Mercy

Is that disposition of mind which excites us to pity and relieve those who are in trouble, or to pass by their crimes without punishing them. It is distinguished from love, thus: The object of love is the creature simply; the object of mercy is the creature fallen into misery. Parents love their children simply as they are their children; but if they fall into misery, love works in a way of pity and compassion: love is turned into mercy. "As we are all the objects of mercy in one degree or another, the mutual exercise of it towards each other is necessary to preserve the harmony and happiness of society. But there are those who may be more particularly considered as the objects of it; such as the guilty, the indigent, and the miserable. As it respects the guilty, the greatest mercy we can show to them is to endeavour to reclaim them, and prevent the bad consequences of their misconduct, Jas 5:20. Mercy may also be shown to them by a proper mitigation of justice, and not extending the punishment beyond the nature or desert of the crime. With regard to those who are in necessity and want, mercy calls upon us to afford the most suitable and seasonable supplies; and here our benefactions must be dispensed in proportion to our circumstances, and the real distress of the object, 1Jn 3:17. As to those who are in misery and distress, mercy prompts us to relieve and comfort them by doing what we can to remove or alleviate their burdens. Our Lord strongly recommended this act of mercy in the parable of the man who fell among thieves, and was relieved by the poor Samaritan: and in the conclusion he adds, ’Go and do thou likewise, ’ Luk 10:30-37.

"This merciful temper will show and exert itself not only towards those of our own party and acquaintance, but to the whole human species; and not only to the whole human species, but to the animal creation. It is a degree of inhumanity to take a pleasure in giving any thing pain, and more in putting useful animals to extreme torture for our own sport. This is not that dominion which God originally gave to man over the beasts of the field. It is, therefore, an usurped authority, which man has no right to exercise over brute creatures, which were made for his service, convenience, support, and ease; but not for the gratification of unlawful passions, or cruel dispositions. "Mercy must be distinguished from those weaknesses of a natural temper which often put on the appearance of it. With regard to criminals or delinquents, it is false compassion to suppress the salutary abmonition, and refuse to set their guilt before them, merely because the sight of it will give their conscience pain: such unseasonable tenderness in a surgeon may prove the death of his patient: this, however it may appear is not mercy, but cruelty. So is that fondness, of a parent that withholds the hand of discipline from a beloved child, when its frowardness and faults render seasonable and prudent correction necessary to save it from ruin. In like manner, when a magistrate, through excessive clemency, suffers a criminal who is a pest to society to escape unpunished, or so mitigates the sentence of the law as to put it into his power to do still greater hurt to others, he violates not only the laws of justice, but of mercy too. "

Mercy to the indigent and necessitous has been no less abused and perverted by acts of mistaken beneficence, when impudence and clamour are permitted to extort from the hand of charity that relief which is due to silent distress and modest merit; or when one object is lavishly relieved to the detriment of another who is more deserving. As it respects those who are in tribulation or misery, to be sure, every such person is an object of our compassion; but that compassion may be, and often is, exercised in a wrong manner. Some are of so tender a make, that they cannot bear the sight of distress, and stand aloof from a friend in pain and affliction, because it affects them too sensibly, when their presence would at least give them some little comfort, and might possibly administer lasting relief. This weakness should be opposed, because it not only looks like unkindness to our friends, but is really showing more tenderness to ourselves than to them: nor is it doing as we would be done by . Again; it is false pity, when, out of mere tenderness of nature, we either advise or permit our afflicted friend to take or do any thing which will give him a little present transient ease, but which we know at the same time will increase his future pain, and aggravate the symptoms of his disease."

Seeing, therefore, the extremes to which we are liable, let us learn to cultivate that wisdom and prudence which are necessary to regulate this virtue. To be just without being cruel, and merciful without being weak, should be our constant aim, under all the circumstances of guilt, indigence, and misery, which present themselves to our view.

See BENEFICENCE, CHARITY, LOVE.

Properly speaking, the name of Jesus. For David, speaking of grace, and pleading for it before the Lord, saith, as an argument and plea for receiving it, There is mercy (that is, there is Jesus) with thee. (Ps. cxxx. 4.) And when Zecharias prophesied, under the influence of God the Holy Ghost, at the coming of Christ, he said it was to perform the mercy promised. (Luke i. 72.) Jesus is the mercy promised.

