what can sometimes feel like new concepts will bring best understanding of the ideas raised.
This isn’t new stuff but much of
What if Jesus Was Serious About Justice tackles areas commonly misrepresented or misunderstood and will definitely give the reader frequent pause for thought.
Profile Image for Sarah.
302 reviews
December 11, 2024
*Read with highlighter in hand*
In his later in his series of books asking "What if Jesus Was...? Skye Jethani tackles the subject of Justice. Through 5 parts, he takes the reader through a cultural v. Biblical look at 5 seemingly contradictory positions: Order and Chaos, Horizontal and Vertical, Judgment and Mercy, Victory and Defeat, Reward and Punishment. The Introduction gave a basic overview of 'how we got here' with regards to the typical American Evangelical position on the word Justice.

A few key comments from my highlighter -
"Jesus commands us to both preach the gospel and pursue justice. "
"As with Pharaoh, however, fear causes us to misinterpret reality and ignore the nature of God's kingdom and justice."
"God's concern is when our hearts lack empathy and mercy for the suffering"
Silver Rule = Do No Harm Golden Rule = Love Like Self Platinum Rule = Love Like God
"If we are to use the teachings of Jesus and his apostles as our guide, then we must avoid bundling divine judgment, rather than and hell not a single take-it-or-leave-it doctrinal package"

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley.
Profile Image for Eric.
228 reviews7 followers
June 11, 2025
Another interesting book for a study done by my church.

As with many of Skye Jethani's books, he has some great ideas in tension. This book is divided into five Parts: Order and Chaos, Horizontal and Vertical, Judgement and Mercy, Victory and Defeat, and Reward and Punishment.

First, the great ideas! His look at justice is well done, even if highly oversimplified. He brings up some great points, if you've never been introduced to these views of justice. Biblically based, and well balanced in today's world.

The disappointing part will probably just be me, but here it goes. The first two Parts are clear and well written, while Part 3 on Judgement and Mercy starts to veer into narrow theological points. Some value. The last two parts drop solidly into a narrow, somewhat unrelated to Justice, "Penal Substitutionary Atonement" theology (Yes, the author literally defined this theology in this book.) Though I love the possibilities of discussion around his initial points, the last points move solidly into apologetics and a theology of "self". God once again becomes incidental to a theology centered around 'me' and 'my salvation.' This has little to do with Justice, as such.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Gracie Roberts.
238 reviews17 followers
February 6, 2025
Reading this made me love Jesus even more. ❤️
What a reminder that He cares deeply about the world and ALL people. Everyone bears the image of God and is worthy of love, decency, and a wellbeing.

This got a bit repetitive. It was great information, just felt like the same thing over and over sometimes. It would’ve been great if this was half a book and the second half focused on something else Jesus is serious about. But overall it was a quick read and a great reminder of how God’s justice and humanity’s justice aren’t always the same.
Profile Image for Daniel.
31 reviews1 follower
December 23, 2025
Jethani uses this series to both bolster and challenge traditional theological topics directed towards and stemming from the protestant viewpoint. with my background, some of the claims made are a step beyond bold. But they aren't presented devoid of strong Biblical backing. ultimately, I think this is the type of book that, although certainly geared towards a demographic, could be enlightening to read for anyone remotely curious about the theology of Justice both in this world and the one yet to come.
Profile Image for Angela.
660 reviews
February 26, 2025
This is my second in this series, and it's even better (and timelier) than the one about Heaven.

It's accessible but still has enough teeth to teach you a thing or twelve.

I loved how it made you think about justice both horizontally (human to human) and vertically (God to us).

A few of the topics - substitutionary atonement and eternal conscious torment - were probably a little weighty to get only one chapter, but it was still very clear and concise.
Profile Image for Amanda.
111 reviews
Read
September 16, 2025
I liked the original book years ago and decided to give this one a whirl.
Now I have more questions than answers about "eternal conscious torment" versus annihilation... which I didn't even know was going to come up in this book! The case made here against ECT was different than the reasoning I've heard before. Anybody have book recommendations on this topic? I'd like to do some further reading and considering.
Profile Image for David.
61 reviews2 followers
December 19, 2025
This is a really good book. I didn’t give it 5 stars because it wasn’t quite as good as What If Jesus Was Serious About Heaven? But whether four or five stars, Skye presents an inspiring, wholistic, and biblically faithful view of God’s Justice. Instead of making you afraid of God’s justice, the book helps you yearn for it in a way that honors God and waits for him to put all things right forever.
Profile Image for Chris Hilling.
30 reviews
March 9, 2025
This book is for the ones who think "justice" only means secular political policies or the ones who reduce "justice" to fire and brimstone sermons.

