Mercy
Mercy from the Greek word “eleos” means: “kindness / compassion”. “eleos” is the outward manifestation of pity; on the part of him who receives it, it assumes need , and on the part of him who shows it, it assumes resources that are adequate to the need . It encompasses pity, clemency, forgiveness, kindness, sympathy, understanding, leniency, benevolence etc.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. (Eph. 2:4)
Return, O Lord, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake. (Psalm 6:4)
Mercy is:
Kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them
When that which is deserved (wrath) is withheld to the benefit of the object of goodwill
Mercy comes in the form of:
Men towards men: to exercise the virtue of mercy, show one’s self merciful.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. (Matthew 5:7)
The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. (Proverbs 11:25)
God towards men: in general providence; the mercy and clemency of God in providing and offering to men salvation by Christ.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. (Ephesians 2:4)
And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? (Romans 9:23-24)
Christ, whereby at his return to judgment he will bless true Christians with eternal life.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)
While grace is an embodiment of God’s transcendence, omnipotence and love that reaches into eternity beyond our limits and boundaries: Mercy on the other hand, has to do with the dispensing of these virtues of God, transcendence, love (and others) in our daily existence; it is fresh everyday – ‘updated by default’. If grace and mercy were to feature (permit me to use the analogy) in the ‘profit & loss Account’ of man’s life; grace will be in the ‘fixed assets’ section while mercy will be in the ‘current asset’ section. This ‘current asset’ mercy is our only hope of surviving with the greatest ‘current liability’ we have, that being inherent sin.
It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)
Mercy is God’s daily provision for man to deal with the Romans 7 cross he carries every day:
MAN’S DAILY SITUATION:
The Law therefore is holy, and [each] commandment is holy and just and good.
Did that which is good then prove fatal [bringing death] to me? Certainly not! It was sin, working death in me by using this good thing [as a weapon], in order that through the commandment sin might be shown up clearly to be sin, that the extreme malignity and immeasurable sinfulness of sin might plainly appear.
We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a creature of the flesh [carnal, unspiritual], having been sold into slavery under [the control of] sin.
For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns].
Now if I do [habitually] what is contrary to my desire, [that means that] I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent) and that I take sides with it.
However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but the sin [principle] which is at home in me and has possession of me.
For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]
For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.
Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [fixed and operating in my soul].
So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.
For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self [with my new nature].
But I discern in my bodily members [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh].
O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death? (Romans 7:12-24)
GOD’S EVER-NEW PROVISION OF MERCY:
O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
THEREFORE [THERE IS] NOW NO CONDEMNATION (no adjudging guilty of wrong) FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO LIVE [AND] WALK NOT AFTER THE DICTATES OF THE FLESH, BUT AFTER THE DICTATES OF THE SPIRIT
FOR THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE [WHICH IS] IN CHRIST JESUS [THE LAW OF OUR NEW BEING] HAS FREED ME FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH.
For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice], (Romans 7:25-8:3)
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. (Titus 3:5)
How do we obtain this mercy?
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3)
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)