Malachi 3:5

"And I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the sojourner from his right, and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts."

This summarizes the social injustices which marked the Israel of Malachi's day, which were abhorrent to God, not merely at that time, but in all generations; and the fact of Malachi's mentioning the components of the true worship of God prior to and ahead of these obligations has been an embarrassment to some of the "social gospel" commentators; but the order given here is correct. The reason for this lies in the truth that social justice never was maintained at any place on earth in any time of human history, apart from the knowledge and worship of the true God. The worship of God and social justice stand related to each other as cause and effect. The fool's proposition that ethical and moral equity can appear apart from and totally dissociated from the worship of God in Christ is disproved by every page of human history. As Durant expressed it: "There is no significant example in history ... of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion."[15] All of the holy apostles of the New Testament followed the same order of stressing religious duties to God first, and moral and social obligations afterward. The outline of every one of Paul's epistles was doctrine first, hortatory second. Jesus himself in giving the "first and great commandment," made "love of God" first, and "love of neighbor second." People cannot improve upon this order.

The terror of such a judgment as that mentioned here lies in the fact that God is both witness and judge, as well as executioner of the penalty.

Regarding the abuses singled out here: sorcery, which the Jews had probably picked up in Babylon, flourished right down to the days of Elymas (Acts 13:8); adultery, a prevalent sin in Israel, was committed in an aggravated sense through their marriage of foreign wives, and by their heartless divorce of their lawful spouses; the significant fact about all these evils was that they continued unabated until the Messiah came.

"And fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts ..." As Hailey said, "The root of their actions was clear; they did not fear Jehovah."[16] Far more than that, however, is indicated. (See, above, under this verse.) All social evils have the same root and source. If men want a better society, it must begin by a return to God, a revival of his praise and worship. Such things are not secondary; they are primary.