The divine goodness exercised towards the wretched and the guilty, in harmony with truth and justice, Psa 85:10 . The plan by which God is enabled to show saving mercy to men, for Christ’s sake, is the most consummate work of infinite wisdom and love. The soul that has truly experienced the mercy of God will be merciful like him, Luk 6:36, compassionate to the wretched, Psa 41:1,2, and forgiving towards all, Mat 5:7 18:33.\par

We have now to consider the word Chasad (חסד), which is used in various forms to designate God’s dealings with man, and also to indicate the mode in which men ought to deal with one another. The meaning of this word when used as a substantive (Chesed) is made clear from the fact that the LXX has rendered it ἔλεος, mercy, in 135 passages. The nature of the quality may be illustrated by the conduct of the Good Samaritan, ’who shewed the mercy’ (ὁ ποιήσας τὸ ἔλεος) on him that was attacked by robbers (Luk 10:37); it is a practical exhibition of lovingkindness towards our fellow-man, whose only claim may be misfortune, and whom it is in our power to help, though perhaps at the expense of time, money, convenience, and even religious or national prejudice.

The general English renderings for the word in the A. V. are: kindness, mercy, pity, favour, goodness, and lovingkindness. It is often found united with righteousness, faithfulness, truth, compassion, and other divine qualities.

A few instances may be cited to illustrate its usage: Gen 24:12, ’O Lord God, shew kindness unto my master Abraham;’ Gen 24:27, ’Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left my master destitute of his mercy (LXX δικαιοσύνη) and truth;’ Gen 24:49, ’If ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me;’ Gen 39:21, ’The Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy;’ Gen 40:14, ’Shew kindness unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh;’ Exo 20:6, ’Strewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments;’ Num 14:19, ’Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy;’ Jos 2:12, ’Swear unto me by the Lord, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house;’ Job 6:14, ’To him that is afflicted pity (should be shewed) from his friend;’ Job 10:12, ’Thou hast granted me life and favour;’ Psa 6:7, ’I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy;’ Psa 6:4, ’Oh save me for thy mercies’ sake;’ Psa 13:5, ’I have trusted in thy mercy;’ Psa 32:10, ’He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about;’ Psa 33:6, ’The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord;’ Psa 89:33, ’My lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him ;’ Psa 89:49, ’Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses?’ Psa 119:88; Psa 119:169, ’Quicken me, O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness;’ Hos 4:1, ’There is no truth nor mercy;’ Hos 6:4, ’Your goodness is as a morning dew;’ (the A. V. obscures the connection between this verse and the sixth, where the same word is found--’I desired mercy and not sacrifice;’ see R. V. margin); Hos 10:12, ’Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy;’ Hos 12:6, ’Keep mercy and judgment;’ Mic 6:8, ’What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?’ Mic 7:18, ’He delighteth in mercy;’ Zec 7:9, ’Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother.’

These passages put the general signification of the word Chesed beyond the shadow of a doubt. We now have to examine whether this meaning is to be enlarged or modified. The LXX adopts the rendering δικαιοσύνη, ’righteousness,’ in Gen 19:16, and some other places. We also find ἐλεημοσύνη and ἔλπις in a few passages in Isa 40:6, where the word Chesed is applied to the grace or goodliness of man which so so on fades away, the LXX δόξα, glory; and the passage is quoted by St. Peter in his First Epistle (1:24) according to this interpretation.

In the passages which remain to be considered, the adjectival form Chasid is found. this word must signify not only the reception but also the exercise of Chesed, just as Tsadik, righteous, signifies the reception and exercise of Tsedek, righteousness. If Chesed, then, means mercy, Chasid must mean merciful; and accordingly it is so translated in the A.V in 2Sa 22:26, and Psa 18:25, ’With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful.’ The LXX, however, both in these passages and wherever the word Chasid is found, has adopted ὅσιος, holy, as a rendering. this course has had a great influence up on other languages, as it has led translators to confound Chasid and Kadosh, ὅσιος and ἅγιος, forgetting that to a Jew the meaning of the Greek word ὅσιοςwould be ruled by the fact that it was to be taken as an interpretation of the Hebrew Chasid, merciful in the two passages just cited, the A.V. retains the right rendering, but the Latin has cum sancto, and the German Bei dem Heiligen. The Portuguese translator, D’Almeida, both here and in almost all other places adopts the good word Benigno, but he is quite an exception to the general rule.

