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justice and grace not in conflict

"It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."  (Romans 3:26 ESV)

Is there an antithesis or conflict between God's justice and God's grace?  Both belong to God's moral order, according to Herman Bavinck...  

"The moral order, rather than being in conflict with the order of justice, upholds, demands, and supports it.  Justice is an important component of morality.  Justice above all is the way in which the grace and love of God are maintained and made to triumph.  Those who, with Marcion, assume that justice and grace are antithetical to each other deny the connection between the moral order and the order of justice and do not understand the majesty and glory of the law.  Accordingly, God's justice by its very nature has to be judicial and hence be 'remunerative,' on the one hand, and 'retributive', on the other.  It is not that a creature could ever have an inherent claim to any reward or be intrinsically unable to receive forgiveness apart from punishment.  But God owes it to his covenant, to the order of justice that he himself at one time established, to his name and honor, to lead his people to salvation and to punish the wicked.  Thus alone can justice rule and triumph.  There is truth in the saying, 'Let justice prevail though the world perish.'  Scripture, however, more beautifully highlights the idea that justice must prevail that the world may be saved."  

~ Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, II:228. 






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