JUSTICE AND MERCY

The whole Bible presents us with a series of paradoxical pairings of principles which seem to be at odds with one another. We are given God's holy word written entirely by fallible human beings who are inspired by God's inerrant Holy Spirit. We are presented in the New Testament with a man who at the same time is God. And we are told by this divine man to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. And in each case, the truth is not found somewhere in the middle of these extremes but at both ends at the same time.

One early way in which this recurring theme is sounded in the Bible is found in the Pentateuch where we see the following statement made concerning God, with minor variations:

    “I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and even fourth generation of those who reject me, but exhibiting steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:6; 34:7; Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 5:10; 7:9-10)

These two contrasting aspects of God's nature are clearly taught to the people of Israel at the ceremony at Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim through the pronouncing of both the blessings and curses on them. (Joshua 8:33-35; see Deuteronomy 27-28)

The prophetic books are filled with confirming statements of this paradoxical nature of God. As just one example, consider these adjacent verses:

    “Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and by him even the rocks are broken into pieces. Yahweh is good, a stronghold in a day of trouble; he protects those who come to him for shelter.” (Nahum 1:6-7)

J.B. Phillips, in his book Your God Is Too Small, describes a number of inadequate images we have for God. And some of them result from our not taking seriously enough His justice and His mercy. Thus, if we only emphasize the former, we end up with a Resident Policeman always on the lookout to catch us in a fault. On the other hand, an overemphasis on the second divine attribute leads to the belief in what he describes as a Grand Old Man, Meek-and-Mild, or God-in-a-Box.

Mercy “Closely related to love are goodness, mercy, long-suffering, and grace. While distinctions are made, they are not exact...Mercy is that aspect of His goodness which causes God to show pity and compassion.” (Ryrie)

It is interesting to look at the various words in the OT which are paired up with “mercy.” These include “goodness” (Psalm 23:6); “truth” (6x); “compassion” (Zechariah 7:9); and “covenant” (5x).

Justice “Though related to holiness, righteousness is nevertheless a distinct attribute of God. Holiness relates to God's separateness; righteousness, to His justice.” (Ryrie) Confirming this statement is the fact that the two words “justice and righteousness” are paired together in I Kings 10:9; twice in Isaiah; five times in Jeremiah; in Amos 5:24; and four times in the Psalms. In addition, this pairing appears in John 16:8 and Acts 17:31.

Mercy and Justice But there are other pairings that appear to bring together these two terms. Thus, “mercy” is closely associated with “judgment” at least six times in the Bible (Psalm 101:1; Hosea 12:6; Micah 6:8; Habakkuk 3:2; Zechariah 7:9; and James 12:12-13). But “justice” is similarly paired with “judgment” over twenty times. One can thus come up with the following syllogism: A=B and C=B. Therefore A=C. I realize that this doesn't constitute a truly logical argument, but it does demonstrate the close association between these three theological terms.

And we don't need to resort to such roundabout reasoning to associate mercy with justice since that direct coupling itself appears also in Scripture:

    “And what does LORD require of you but to do justice and to love kindness.” (Micah 6:8)

    “Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy each to his brother.” (Zechariah 7:9)

    “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For...you have neglected the weightier matters of the law such as justice and mercy and faith....” (Matthew 23:23)

    “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'” (Romans 9:14-15)

    “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; yet mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13) This same principle is powerfully taught without using the words “mercy and justice” in Jesus' Parable of the Unjust Servant (Matthew 18:23-35) if one takes the king in that story to be a type of God Himself.

As a prime example of tempering justice with mercy, one can do no better than read the way Jesus dealt with the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11).

The first three of the above quotes do not refer to attributes of a holy God at all, but to attributes that we, as God's people, are expected to possess as well. How is that possible for us? The simple answer is that we ourselves, as His children, are to be holy:

    Four times in Leviticus the statement “You shall be holy for I the LORD your God am holy,” or its equivalent, is asserted (Leviticus. 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:26; 21:6-8). And the NT also affirms that principle for Christians. For example,

    Romans 11:16b: “If the root is holy, so are the branches.”

    Romans 12:1: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

    Ephesians 1:3-4: “Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ...even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”

    The author of Hebrews calls the brothers in Christ, “holy” in 3:1.

    And finally, Peter quotes from the OT when he says “as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'” (I Peter 1:15) He then calls the believers “a holy priesthood” (I Peter 2:5) and “a holy nation (I Peter 2:9).