Our translators have followed the multitude in a large number of instances. Thus in Psa 145:17, we read, ’The Lord is holy in all his works;’ here the margin properly corrects the text by suggesting merciful or bountiful in Psa 86:2 we read, ’I am holy;’ where the margin reads, ’One whom thou favourest,’ but it would be better to read, ’I am merciful.’ The rendering godly has been adopted in Psa 4:3, al.; and saint in 2Ch 6:41, Psa 30:4, al. this last rendering must be regarded as unfortunate, because it serves to obliterate the real meaning of the word, and to confound it with another.

It has been held by distinguished scholars that Chasid primarily signifies a recipient of mercy, but this meaning is not always applicable, e.g in Jer 3:12, where God says of Himself, ’I am Chasid.’ Here it cannot mean, ’I am a recipient of mercy;’ our translators have rightly rendered the words, ’I am merciful.’ Nevertheless, the two aspects of mercy, its reception and its exercise, are wonderfully blended in Scripture. the right and wholesome effect of the enjoyment of God’s lovingkindness is the exhibition of the same spirit towards our fellows. God is everywhere described as delighting in mercy--’his mercy endureth forever’ --but He requires that those to whom He shows it should, in their turn and according to their opportunities, ’love mercy;’ compare Mic 7:18 with 6:8.

It is a remarkable fact that the word Chasid, when applied to man, has usually a possessive pronoun affixed to it, so as to indicate that the persons who are exercising this disposition belong in a special sense to God. They are ’h is merciful ones’ (A. V. ’h is saints’). Merciful men may be very scarce (Psa 12:1; Mic 7:2), but wherever they are found they are regarded as God’s own. ’He hath set apart him that is merciful for himself’ (Psa 4:3), and He gives his special protection to those that are worthy of the name Chasid (Psa 32:6; Psa 37:28). They show their love to the Lord by hating evil (i.e. evil dealings against their neighbour), and the Lord, in his turn, preserves their souls (Psa 97:10). When He comes to judgment He will gather to Himself those who are his merciful ones, and who have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice (Psa 50:5), and they shall not only ’rejoice in glory’ (Psa 149:5), but also shall have the honour of executing judgment on the nations (Psa 149:9) in a word, mercy is the main characteristic of God’s dealings with man, and hence it is to be looked for as the distinguishing mark of every child of God. ’He that loveThis born of God.’ The ’godly’ are those who, having received mercy from Him, are exercising it for Him and as his representatives. It is owing to the fact, no doubt, that the word Chasid has been rendered ὅσιος in the LXX, that we find it represented by sanctus in the Latin, and by saint or godly in the English; yet it is a serious evil that the primary meaning of the Hebrew word should almost have disappeared from the face of modern translations. The practical nature of godliness is there by to some extent obscured, and the moral dem and made up on man by his having become the object of Divine lovingkindness is thrown into the background.

It only remains to notice the application of the above remarks to one or two passages of importance in the O.T., and to observe their bearing on the interpretation of this word ὅσιος in the N.T.

In Deu 33:8, Moses says, ’Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy Chasid (ἀνδρὶ ὁσίῳ, A. V. Holy One) whom thou didst prove at Massah.’ The old Portuguese translator, D’Almeida, here has amado, with a note referring the word to Aaron. The same word is used of Aar on in Psa 106:16, where he is called the Chasid of the Lord (A. V. ’the saint of the Lord’). The context in Deu 33:1-29. shows that reference is made to the slaughter of the Israelites by the House of Levi in the matter of Moab; and the lesson we learn with regard to the word Chasid is that it does not betoken the weak ’good-nature’ which some call ’mercy,’ but rather that devotion to God which produces the exercise of true lovingkindness towards man, and which sometimes involves the taking extreme and apparently harsh measures so as to prevent the spread of evil in this respect man’s mercy is to be like God’s.

