A Biblical Definition of Mercy

Host Jim Lewis offers a biblical definition of mercy, looking at the "mercy words" of the Old and New Testament, and describes how being a recipient of God's mercy and then a giver of God's mercy makes all the difference in the life of a man who needs freedom from sin. (From #360 - What Role Does Mercy Play in Freedom from Porn?)

Mercy isn’t a complicated theological concept. Most people understand that when God bestows mercy, He is withholding from us the wrath or punishment that our sins deserve; or He is bestowing something that we desperately need but feel undeserving to ask. When we hear the afflicted in the New Testament Gospels cry out, “Son of David, Have mercy on me!” we understand what that means. Please deal with me compassionately.

There are three interrelated concepts in Scripture that describe the merciful character of God. The Hebrew chesed is mercy, Chen is grace, and RuCHam is compassion. That these words are related is clearly seen in the many places they appear together in Hebrew poetry as parallel and complimentary concepts. This is nowhere more clearly displayed than in Psalms 51.1 where David cries out, “Be gracious to me , O God (the verb Chanan, extend grace) According to your loving kindness (the noun CHesed, mercy) According to the greatness of You Compassion (the noun Ra

CHam, tender compassion) blot out my transgressions. David assigns to God these divine character traits: that He extends undeserved, unmerited good favor upon those who do not deserve it and cannot earn it. He is gracious; He not only withholds deserved judgment, but in love He meets the desperate needs of a man’s condition: physical, emotional and spiritual. His provision of needs from food to forgiveness, and even chastisement and discipline, are all expressions of His mercy. And God is compassionate. While this is true of the Father it is clearly more visible in the Son, who demonstrated His Father’s character perfectly, in that when Jesus was moved with compassion He responded with tears, with weeping, and then also with works of healing. The three corresponding Greek words of the New Testament are eleos for mercy, charis for grace, and splagxnon for compassion. All are used to describe Jesus and so all reflect in Him the character of God.

There is absolutely no difference in character in the members of the Godhead, so that the Father, Son and Spirit are absolutely alike in their attributes. So if the Father is merciful, gracious and compassionate, so is the Son, and so is the Spirit. Each is a perfect reflection of the other. So if God brought punishment upon Israel, or if the Holy Spirit brings conviction upon us in our sin, that is not an absence of His mercy but an expression of it. He disciplines in order to produces holiness, which is a very kind and gracious thing to do, regardless of how painful it may be in the moment.

Every man who passes through Pure Life came here deep in habitual sin. And every man who leaves free from his sin has come to realize that he has been the recipient of great mercy from God. His process of gaining freedom at some point hinged on him coming to the Cross of Jesus Christ, making a thorough repentance of his life of sin and his depraved soul, and throwing himself on the mercy of God, seeking a real forgiveness and cleansing of all sin. This is not the typical cheap prayer offered up by the man who only wants enough absolution to assuage his conscience until the next time he gives over to his sin. This is life-changing, bone-shaking repentance that repudiates sin and turns from it once for all. And he experiences a flood of mercy that he knows comes from a heart of grace, because seeing his great need, he knows beyond doubt he is unworthy and undeserving. In compassion, God is gracious and merciful.

After his true conversion at the Cross, things really begin to change for him. Now, having the Holy Spirit directing his life from the inside, he begins to display the character of God towards those around him. His long-standing habits of anger, selfishness, pride, fear, and lust begin to be replaced with the fruit of the Spirit. And he begins to show mercy to those around him.

In his parable about forgiveness in Matthew 18, Jesus has the king saying to an unmerciful, unforgiving servant, “‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’” When our men come to apply that verse to their lives, that as recipients of great mercy, it is now incumbent upon them to be bestowers of mercy, their lives change even more. They begin to look for opportunities to do mercy. They go out of their way to be merciful. It’s quite wonderful to behold. Man who were completely selfish and self-consumed, nothing but takers, now prevent in their desire to bless others by giving. We call it “reversing the flow.” From being a taker, to being a giver. God does this in the lives of men whom He saves and sets free. And He does it through pouring His mercy into their hearts.

<pull-quote>We are the recipients of great mercy. It is now our task and our great joy to extend His mercy to others, to family, to friends, to our brothers and sisters in Christ, and to a lost and dying world who needs a Savior.<pull-quote><tweet-link>Tweet This<tweet-link>

Paul wrote to Titus, “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:3-7

We are the recipients of great mercy. It is now our task and our great joy to extend His mercy to others, to family, to friends, to our brothers and sisters in Christ, and to a lost and dying world who needs a Savior.