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Glory · The Gospel
Mercy and grace are God's twin compassion, and they are closely related. Mercy withholds what we deserve, the punishment our sin has earned; grace gives what we do not deserve, forgiveness, salvation, and every blessing. Both are rooted in God's love and meet at the cross, where the punishment for sin was carried by Christ and righteousness is freely given. Neither is something we earn, and both change how we live.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/what-is-the-difference-between-grace-and-mercy · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Ephesians 2:1-10
As you read: God, being rich in mercy and full of love, made us alive together with Christ; by grace you have been saved.
1You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,
2in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience;
3among whom we also all once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
4But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,
5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;
8for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9not of works, that no one would boast.
10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
Psalm 103:8-13
As you read: The LORD is merciful and gracious, and does not deal with us according to our sins or repay us for our iniquities.
8Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.
9He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever.
10He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities.
11For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.
12As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.
Romans 9:14-26
As you read: God's mercy is His own to give, rooted in His character, not in anything in us.
14What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be!
15For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy.
17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
18So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.
19You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?”
20But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”
21Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor?
22What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath made for destruction,
23and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory,
24us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?
25As he says also in Hosea, “I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people; and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.”
26“It will be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ There they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”
Romans 6:20-23
As you read: The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.
20For when you were servants of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
22But now, being made free from sin, and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification, and the result of eternal life.
23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Titus 3:4-7
As you read: He saved us, not by works of righteousness we had done, but according to His mercy.
4But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared,
5not by works of righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
6whom he poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ our Savior;
7that, being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Mercy is God's compassion that does not give us what our sin deserves. The psalmist celebrates it: God 'has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities,' though He is merciful and gracious. Lamentations sings that His loving kindness does not cease and His compassions never fail, but are new every morning. Mercy is the hand of God not falling on us as it might, judgment withheld because of love.
“He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities.”Psalm 103:10
“Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.”Psalm 103:8
“It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail.”Lamentations 3:22
“They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”Lamentations 3:23
If mercy holds back the punishment we earned, grace goes further: it gives us the blessing we could never earn. Paul writes, 'by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,' not of works. The same chapter contrasts the wages of sin, death, with 'the free gift of God… eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.' Grace is undeserved favor, lavished on sinners who merit nothing.
“for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,”Ephesians 2:8
“not of works, that no one would boast.”Ephesians 2:9
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”Romans 6:23
Mercy and grace work as one in our salvation. Paul writes of God, 'being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us... made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).' Titus joins them: he saved us, not by works of righteousness that we ourselves had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit Mercy spares us; grace raises us to new life in Christ. Both are free, both are loving, and both are His.
“But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,”Ephesians 2:4
“even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”Ephesians 2:5
“not by works of righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,”Titus 3:5
Neither mercy nor grace can be claimed as a right; they are given by God's free determination. Paul cites God's word to Moses: 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' David, after his great sin, cast himself entirely on God: 'Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness... blot out my transgressions.' We ask for mercy because we cannot demand it, and we receive grace because we cannot earn it.
“For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.””Romans 9:15
“Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.”Psalm 51:1
Those who have received mercy and grace are called to extend them. Jesus says, 'Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful.' Paul urges us to 'be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.' The mercy we did not deserve makes us slow to exact our pound of flesh from others, and the grace that has saved us makes us gracious. The forgiven become forgivers, and the remembered grace makes us kind.
““Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful.”Luke 6:36
“And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.”Ephesians 4:32
“Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;”Colossians 3:12
“bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.”Colossians 3:13