There are several passages relating to David and his seed in which the words Chesed and Chasid occur, and which need to be taken together in order that their whole force may be seen in 2Sa 7:14-15, the Lord promises to David with respect to his son, ’I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: but my mercy shall not depart away from him;’ compare the parallel passage, 1Ch 17:13. this promise is referred to by Solom on at Gibe on in 1Ki 3:6 and 2Ch 1:8; and at the dedication of the Temple he closed the service by the words, ’O Lord God, turn not away the face of thine anointed; remember the mercies of David thy servant,’ i.e. the mercies which thou hast promised to show unto David (2Ch 6:42). on turning to the eighty-ninth Psalm, we find several references to these ’mercies.’ The Psalmist opens by saying ’The mercies of Jehovah will I sing for ever;’ ’mercy,’ he continues in the second verse, ’shall be built up for ever;’ he then proceeds to speak of God’s covenant and oath, which is faithful and sure and true, that David’s seed should be established on the throne for evermore. After extolling the greatness of God, he continues (verse 14), ’Righteousness and judgment are the establishment of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.’ Returning to the covenant with David, the Psalmist sketches out its details, saying in verse 24, ’My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him ;’ and in verse 28, ’My mercy will I keep for him for evermore;’ and in verse 33, ’Nevertheless my mercy (A.V. ’my lovingkindness’) will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.’ Then the Psalmist breaks out into a lamentation on the troubles into which Israel was plunged, and cries out (verse 49), ’Lord, where are thine original mercies (A. V. ’thy old lovingkindnesses’) which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?’ The Psalm concludes, as usual, with a note of thanksgiving.

We see here, first, that the word mercy seems to be used with peculiar significance in relation to God’s promise to David and his seed; and secondly, that it is constantly introduced in connection with God’s faithfulness or truth in accordance with these passages we read in Isa 55:3, ’Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the mercies of David, which are sure (or faithful). Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, for a leader and law-giver to the people.’

St. Paul, when addressing the Jews at Antioch, takes up these words as follows (Act 13:32, &c.): ’We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus (again). [The R V. rightly omits the word ’again,’ and thus distinguishes the two ’railings up’ of Jesus--first, on his entrance into the world; and secondly, on his resurrection.] or it is written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. and as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the mercies of David which are faithful. Wherefore he saith also in another place, Thou shalt not suffer thy merciful [The R. V. has strangely missed the point here.] one (A. V. and R. V. ’Thine Holy One’) to see corruption. .: Be it known unto you therefore that through this (risen Jesus) there is announced unto you forgiveness of sins.’

With regard to the rendering of Psa 16:10, we are so used to the expression ’Thy Holy One,’ that it is not easy to make such a substitution as the sense requires. It may be noticed, however, that D’Almeida has ’o teu Bem,’ thy good or kind one; the old Judae-Spanish version of the Hebrew Scriptures published at Ferrara has ’tu Bueno,’ which has the same meaning; the Spanish translator De Reyna, and also his reviser Valera, had ’tu Misericordioso,’ ’thy merciful one,’ although this excellent rendering has slipped out of modern editions.

The meaning of the word Chasid as representing mercy ought to be borne in mind in other passages where its representative όσιος; occurs in the N.T. Thus in Heb 7:26, the Lord should be described as ’merciful and without malice,’ instead of ’holy and harmless;’ so in Rev 15:4; Rev 16:5, the Lord’s mercy, not his holiness, is specially referred to. The word ὅσιος is used of the Christian in 1Ti 2:8, where he is told to lift up ’merciful hands, without wrath and contention;’ and in Tit 1:8 it is said that God’s steward should be merciful as well as righteous.

See GRACE.

Being Merciful

Zec_7:9; Luk_6:36; Col_3:12.

Keeping Mercy

Hos_12:6.

Mercy Belonging To The LORD

Psa_62:12; Dan_9:9.

The LORD Being Merciful

Exo_33:17-19; Exo_34:6-7; Num_14:18; Deu_4:31; 2Ch_30:9; Ezr_9:9; Neh_9:16-19; Neh_9:31; Psa_59:16-17; Psa_86:5; Psa_86:15; Psa_103:8; Psa_116:5; Psa_130:7; Psa_145:8; Isa_30:18; Isa_54:5-10; Jer_3:11-12; Joe_2:12-13; Luk_6:36; Eph_2:4-5; Heb_8:10-12.