It challenged my thinking in many ways (especially the last few chapters that challenge the view of Hell as being tormented for all of eternity) and refreshed me in others.

The chapters are short and the concepts are easily accessible.
Profile Image for Avery Tee.
10 reviews2 followers
September 14, 2025
Have a highlighter in your hand while reading this one. SO many amazing things I learned while reading this book. I’ve been a born again Christian for almost 2 years now, and this book answered so many questions I’ve been wrestling with. It open my mind to things I have never thought about as well.
Wow wow wow. 5/5 ⭐️
Profile Image for Joshua Johnson.
12 reviews
February 19, 2025
I love the deep work alongside the doodles that give a greater sense of what is being written about. A necessary reminder of the intersection of both the vertical and horizontal dimensions of justice.
Profile Image for Hannah Kirkland.
12 reviews2 followers
February 25, 2025
I had no idea there were so many aspects of justice throughout scripture! This books was super eye opening and helpful as I think about justice in this modern-day western society. I appreciate Sky's knowledge and wisdom as he shared throughout this book!
5 reviews
March 20, 2025
A deeper understanding

This book walks through the Bible as the author explains the meaning of biblical justice. It opens our understanding of who God is and how God acts. God shows no partiality. A great read to help us understand some difficult issues in the Bible.
Profile Image for Joy.
134 reviews7 followers
April 8, 2025
This book is one of the most compelling works on these topics. It may be time to open your mind to the possibility you are wrong about some things with the presentation of all this evidence that makes so much more sense!
Profile Image for Bridgette.
68 reviews5 followers
May 17, 2025
I used this as my morning devotional and loved it. I’ve read all of Skye’s “What if Jesus was serious” books and this one and his first book were my favorites. Highly recommend. There’s some great teaching on the full meaning of justice and also annihilation theology.
Profile Image for Lisa.
187 reviews
July 9, 2025
This is a powerful read and does a great job of tearing down strongholds of some of our culture's in biblical beliefs. The best case against the teaching of Eternal Conscious Torment (or ECT) I've read.The Gospel is good news and should bring joy, not fear!
Profile Image for Jacob O'connor.
1,645 reviews26 followers
October 4, 2025
I've come to appreciate Skye Jethani. He's a prophetic voice from outside my camp, and he makes me think. The most surprising part of the book comes at the end. Jethani makes some unexpected observations about the afterlife and final judgment. He definitely had my attention.
Profile Image for Kel.
139 reviews
June 13, 2025
I have enjoyed the whole series, this one I found to be especially challenging to beliefs I have formed more from American Christian culture than from biblical teaching about justice.
102 reviews
June 15, 2025
Thought provoking questions. Biblically grounded explanations. Quick and interesting.
3 reviews
July 15, 2025
This is such a neat book. The illustrations really bring some of the discussed concepts to life and help them to stick in your head. I really appreciated this read!
Profile Image for Ryan George.
Author 3 books11 followers
December 24, 2025
I pre-ordered the print edition of this book the first day I heard about it last year. Every book in this series by Skye Jethani has changed the way I read the Bible, and still this volume changed my mind more than I expected. And that’s with me being the social justice guy in my faith community. Jethani doesn’t spend much time on culture war issues. Instead, he focuses on the tension and nuance inherent in the relationships of a sovereign Creator and finite beings. I was especially intrigued (and ultimately convinced) by his concept of what constitutes hell based on original Hebrew and Greek scriptures. This succinct but thorough book also gave me a filter for how to live in community with believers for whom justice is not a priority or whose definition of justice differs greatly from mine. I probably bought 20 copies of this book for friends this year. One of those recipients told me he read it twice and gave a copy to a work mate.
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