Mercy vs. Justice (Sermon on The Mount)

[darinhouston]

I am working through Steve's Sermon on the Mount series along with some folks in my bible study class at church. We are on the 5th Beattitude (dealing with mercy). I am trying to get a better handle on the notion of mercy. I am interested in views about mercy and justice and grace and how they relate to one another.

For example,

Do you think it is possible to be both merciful and just at the same time, or are they mutually exclusive?

Is Justice bounded by an upper and lower threshold standard with mercy falling within or outside of it?

Is Mercy an exception made to justice?

If mercy includes unmerited favor, then I thought that was the common definition for grace.

[Homer]

Darin,

Here is an excellent article on the SOM and James 2:13 regarding mercy that might be of much usefulness in your study:

[Mercy Triumphs Over Justice]

God bless, Homer

[steve]

Hi Darin,

I have not had a chance to read the article Homer posted yet, but I had some thoughts for you on your questions.

Do you think it is possible to be both merciful and just at the same time, or are they mutually exclusive?

This question arises naturally enough from the way in which we are accustomed to think about the meaning of “justice.” I have found that preachers often speak as if justice is an undesirable thing which we hope to avoid receiving. Of course, what we are thinking of, when we talk this way, is the idea of receiving a just penalty for our deeds. We know we have sinned and deserve to be condemned, so justice seems threatening to us.

I have often heard Christians react to the statement that God is a God of justice with the exclamation, “I don’t want justice, I want mercy!” We have come to think of justice in the sense that it is used when we speak of the “criminal justice system.” Justice, in our minds, means that a criminal gets the punishment he deserves—and the opposite of justice is mercy, where the criminal is “let off,” or “gets away with it.”

But justice, in scripture, is not primarily concerned with punishment—though it comes into play when sin is to be judged. Rather, justice is a positive quality that is to direct every aspect of every relationship. It becomes more clear, perhaps if we remember that the opposite of “justice" isn't “mercy.” The opposite of “justice” is “injustice.” If one thinks he would not wish to face a just God, try to imagine the nightmare of facing an unjust God. Or, to put it differently, so long as we live in a “just society” we can feel secure and free. If we were forced to live in an unjust society, we would find our rights continually impinged upon, and would never know where we stand in terms of freedom and security. Justice simply refers to the legitimate upholding of everybody’s “rights”—e.g., the right to life, the right to property, the right to be told the truth, and to have the truth told about us to others, etc. A world without justice (or a universe without justice) is nothing short of a nightmare.

When we come to think of justice in positive terms (the consistent upholding of every person’s legitimate rights), instead of negative terms (the punishment of those who have violated the rights of others), it is easier to see how justice and mercy can coexist without contradiction.

Is Mercy an exception made to justice?

If the path of justice means the non-interference with others’ rights, then mercy is no contradiction or exception, since every offended party has the “right” to forgive or to show magnanimity. For God to extend mercy to us (or for us to do so to others) is simply the legitimate exercise of the right to forgive. Unless we think of justice as the insistence that a guilty party must be punished, this is fairly clear. The one who forgives another a personal offense is violating no one’s rights, and is thus acting well within the perimeters of justice—that is, no injustice is being committed.

Punishing an offender also falls within those perimeters, because one who commits a crime has violated another’s rights, and has thereby forfeited the equal measure of his own (“an eye for an eye…life for life”). The offended party, within the options that justice affords, can either punish or show mercy (Jesus instructs His disciples to take the latter course, though not thereby suggesting that there is anything unjust about the former—the enforcement of criminal justice has been delegated by God to others, not us). Since my extension of forgiveness to one who has injured me does not incur the violation of anyone’s rights but my own right to retaliation—and I have the right to forego that, if I wish—the showing of mercy is not an exception to, or contradiction of, justice.

There is one scenario where the exercise of mercy can be unjust, and that is when the forgiving of a guilty party tramples on the rights of innocent parties, as when a violent and remorseless criminal is set loose upon the public, or when an unoffending public is forced to shoulder the bill for the perpetual support of a criminal who, by his deeds, has forfeited his right to live (there are many deeds enumerated in scripture by the commission of which a man may lose his right to live). This is where the criminal justice system fits into God’s economy (Rom.13:1-7). Criminal miscreants have not only violated the rights of an individual, but have endangered the rights of the whole society. It is not mercy (to his victims) for the criminal justice system to extend mercy to this violator.