The Mercies Of The LORD

1Ch_16:34; Psa_21:7; Psa_66:20; Psa_94:18; Psa_100:5; Psa_103:8-11; Psa_103:17; Psa_107:1; Psa_108:3-4; Psa_117:2; Psa_118:1-4; Psa_136:1-26; Psa_138:8; Psa_145:9; Jer_33:11; Lam_3:22; Lam_3:31-32.

The Merciful

2Sa_22:21-26; Psa_18:24-25; Pro_14:21; Isa_57:1-2; Mat_5:7.

Those That Follow After Mercy

Pro_21:21.

What Is Full Of Mercy

Psa_25:10; Jam_3:17.

What Mercy Does

Psa_61:5-7; Pro_16:6; Pro_20:28.

Who Shall Have Mercy

Psa_25:10; Psa_32:10; Pro_14:22; Pro_28:13; Hos_10:12; Mat_5:7.

Who Shows Mercy

Psa_37:21; Pro_14:31.

Who The LORD Is Merciful With

Exo_20:2-6; Deu_5:6-10; Deu_7:9; Deu_32:36-43; 2Sa_22:21-26; 2Sa_22:50-51; 1Ki_8:23; 2Ch_6:14; Neh_1:5; Psa_18:24-25; Psa_86:5; Psa_103:8-11; Isa_14:1; Isa_55:7; Hos_2:21-23; Mic_7:18-20.

MERCY

1. Mercy of God.—Mercy is ‘that essential perfection in God whereby He pities and relieves the miseries of His creatures’ (Cruden). In the OT the mercy of God (חֶסֶר, רַחֲמִים; חֶנַן ‘to show mercy’) is sought and celebrated in (Psa 51:1, Lam 3:22), or more frequently where no connexion with sin is expressed (Psa 89:1; Psa 118:1). Sin and the distress which is the consequence of it are not always separated in thought (Psa 41:4; Psa 79:8-9).

In the NT a clearer division can be made of places where the mercy spoken of is temporal or spiritual. Those who came to Christ for help asked for mercy, that is, for pity and relief (Mat 9:27; Mat 15:22; Mat 17:15; Mat 20:30; cf. Mar 5:19). The word used is ἐλεεῖν, while Christ’s twofold response is expressed by σπλαγχνισθείς, ‘moved with compassion,’ and by His act of healing (Mat 20:34). Along with these may be placed Luk 1:58, Php 2:27, 1Co 7:25, where particular instances of mercy are mentioned. On the other hand, the words ἔλεος, ἐλεεῖν are used of the whole of God’s saving work in Christ (Luk 1:72; Luk 1:78, Rom 11:30, 2Co 4:1, Eph 2:4, 1Ti 1:13; 1Ti 1:16, Tit 3:3-7, Jud 1:21). In the publican’s prayer, ‘God, be merciful to me the sinner’ (Luk 18:13), the more exact translation is ‘be propitiated’ (ἱλάσθητι), as also in Heb 8:12 (ἵλεως). In these places the obstacle of sin is recognized, and the mercy described is such as overcomes sin.

Generally in the NT sin is described not only as the source of human misery, but as itself the greatest evil from which men need to be delivered; and accordingly the work of God’s mercy is to save from sin (see Eph 2:4-10, Tit 3:3-7). In Rom 11:30-32 something is said of the Divine purpose in permitting sin, so that we may believe that the severities of God’s judgments are not inconsistent with ‘that essential perfection of mercy whereby He pities and relieves the miseries of His creatures.’ But of this as creatures we have not the final right to judge (Rom 9:15; Rom 9:23). A deepened sense of the hopelessness of separation from God brings it about that no other deliverance is to be for a moment compared with salvation from sin (Eph 2:1-4; cf. Gal 1:4, Jud 1:21).

This is also seen to be the meaning of mercy when the method of God’s mercy in the Gospel is considered, and the aim of it.

