When we feel wronged by someone, our sinful, self-centered human natures gravitate to making a courtroom of sorts in our minds and hearts. We make a judgment of what the person has done, or not done, and then we proceed to give a “suitable” sentence, some kind of “punishment” according to our own sense of justice.

 

“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36)

While it can be easy to meld the act of mercy with the act of grace, grace doesn’t always include mercy. We might not deserve an amazing blessing, such as a wonderful spouse or an extraordinary job opportunity, but God gives them to us anyway. Yet, when it comes to our state before God outside of Christ, we need the grace that includes God’s mercy. Similarly, it is often the case that we need to extend grace that encompasses mercy to other people in our lives, and hope they do the same for us.

God’s mercy is essential for our salvation.

We are all guilty in Adam. Why is this so? The answer is that Adam represented all humanity in the garden of Eden, and what Adam earned—either life or death—would also be received by everyone who came after him.

Because of Adam’s disobedience and fall, all people bear Adam’s guilt, because Adam represented all humanity. Furthermore, Adam’s sin caused the corruption of his nature, and all his posterity—including you and me—would now bear that same sinful nature.

The term original sin describes this present state of humanity’s guilt because of Adam’s sin. The corrupt nature we inherited from Adam also causes us to heap even more condemnation on ourselves due to the sins we each commit from birth until death.

Thus, God’s grace in saving us by the finished work of Christ on our behalf must encompass his mercy. We not only need Christ’s righteousness counted to us, but we also need Christ’s perfect once-for-all sacrifice for sin counted to us. Why? Because in extending his mercy to us, God still needs to uphold his attributes of righteousness and justice. Jesus mercifully took our punishment upon himself so that we would be redeemed from the just penalty for our guilt and sin.

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