justly justifying justice

I've been helping some girls with a Bible study lately. Well, they're women, not girls. While I was there the other night, we ran into one of those confusing and wordy passages in a new testament letter from Paul. We were talking about "justification" vs. "justice". Here's the passage, Romans 3:22-26:

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

The lesson was discussing how even though we have sinned, God has forgiven us. There is no "penance" to be paid for the rest of our lives. He says he forgave us, so he forgave us. That's God's grace, that's "justification". God looks at us as though we have never sinned and all that stuff in the past is forgotten. It won't ever be thrown back in our faces. The battle then becomes an inward one. We have to forgive ourselves and move on. This idea of justification was being compared to "justice" which is, briefly, "fairness". Each day you hear "what's fair is fair" or "an eye for an eye" or "he/she doesn't deserve to be treated any better". Someone hurts you, so you hurt them back or withhold something from them in an effort to hurt them back. And you feel as if you are "justified" by your actions because you have been hurt. But what about that is "justified"? What about your personal vengeance or payback makes you look at the other person as though they have never hurt you? Nothing. Justification and being "justified" is not something that we can give to ourselves or to others. We can only pray and ask for God to provide the justice we need (including our own forgiveness). He alone can justify a situation or bring it into perspective.