(1) Its method.—Christ’s work teaches us that God’s mercy seeks a higher good for men than the relief of temporal distress. We must think of Christ as abiding in the constant sense of the mercy of His Father, and communicating the same to men in word and deed. ‘Be ye therefore merciful (οἰκτίρμονες), as your Father also is merciful’ (Luk 6:36). ‘Love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this’ (Joh 15:12-13). That is to say, the mercy of God beginning with compassion went on to action, in the Incarnation and Atonement. ‘This is he that came by water and blood’ (1Jn 5:6). ‘I lay down my life that I may take it again.… This commandment have I received of my Father’ (Joh 10:17-18, cf. 1Pe 1:3).

Following upon the work of Christ, it is said of believers that they have obtained mercy (2Co 4:1, 1Ti 1:13; 1Ti 1:16, 1Pe 2:10); and that they look for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life (Jud 1:21). And mercy is still continuously needed, asked for, and received by believers (Heb 4:16, Php 2:27, 2Ti 1:16; 2Ti 1:18). Also the prayers in 1Ti 1:2, 2Ti 1:2, Gal 6:16, 2Jn 1:3, Jud 1:2, indicate that it becomes us to go in prayer to seek the mercy which it remains always with God to bestow. It is noteworthy that mercy is added to the usual ‘grace’ and ‘peace’ of the salutations just in those places where some more intimate affection and tender sympathy is naturally to be expected (e.g. Gal 6:16, the Letters to Timothy, and Jude’s Epistle). Whatever there is painful in the experience of believers constitutes for them a new need of the Divine mercy, and is to be explained as a part of God’s purpose of greater good by saving them more and more completely from sin.

(2) Its aim.—The aim of God’s mercy is expressed in Christ’s words, ‘That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven’ (Mat 5:45). The parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Mat 18:23) sets forth the purpose of God negatively, and in 1Jn 2:5; 1Jn 4:12; 1Jn 4:17 the positive side is given. God’s mercy or love to us comes to perfect realization when we have learned to be like Him. Because He loves us He will have us to be merciful, that we may be at our best. In this way also the progress of the Kingdom of God among men is assured, as we see in a concrete instance in 2 Corinthians 4-7 (cf. Act 20:18-35).

2. Mercy of man to man.—We have seen that it is the aim of the Divine mercy to reproduce itself in the spirits of men. As mercy has two parts, pity and active beneficence, we are commanded to love not in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth (1Jn 3:16). This is Christ’s teaching in Mat 9:13; Mat 12:7; Mat 23:23, and in the parables of the Good Samaritan (Luk 10:30) and of the Sheep and the Goats (Mat 25:31), as well as in that of the Unmerciful Servant (Mat 18:28). From these we learn that if gratitude to God does not avail to make men merciful to one another, they will be dealt with by penalties (see also Jas 2:13; Jas 3:17, 1Jn 2:9-11; 1Jn 3:15). This right disposition of heart is a product not so much of enlightenment of the mind as of such experiences as touch the springs of affection. The passage in 2 Corinthians 4-9, beginning ‘as we have obtained mercy’ (and, indeed, the whole Epistle), is a treasury of evangelical motives to philanthropic conduct. ‘Our mouth is opened unto you, our heart is enl arged’ (2Co 6:11). Similarly, in the case of St. Peter, ‘Thou knowest that I love thee.… Feed my sheep’ (Joh 21:17; cf. Rom 12:1 ‘I beseech you … by the mercies (οἰκτιρμοί) of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice’).

Selflessness, and the constraint that Christ’s love lays upon a believer, are the important features of his behaviour in this matter of mercifulness. ‘Though I be nothing’; ‘I will very gladly spend and be spent for you’ (2Co 12:12; 2Co 12:15). ‘I am debtor … as much as in me is, I am ready’ (Rom 1:14-15). ‘The love of Christ constraineth us’ (2Co 5:14). ‘We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren’ (1Jn 3:16). When we look at Christ’s own life for an example, we do not find in His case the indebtedness of one who has been forgiven, but we do find the readiness of unreserved surrender to His Father’s will. ‘I came not to do mine own will’ (Joh 6:38). ‘My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me’ (Joh 7:16). ‘I have not spoken of myself’ (Joh 12:49). Thus the mercy of God does not work in vacuo, but in the concrete example of Christ and of men possessed by His spirit, and made vehicles of His mercy (Rom 11:31, 1Jn 4:12).

