The preachers quoted here describe mercy as part of God's own nature: his compassion acting toward people in misery and guilt, with no deserving on their side. They say it is exercised only where there is guilt, and that it is not limited to any race or nation.
When God proclaimed his name to Moses, mercy came first: "The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6). The great Old Testament word is chesed, kindness or steadfast love;1 the New Testament word is eleos, compassion.2
Mercy and grace are close but not the same. An old distinction puts the difference this way: grace has to do with people's guilt, mercy with their misery. Grace pardons; mercy pities and relieves.
The Psalms return to it constantly. "The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy ... Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him" (Psalm 103:8, 13). Psalm 136 repeats in every verse, "for his mercy endureth for ever." In the ruins of Jerusalem Jeremiah could still say, "It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning" (Lamentations 3:22-23).
The New Testament finds its fullest display in Christ. "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ" (Ephesians 2:4-5). Salvation is "according to his mercy" (Titus 3:5). The prayer Jesus commended was the publican's: "God be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13).
Mercy is free and never owed. "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy" (Romans 9:15). Nor does it set justice aside: at the cross God is both "just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:26). Thomas Watson wrote, "Mercy is not the fruit of our goodness, but the fruit of God's goodness."3
Those who have received mercy are to show it. "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy" (Matthew 5:7). "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful" (Luke 6:36). And believers are invited to keep coming for it: "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy" (Hebrews 4:16).
- Strong's Hebrew 2617, chêçêd: "kindness; by implication (towards God) piety; rarely (by opposition) reproof, or (subject.) beauty".
- Strong's Greek 1656, éleos: "compassion (human or divine, especially active)".
- Thomas Watson, A Body Of Divinity, "The Mercy Of God".
In their own words
Each line below is quoted exactly from a sermon on this site. Follow the link to hear or read it where it was said.
Mercy is an innate propensity in God to do good to distressed sinners.
Thomas Watson
in The Ten Commandments
Read in context
Mercy is God's active compassion that He demonstrates to the miserable.
Chuck Swindoll
in Magnificent Mercy
Read in context
Mercy is something that issues out of God's own nature having nothing whatever to do with any deserving on man's part.
Art Katz
in K-552 Judgment & Mercy
Listen at 40:34
Mercy is exercised only where there is guilt.
Charles Finney
in On Trusting in the Mercy of God
Read in context
And mercy is essential, it is fundamental to the person of God.
Anton Bosch
in Merciful
Listen at 12:28
God's mercy is not limited to any race or any nation.
John Piper
in The Education of a Prophet: Jonah
Listen at 16:13
What Scripture says
- Exodus 34:6 the LORD, merciful and gracious, longsuffering
- Lamentations 3:22-23 his compassions fail not; they are new every morning
- Ephesians 2:4-5 God, who is rich in mercy
- Titus 3:5 according to his mercy he saved us
- Hebrews 4:16 come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy
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