It is apparently because of such considerations that Christ had to die. While I don’t fully understand the atonement, the Bible seems to teach that God’s benevolent disposition alone was not enough to justify His generosity toward sinners. An unrepentant and unregenerated sinner remains a threat to the social order. Damage has been done that must be undone. Expenses have been incurred, for which restitution must be made (I am using such language metaphorically). What Jesus did by dying is said to have put something right that needed to be put right, and which no one else was capable of fixing. In the death of Jesus, the demands of justice seem to have been fully satisfied, freeing God to extend the mercy that He has always desired to exercise…”that He might be just, and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom.3:26).

This is, no doubt, why John said, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9), rather than, “He is faithful and merciful to forgive us our sins.” If Jesus has settled the score on our behalf, there remains no just cause for us to remain unforgiven, if we confess our sins and have faith in Jesus. I do not understand exactly how it all works, but the atonement demonstrates God’s commitment to justice and to mercy simultaneously, which means the two are not mutually exclusive.

If mercy includes unmerited favor, then I thought that was the common definition for grace.

The two are similar, though I think mercy refers primarily to the withholding of a deserved penalty, while grace speaks more of a superabundance of generosity. That is, the one does not give the deserved punishment, while the other gives undeserved benefits. I don’t think these are lexical definitions, but they seem to fit the general usage.

[darinhouston]

If mercy includes unmerited favor, then I thought that was the common definition for grace.

The two are similar, though I think mercy refers primarily to the withholding of a deserved penalty, while grace speaks more of a superabundance of generosity. That is, the one does not give the deserved punishment, while the other gives undeserved benefits. I don’t think these are lexical definitions, but they seem to fit the general usage.

Thanks, Steve - very helpful stuff -- on the above, though, I've got a further question... in your lectures you suggest that alms for the poor, for example, would be an extension of mercy -- based on the above, that would be grace, no?

[steve]

I am tempted to leave your question to others to answer, but I will post some comments, not because I know the answer (which I don't), but because you addressed the question to me and I feel I owe some kind of response.

I am not sure how to clearly differentiate between mercy and grace. It may be that mercy refers to a compassionate disposition of the heart, and that good deeds to the poor are rightly referred to as "showing mercy" (e.g., Ex.20:6/ Deut.5:10/ Psalm 109:16/Dan.4:27/ Zech.7:9)—that is, the outward deeds show, or demonstrate the presence of mercy in the heart. It reminds me of the common phrase in the gospels, that Jesus was "moved with compassion." Presumably, the compassion was in His heart, and the motion was the healing, the feeding, the forgiving, etc.

There might be no difference between this and grace, though my hunch is that grace more often speaks of the palpable gift(s) with which proceed from a gracious and merciful heart. As I scan through the pauline correspondence, I can find no instance in which grace cannot be so understood—with the possible exception of Colossians 3:16, where Paul does speak of "grace in your hearts." But even there, Paul may be seeing the presence of graciousness in our hearts as a gift of the grace of God (he speaks of "graces" in the lives of believers in 2 Corinthians 8:7).

I am as likely wrong as right in this intuition. It is possible that mercy and grace are essentially synonyms.

[darinhouston]

Thanks, Steve. I think things are seldom as straightforward as preachers like to make them.

I did a quick search and it seems "grace" in the New Testament is only used with respect to God's favor. Can you think of any "more general" uses (e.g., our being called to extend grace to others) ?

[steve]

It may be true that all grace originates in God's magnanimous favor toward us, but it is not true that it remains the sole province of God, because grace itself has been given as His gift to us (e.g., Rom.12:3, 6; 15:15/ 1 Cor.1:4; 3:10; 15:10/ 2 Cor.6:1; 8:1; Eph.3:2, 7, 8; 4:7/ 2 Tim.1:9/ 1 Pet.4:10; 5:5/ 2 Pet.1:2). In fact, every gift resident in the believer is a charisma (literally, a "gift of grace").

As God is full of grace, so do we become full of grace. Jesus is said to have been "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14), but we are told in the same place that "from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace" (v.16 ESV). The grace that Jesus was full of becomes that which we consequently become full of as well.

When Jesus spoke, people marveled at the "words of grace" (Luke 4:22, literally) that proceeded out of His mouth. Of course! Because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. But Paul says the same is to be true of us, that our words should "impart grace to the hearers" (Eph.4:29; cf. Col.4:6).

God makes "all grace abound" toward us (2 Cor.9:8), but the result is that we ourselves "abound in this grace also" (2 Cor.8:7).

As we become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4), we become partakers of (Phil.1:7) and repositories of (2 Cor. 9:14/ Col.3:16) the same grace that is God's nature, and distributors of the same to others.

[darinhouston]

Maybe as we extend mercy, the recipient is receiving God's grace?

[Murf]

Do you think it is possible to be both merciful and just at the same time, or are they mutually exclusive?

Since God is both Mericul & Just does that make Him mutually exclusive?