In the OT the word חָסֶר ‘mercy’ is used of the duties of piety between kinsmen (Gen 20:13), or persons who are in covenant with each other (Gen 21:23). And it might seem in conflict with this that one of the most striking instances in which an appeal for mercy is disallowed in the NT is that of the rich man to his father Abraham (Luk 16:24). Similarly, Christ subordinated the ties of kindred (Luk 14:26) even with Himself (Mar 3:33, Luk 11:28) to the higher bonds of the Kingdom of God. Nevertheless the effect of Christian faith is to strengthen, and not to weaken, all the ties of human affection, raising them into the region of religion. The early motto of Christ’s ministry was, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’ (Mat 9:13; Mat 12:7); the same thought pervades the later chapters of the Gospel of John (13–17) and his First Epistle, passim, while both in Acts (Act 20:38; Act 21:13) and in his Epistles there is evidence of the overflowing, self-forgetting affection of St. Paul for the Christian Churches. The rule of pity and of active helpfulness is the teaching and the practice of Christ and His disciples. Mercy is the note of the Christian temper. See, further, artt. Grace, Kindness.

Literature.—Cremer, Lexicon, s.v. ἔλεος; Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible , art. ‘Mercy’; Seeley, Ecce Homo, chs. xix. xx.; Dykes, Manifesto of the King, p. 101 ff.; Paget, Studies in the Christian Character, p. 221 ff.; Butler, Serm. v. vi. ix. xi. xii.; Browning, Ring and the Book, x.; C. Watson, First Ep. of John; Dean Stanley Corinthians, vol. ii.

T. Gregory.

See COMPASSION:

An attribute of God. God loves everything that He has made; there is no creature which the Creator does not love with a real love. This love urges Him to shower benefits upon them. When any of His creatures is in need, and more so when His rational creature, man, is in need, and most of all when he is in dire need and misery of having offended his God, then this love of God is not withdrawn; even then is He willing to shower His benefits upon him, He is willing to forgive him, and this love and goodness of God we call His mercy.

(ἔëåïò, ïἰêôéñìüò)

Ἔëåïò means properly ‘a feeling of sympathy,’ ‘fellow-feeling with misery,’ ‘compassion.’ In the sense of God’s pity for human woe, which manifests itself in His will of salvation, ἔëåïò is found not infrequently in the apostolic writings (cf. Rom_9:23; Rom_15:9, 1Pe_1:3, Jud_1:21, 2Ti_1:16; 2Ti_1:18). It is found joined with ἀãÜðç in Eph_2:4, with ìáêñïèõìἰá in 1Ti_1:16, and with ÷Üñéò in Heb_4:16. We find the group, grace, mercy, peace, in the greetings of 1Ti_1:2, 2Ti_1:2, 2Jn_1:3; mercy and peace together in Gal_6:16, Jud_1:2.

The verb ἐëåÝù is found in a similar sense in Rom_9:15-16; Rom_11:30-32, 2Co_4:1, 1Ti_1:13; 1Ti_1:16, 1Pe_2:10. It is also found of the mercy of man towards his fellow (Rom_12:8, 1Co_7:25, Php_2:27).

ïἰêôéñìüò also means ‘compassion,’ ‘pity,’ ‘mercy,’ and with the adj. ïἰêôßñìùí and the verb ïἰêôåßñù is used both of God’s compassion for men and of men’s compassion for one another. In the NT ïἰêôéñìüò is mostly used in the plural, conformably to the Heb. øַçֲîִéí, which it translates in the Septuagint . Cf., for ïἰêôéñìüò with reference to God, Rom_12:1, Heb_10:28. In 2Co_1:3 God is called ‘the Father of mercies.’ ïἰêôéñìüò is used of human pity in Col_3:12; cf. ïἰêôßñìùí (of God) Jam_5:11, ïἰêôåßñù (of God) Rom_9:15.

