Understanding Grace and
Mercy
Our Heavenly Father has many
wondrous characteristics which work to the benefit of mankind. We are dependant upon Him for everything,
both in this life and in the life to come.
We rely heavily upon His Grace and upon His Mercy. But do we fully understand those
attributes? Often we find the words
grace and mercy being used as if they are interchangeable; sometimes we met
people who teach that they are two sides of the same coin – virtually
inseparable. Indeed both words are found together in at least a half dozen
passages in the scriptures. Genesis
19:19, “Behold
now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy
mercy, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life;” 1 Tim 1:2, “Unto
Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from
God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.” ; 2 Tim 1:2, “To
Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God
the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”; Titus 1:4,
“To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace,
mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our
Savior.”; 2
John 3, “Grace
be with you, mercy, and peace, from God
the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and
love.”
Since we know that economy
of words is a hallmark of inspired text we may also know that the Holy Spirit
guided the inspired writers in using words which expressed the meaning He
intended to convey. If the two words
meant the same thing then the use of both of them in the same sentence would be
redundant. But the fact is that they
each have a very unique meaning and application. Such is evident from their usage in Hebrews
4:16. “Let
us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Let’s examine
each word and its use in the scriptures in search of a better understanding.
We use the word ‘grace’ in the English language to
convey a variety of meanings. Sometimes
we use it to indicate beauty of form or movement – (we may admire the skill and
grace of an ice skater); or a sense of propriety or fitness – (a fine dinner
may be served with style and grace); a disposition of generosity – (an act of
gracious generosity). The word is
sometimes used as a formal title in referring to persons who hold certain
positions of royalty – (i.e. ‘your grace’); and sometimes it is used to
identify the short prayer of thanksgiving before eating a meal.
It is used in the Bible to
describe the favor of God, as in Genesis 6:8, “But Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord.” The Hebrew word
“ax”, pronounced “chen or kahn”,
is translated ‘grace’ 38 times and ‘favor’ 64 times in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, the Greek word “charis”, (pronounced kahr-ece) is
translated ‘grace’ 130 times, and ‘favor’ 6 times. Paul uses the word in the latter part of 1
Corinthians
And divine privilege in
Ephesians 3:8, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all
saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;”
The word grace is used to
describe various characteristics of Christians, as found in Colossians 3:12-15, “Put on therefore, as the
elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of
mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one
another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so
also do ye. And above all these things put on
charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your
hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body;
and be ye thankful.”
and 2 Peter 1:5-7, “And
beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue
knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to
patience godliness; And to godliness
brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.”
– we sometimes refer
to these as ‘the Christian graces’. We
are admonished to ‘grow in grace’, (2 Peter
And just how might we
achieve this objective, to ‘grow in grace’?
1 Peter 2:2, “As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of
the word that ye may grow thereby.” “That ye might walk
worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and
increasing in the knowledge of God;”, Colossians 1:10. The ‘sincere milk of the word’, (regular,
consistent study of God’s word), will help us to develop these highly important
characteristics – graces.
But the word grace
has a particularly unique use in the language of salvation. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4-10 gives us a
beautiful summary of the role of God’s grace in our salvation; “But
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, (by grace ye are
saved;) And hath raised us up
together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them.”
In the context of our soul’s
salvation, grace is best described as God’s having given us that which we do
not deserve. Motivated by His love, God
has given us the means by which we may attain forgiveness of sin and eternal
salvation. God’s grace is extended to
all men; John 1:7, “The
same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that
all men through him might believe.”
John 12:32, “I…will draw ALL men unto me”; Acts
The scriptures teach us that God’s saving grace is
freely extended to every human being who has ever lived, is living now, or who
ever will live on earth until the end of time.
There is no person who is not a recipient of God’s grace. Does that mean that all will be saved? It does mean that all men have the
opportunity to be saved, but not everyone will accept God’s grace, Romans
10:16, “But
they have not all obeyed the gospel…” , (some of the most sad words contained in holy writ). Grace is most certainly the beginning point
of our salvation; we could not be saved without it. But if grace alone were the only requisite
for salvation then everyone would be saved unconditionally. But notice the language of Ephesians 2:8, “…by
grace are ye saved, through faith…”
A more accurate translation would be “…through THE faith…”. The direct
translation is “By that
favor, indeed, you have been saved, through the faith;…”.
To
better understand what is meant by the phrase “the faith”, consider the
following passages: Acts 6:7,
“And the word
of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but
he that believeth not shall be damned”, (Mark
The Bible clearly teaches
that only those who accept the offer of God’s grace will receive His
mercy. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8, “And
to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them
that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:” ; Hebrews 5:9, “And being made perfect, he became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;”; 1 Peter 4:17, “For the time is come
that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin
at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
We use the word mercy to indicate compassionate
treatment, clemency, pity, kindhearted forgiveness. The word presupposes that the recipient is in
need of it, and that the giver possesses resources adequate to meet that need,
(Vine). We find it in the scriptures
describing such attributes of our Heavenly Father.
Genesis 19:19, “Behold now, thy servant
hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou
hast showed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain,
lest some evil take me, and I die:”; 39:21 “But the LORD was with Joseph, and
showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” ; Exodus 15:13, “Thou
in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast
guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.”; 20:6, “And
showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”, and numerous other passages, including Exodus 33:19; 34:7; Numbers 14:19;
Deuteronomy 5:10; 1 Chronicles 16:34; Psalms 23:6; Psalms 85:10; Luke 1:50;
Ephesians 2:4; summarized in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly unto
the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time
of need.”
The
Bible tells us that we are saved by grace – but could we be saved without God’s
mercy; most certainly not. Yet, we
must accept His grace in order to receive His mercy.
We
see grace as that which God has given us that we do not deserve; mercy as that
which God has not given us even though we do deserve it. In His mercy, God has given us Christ to die
for our sins, a gift that we do not deserve.
Because of His grace, we are able to escape the punishment that we
justly deserve.
No
person guilty of a crime has ever stood before a judge and cried out ‘I demand
justice’; rather the inclination is to beg for mercy. Certainly as we stand before the God of
Heaven we don’t want justice, that which we justly deserve as a result of our
sinful life, rather we plead for His divine mercy. "I will trust in the mercy of God forever and ever."
Ps. 52:8.
Romans 9:15-16, “For he saith
to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it
is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.”
(Reference is to Exodus 3:19). And to whom does God extend His divine
mercy? To those who choose to accept His
grace, who obey his will. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven”, (Matthew
7:21). In granting to us His mercy, God
is not simply ignoring or excusing our wrongdoing, but is keeping His promises;
1 John 1:9.
God’s promises of salvation
are conditional, IF we keep His commandments, then we will receive His
mercy. His Grace is freely extended to
all, but His mercy is granted to those who obey Him. Ecclesiastes 12:13.
The
common denominator of God’s grace and mercy is His love, Romans 5:8-11.