Juctice and Mercy?

[reba]

Does Mercy override justice?
there are some great ideas of justice laid out in the OT...
sorta like your cow kills the neighbours cow you give him your cow. Simple straight justice.... the grace and mercy comes in when he accepts the debt as paid in full and you harbor no resentment.

 

[follower]

no, i don't think mercy overrides justice. all of Yhwh's Ways are Perfect, even Perfecting the soul, through judgment. (repeated often in Scripture, and Psalms).
Yhwh Planned before Creation to have mercy. without being unjust. without being unrighteous.
no one deserves mercy.
no one deserves even to be allowed to live....
but Yhwh chose to Provide a Way... a Way to Life, a Way He can demonstrate mercy on whom He Will..
Yeshua was born in the flesh, a human, and suffered greatly, and died - crucified by men, He gave up His Life at the right time, at the appointed time.
and Yhwh Raised Him from the dead, never to die again, and exalted His Name far above every name.

 

[ezrider]

Lady Terra,

I hope that you have found something that has blessed you concerning your original question about finding a balance between Justice and Mercy. I found your question to be sincere and honest, and you ask such a great question because it doesn’t contend over the meaning of a verse in the scripture that we should debate it, but instead your question deals with the real life application of our walk in Faith. But reading through many of these posts, I feel somewhat saddened, because it seems more people are interested in debating the meaning of justice, what is mercy, what trumps what, or any other such thing; everyone thinks they need to share their knowledge of scripture, yet they offer little wisdom from the application of their own walk that you might grow by.

I must commend you on one thing; In one of your subsequent posts, you recognized in yourself that your sense of love for your fellow man is dwindling. If you read the other parts of this forum then you are probably aware that many people are consumed following politics or are watching for events in the world to fulfill some prophecy that they hold to so that they might believe. Yet we who believe are in this world, but we are not of this world, we are of the Spirit. By your question, I think you are watching for the things that truly matter in our walk of Faith in Christ.

My walk in Christ has made me more conscious of the battle that exists between the spirit and my flesh. I am aware of the weakness within my flesh, but that also allows me to accept the same weakness within all men. Many take the concept of forgiveness as an act that they must do in response to an apology. Many still struggle to forgive even after the apology is given. Some hold on to their resentment for many many years. I think we should aspire to do more than forgive out of an obligation to a commandment to forgive one another, but rather we should aspire to develop within ourselves a forgiving nature that shows forth the Mercy of the Lord.

The forgiving nature that I am talking about is one that accepts the weakness of not only my flesh, but the weakness inherent in all flesh. I have learned within my walk how certain people can get under my skin and cause me to react or get angry, cause me to harbor deep resentment that could consume me for days or weeks, and to act in ways that are contrary to my spirit. But the Spirit of the Lord showed me that I was allowing the other individual to gain control over my spirit by pressing against my flesh, and causing me to pick up and carry around that burden. It is not a burden that I desire to carry around myself, because I find it takes my thoughts away from Christ and tries to focus them back upon my flesh, but through Faith I have found that Christ has taken this burden from me as well, and he has created within me a forgiving nature. By understanding the weaknesses of my own flesh nature, I can have compassion upon the same weaknesses that exist in each of us. And as we grow in the Spirit of Christ, we learn how to hand that burden over to the Lord so that the actions of another have no room to take hold over your spirit.

Thinking about how the actions of another, whether intentional or unintentional, can press against my flesh so that it affects my spiritual walk, there is a scripture that comes to mind.

Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Jesus spoke the words while He hung on the cross, and Stephen cried them forth as he was stoned to death: Forgive them Father, they know not what they do.

 

[Obadiah]

...I feel somewhat saddened, because it seems more people are interested in debating the meaning of justice, what is mercy, what trumps what, or any other such thing; everyone thinks they need to share their knowledge of scripture, yet they offer little wisdom from the application of their own walk that you might grow by...

ezrider while I understand your point, this is the Apologetics and Theology forum which actually IS a debate forum. The fact that it focuses on apologetics and theology pretty much mandates the use of scripture and involves discussion (debate) over the various interpretations of scripture and their validity.
Lady Terra , if this isn't what you were looking for, let me know and I will be glad to move this thread to a better forum for what you are looking for. It's not a problem to do that and is done all the time. A notice will be left here to direct people looking for this thread to it's new location. Just let me know.

 

[Sinthesis]

Maybe the problem is that a lot of people these days are trying to put God in a box that is defined by our current human concept of things like justice, mercy, and love, etc. God is not human and is not bound by our ideas and concepts. It is not up to God to conform His ways of doing things to our ideas of how it should be done. He has told us in scripture how He does things and it's up to us to conform to Him. If He told us that His Son had to die on the cross to pay for our sins and keep us from suffering in hell forever, than that's the way it is, whether or not that fits our current idea of justice.

As for me, I'm happy to just accept that payment for what I've done and glad it was done for me. I'm thankful enough for this that I don't feel any need to argue with God about why He can't agree with my human ideas.

I agree. My point is that an omnipotent God is not bound by any definition of justice. I believe the Cross was not just, and He loves us enough that it doesn't matter if justice is not served when the innocent pay for the sins of the guilty. The Cross was an act of love, not a legal transaction.

 

[ezrider]

I agree. My point is that an omnipotent God is not bound by any definition of justice. I believe the Cross was not just, and He loves us enough that it doesn't matter if justice is not served when the innocent pay for the sins of the guilty. The Cross was an act of love, not a legal transaction.

Sinthesis, while I agree with your sentiment that justice is not served when the innocent pay for the sins of the guilty, I must disagree with your statement that the cross was not a legal transaction. It most definitely was a legal transaction, because it was the sealing of the covenant between God and man. Please refer to Gal 3:15-18 and Hebrews 9.

Heb 9:16-18 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.

I think many people hold up the blood of Christ as if he continues to be their perpetual sacrifice for their sins as if they where still under the bounds of the old covenant. But the covenant the we walk under does not require a sacrifice for our sins in the same manner. But we are to walk in the new covenant of Grace trusting in the Mercy of the Lord through our Faith in Christ.

From the beginning: of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat you shall surely die. The Bible gives us the knowledge of good and evil. The Law declares the penalty for sin is death. The fulfillment of the law is death. The blood of Christ was not just a one time sacrifice that cleansed us of our sins, but through his death on the cross, he has become death for us.

 

[childeye]

I believe that mercy is greater than justice. Also understanding why one would sin against you is a source, or rather, the cause for mercy. Love or empathy is the source. Justice to God, I would imagine would have to be seen in the bigger picture. If all sin is because of one man's sin, our common Father Adam, then each man would receive mercy from God, according to what measure of mercy we show others. That would be justice too.