In the sub-apostolic writings the usage is parallel. 1 Clem. is specially fond of both ἔëåïò and ïἰêôéñìüò (cf. ix. 1, xviii. 2, xxii. 8, xxviii. 1, l. 2, lvi. 5, xx. 11, lvi. 1). In Polyc. Phil. we have ‘mercy’ (ἔëåïò) and ‘peace’ in the introduction.

In conclusion, it may be pointed out that the doctrine of the Divine mercy is an OT rather than a NT doctrine. In the OT it is represented by the ascription to God of the following attributes: ‘(a) tender compassion, raḥǎmîm, etc., for man’s misery and helplessness; (b) a disposition to deal kindly and generously with man, ḥanan, etc.; (c) the divine affection and fidelity to man, on which man may confidently rely, as he would on the loyalty of his tribe or family, ḥeṣedh’ (W. H. Bennett in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) iii. 345). Bennett points out that the NT use of the corresponding terms is neither frequent nor characteristic, and is only a faint reflexion of OT teaching. ‘The great ideas represented in OT by raḥǎmîm, ḥanan, ḥeṣedh, and their cognates, are mostly expressed in NT by other terms than ἕëåïò, ïἰêôéñìïß, etc. One might almost say that ḥeṣedh covers the whole ground of ÷Üñéò, ἕëåïò, åἰñÞíç (but see Hort on 1Pe_1:2), and implies the NT doctrine of the Divine Fatherhood.’

Literature.-H. Cremer, Bibl.-Theol. Lexicon of NT Greek3, Eng. translation , 1880, p. 248 f.; W. H. Bennett in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) iii. 345 f.

R. S. Franks.

A characteristic of God is that he is merciful and compassionate (Exo 34:6; Neh 9:17; Psa 103:13; 2Co 1:3; Eph 2:4). This characteristic showed itself clearly in Jesus Christ who, though God, lived in the world as a human being and demonstrated the mercy that God has towards a needy human race (Mat 9:36; Mat 14:14; Luk 7:13).

The most striking demonstration of divine mercy is God’s great act of salvation in saving sinners from the just consequences of their sins and giving them forgiveness and eternal life (Num 14:18-19; Psa 86:5; Isa 63:9; Rom 2:4; Rom 11:32; Tit 3:4-5; 1Pe 2:3). Even in the rituals of the Old Testament, the sinners were dependent entirely on God’s mercy for their acceptance with God. It was God’s mercy, not their religious acts, that saved them. For this reason God’s throne was called the mercy seat. It was the place where God symbolically sat and where he mercifully accepted repentant sinners into his presence (Exo 25:21-22; cf. Heb 4:16; see TABERNACLE).

Those who claim to be God’s people must also be merciful and compassionate (Luk 6:36; Luk 10:36-37; Col 3:12; 1Pe 2:10). This means more than that they should have pity and concern for others. They must actually do something (Jas 2:15-16; 1Jn 3:17-19). In particular they should give help to those in society who are liable to be disadvantaged, such as orphans, widows, aliens, the persecuted, the afflicted and the poor (Deu 14:28-29; Deu 24:19; Pro 19:17; Mic 6:8; Zec 7:9-10; Luk 10:29-37; Rom 12:8; Jas 1:27). They should show mercy even to those who annoy or oppose them (2Ki 6:21-22; Luk 6:35; Rom 12:20; Eph 4:32).

Jesus’ parables and other teachings are a constant reminder that God takes notice of the way people treat others. God promises that he will have mercy upon those who practise mercy to others (Mat 5:7; Mat 25:34-40). Those who show no mercy to others will receive no mercy from God in the day of judgment (Mat 18:21-35; Luk 16:24-26; Jas 2:13). (See also GRACE; LOVE.)

Mercy is the act of not administering justice when that justice is punitive. Because of our sinfulness we deserve death and eternal separation from God (Rom 6:23; Isa 59:2), but God provided an atonement for sin and through it shows us mercy. That is, He does not deliver to the Christian the natural consequence of his sin which is damnation. That is why Jesus became sin on our behalf (2Co 5:21) and bore the punishment due to us (Isaiah 5345). It was to deliver us from damnation. (Compare with justice and grace.)

God saved us according to His mercy (Tit 3:5) and we can practice mercy as a gift (Rom 12:8). "Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need" (Heb 4:16).