God's Justice; God's Mercy

(Note: I apologize for the length of this posting. Hopefully, it will not discourage you from taking the time to read it.)

Recently, I've been listening to an audio-book recording of R.C. Sproul's work, The Holiness of God. If you have never read it, or listened to it, I suggest picking it up. It is a wonderful book regarding what it means for God to be holy, how that affects his dealing with us as well as how we -should- view him, and how Christians should live and behave in light of his holiness. It covers a multitude of aspects of God's character but one it touches on that I was particularly interested in was the relationship between God's justice and his mercy.

Sproul points out that for many modern day Christians, and certainly for most non-Christians, there seems to be a tale of two Gods in the bible. The 'God of the New Testament' is portrayed as loving, kind, gentle, good, and merciful. We are told that He loves us and has forgiven our sins. However, as a seemingly stark contrast, the 'God of the Old Testament' is angry, bitter, wrathful, and fierce. He is seen as unforgiving and quick to anger. Christians and non-Christians alike have a hard time reconciling the stories of the Great Flood (Genesis 6-9), the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 14), the Egyptian Plagues (Exodus 7-12), the conquest of Canaan (Joshua 6-12) and a host of other stories regarding the judgment, destruction, and wrath of God. And furthermore, they argue, look at all the disasters and sorrows that God -could- stop, merely if He wanted to. Certainly, they would say, a loving God would not visit such pain and despair upon the world He created. Aren't his actions unmerciful? Of course they are, but are they unjust? Certainly not!

We know from Romans 3:23 that, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." All have sinned. That means that everyone has offended God, everyone has disobeyed God, EVERYONE has rebelled against and broken his laws. And, therefore, since all have sinned, all are deserving of punishment. Look back at those stories mentioned above. In each of them, God was not meting our punishment on undeserving people. Instead, in each instance, God was distributing justice against people who sinned against him first. For each of those instances, there was not one person killed who was righteous or innocent. All had sinned, ALL deserved punishment. God's justice, then, was served in each and every instance of his wrath and punishment. He was not an angry or impatient God, He was a just and righteous God.

But what of those who God has not destroyed? What of those who God has endured and withheld his wrath from? If all are deserving of punishment and destruction, shouldn't we too be destroyed? Of course we should. The fact that we haven't is the blessing of God's mercy. We all are deserving of our punishment, yet God, in his love and mercy, stays his hand. We look at the Old Testament as an example of God's wrath and punishment, but instead we should view it as the proof of God's mercy. The few times God does strike out against the unrighteous are a mere blip against the vast majority of times that He shows mercy to sinners. But, if God shows mercy to some and wrath to others, is He not playing favorites with his creation? Is He unjust and unfair? Again, certainly not!

Mercy is present when God withholds his justice. Yet God does not owe us mercy; He does not have to grant it. God tells Moses in Exodus 33:19 "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy to whom I show mercy." God will be merciful on those of his choosing, and does not have to grant it to everyone. And furthermore, it does not make him unjust when he does not choose to grant it. To judge God as unjust, we must assume that we are more just and more fair. However, how can we, those who are unrighteous and deserving of wrath, possibly judge Him, the one who is righteous and holy? We have no right, no basis, no challenge to make. Justice AND Mercy are God's to deal out in whatever measure he feels appropriate. We should not be surprised or confused at God's wrath, we should be grateful that his mercy has withheld it from us!

Our outrage at the 'God of the Old Testament' then, is not outrage at injustice, but a result of our ungratefulness. We have grown up in a culture that has forgotten who God is. Certainly and undoubtedly, God is loving, tender, merciful and kind. But He is also holy, just, and righteous. When we read the Bible, then, we should not ask, "Why did God do such and such?" Instead, we should say, "Thank You Lord for Your mercy and grace, neither of which I deserved, but which You gave to me freely."