Mercy and justice. Are they opposites? Does God’s justice contradict his mercy? Is he sometimes merciful and sometimes exacting of justice? Is he merciful now, but later will be full of judgment? Was he once a judging God, but now has decided to become merciful? Is he two-faced? So many questions running through my head about mercy and justice! Let me grapple with it here, because I don’t think there are any easy answers.
Some would say that mercy is “letting someone off the hook.” That seems a bit shallow. The New Oxford American Dictionary defines it as “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.” When Jesus talks about mercy, I think he would lean toward this latter definition. Mercy is far more than just “letting someone off the hook.” Mercy involves understanding where the sin came from, healing the wound behind it, and helping the one doing the wrong to make things right.
So, is justice the opposite of that mercy? I believe the two are more closely related than we realize. The New Oxford American Dictionary defines justice as, “the quality of being fair and reasonable”. So, why have I pictured justice as harsh punishment? A common understanding of justice is punishing sin as it deserves to be punished. But I’ve even heard many who understand justice to be a punishment that far exceeds what it deserves. When people scream that justice be done, they usually are not being fair or reasonable. And they attribute this same view of justice to God, as if God must punish sin in the worst way possible. How sad. This unmerciful view of justice for me is changing. I’m learning to see justice not as ruthless, but as kind and restorative. Justice fixes, mends, and rebuilds.
With this in mind, justice and mercy walk hand-in-hand. They work together to help the underdog get fair treatment. They bring the same kind of forgiveness and second chances for the black boy on drugs as the white rich boy on drugs in another part of town. They give the immigrant who’s always struggled to provide for his family the same kind of opportunities that have come easily to me. They make reconciliation possible between enemies as one forgives and one repairs the damage done.
This is the kind of mercy and justice that come from God’s heart. This justice and mercy are not opposites, but complements of each other. For each of God’s characteristics must fully embrace the other characteristics, so that God is whole and not divided. God can’t be two-faced. God can’t be schizophrenic. The One who loves us and lives in us is too good and pure and holy for that. As George MacDonald once said, “There can be no opposition, no strife whatever, between mercy and justice. Those who say justice means the punishing of sin, and mercy the not punishing of sin, and attribute both to God, would make a schism in the very idea of God.” Justice and mercy are fully entwined in each other. Justice and mercy are so enmeshed in God that they can’t be separated. God’s justice is mercy. God’s mercy is justice. God’s justice wants to forgive. God’s mercy wants to make things right.
Mercy and judgment are inexplicably interwoven together, and that just can’t change one day. I’ve heard it said that one day we will come to the end of the age of mercy, or the age of grace. So, God changes his character one day? No. If God is merciful now, that mercy will never change. If God is just now, that justice will never change. God’s justice works at setting the world right, now and forever. Love will not leave. Mercy is forever. As James 2:13 says, “Mercy always wins against judgment!” All will be well. Thank God!
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