THERE IS A SHOP-WORN APHORISM oft-heard in Christian church culture that “Mercy is not getting what you do deserve; grace is getting what you don’t deserve.” It is an axiom that deserves a deeper look than the casual glance that most of us give it. The first time we hear it, it usually comes delivered with an enlightened understanding of God’s love for the unworthy. Engaging more deeply gives us a deep gratitude for the theology of reconciliation. This is the process that ends the estrangement, caused by original sin (cf. Gen. 3:6-7), between God and humanity. God’s love is shown to us in and through Jesus, “for God so loved the world that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) That God initiates reconciliation is the both the concrete and the transcendent display of his unmerited love through his innate perfect attributes of grace and mercy.
Reconciliation for you and me is accomplished through a sequence of birth truths and growth truths wherein we believe in Jesus, repent of our sin-crime(s) against God, are born again, receive the Holy Spirit, and begin the eternally life-long practice of loving God and others. “Whoever believes in me,” says Jesus, “does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.” (John 12:44) “Repent,” he says, “for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matt. 3:2)
It is through Jesus that we get our first distinguishing clarity between the two realms, and our displacement from the one and entry into the other. “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You must be born again.” (John 3:5-7) He teaches us the first great growth truths of the upper realm. “The most important one is this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31) He adds another commandment to these: “Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) Finally, he reminds us that “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” (John 14:21) In this process of spiritual formation God’s grace and mercy are made perfect in the love he initiates with us through Jesus, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned.” (John 3:17)
The eloquence of Shakespeare paints this poetic picture of mercy: **“The quality of mercy is not strained; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blest; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” Similarly, Peter praises God in this way: “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” (1 Pet. 1:3) Paul says it more succinctly: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23) He adds, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ.” (1 Cor. 5:18) The Psalmist says, “Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.” (Psa. 85:10) Our crime is expunged from the heavenly records—God’s mercy is made complete, his law is satisfied, and we are no longer estranged.
And it is only now, when mercy has worked its miraculous effect, that we can begin to understand the magnitude of God’s grace. We did nothing to merit the favor of God. He called, we came, we accepted. No motivation of our heart, no force of our will, no righteousness of our conduct, no fashioning by our hands was sufficient. Paul reminds us, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9) Our salvation is a gift that cannot be earned, but only received. Our paucity of comprehension of this is both humiliating in retrospect and awe-inspiring in enlightened and ever-expanding grateful understanding. We are no longer the bondage of darkness. We have been rescued from hell by the grace of God. The creator/creature, infinite/infinitesimal, eternal/temporal bond is re-established, and we are restored/made new to our identity in the image of God. (cf. Gen. 1:27, 2 Cor. 5:17) We are made conscious of this, and our newly illumined thoughts perceive the beginnings of vast possibilities.
In one definition, grace is an elegance of movement; in a second, it is the showing of kindness to another. Both of these concepts are made manifest exponentially in God. “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” (Eph. 1:6) God’s grace is as he is—infinite.
We cannot get more grace, but only grow more in its presence. Peter’s words take on new meaning: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Pet. 3:18) Grace grows in us through the principle of use. Our growth in grace is directly proportional to the degree in which we exercise Jesus’ command to love God and love others as he has loved us. (cf. Matt. 22:37, 39) We are reconciled to God—and to others—through the love of God given us in mercy and grace.
Q. How grace full am I?
*Beatles, “Abbey Road” Album, side one, track 1 – 1969.
**William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice,” Act IV, Scene I.
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