Bible Daily

Exploring the Depths of Divine Grace and Mercy

The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

What exactly is the distinction between grace and mercy in the Bible?

And why does it matter? Can we simply use these terms interchangeably?

Not at all. If we do, we miss out on some profound truths.

God’s mercy and God’s grace, while often mentioned together, are not the same things, though their differences are subtle.

In many ways, they overlap; usually when God extends His mercy, He also extends His grace.

Let's delve deeper into this distinction.

Grace and Mercy: Two Sides of God's Love

Before we explore the difference, it's crucial to understand how grace and mercy are similar.

Neither are earned. God shows compassion on sinners who deserve His wrath.

Why? It's a mystery.

And He is gracious even to those who do not love Him or thank Him. However, God pours out His mercy and grace particularly on those He saves through Jesus Christ.

The simplest way to understand the difference between grace and mercy is that they are two sides of the coin of His love.

In essence, God's mercy means NOT giving sinners what they DO DESERVE.

And God’s grace means POSITIVELY GIVING sinners what they DO NOT DESERVE.

The Splendor of God’s Mercy

The Hebrew word for "merciful" translates to "compassionate" or "full of compassion." It means "to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior; to favor, bestow."

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

This is mercy: We have all sinned against a holy God. We deserve eternal punishment in hell. But in His mercy, God poured out on Jesus the wrath we deserved, so we could escape His wrath.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

For reasons known only to God, despite our rebellion, He had compassion on us.

God does not take pleasure in punishing people, even those who reject and hate Him. So in His mercy, He did not give us the eternal punishment we deserved, His infinite wrath. Instead, He poured His wrath out on His beloved Son.

Jesus did not have to die for us. He did not have to pay for our sins. But our God is compassionate and merciful. So He did not give us what we deserved. He gave it to Jesus.

If this were all He had done, it would have been incredible. If God simply spared us from hell, that would have been infinite mercy.

Even if He did nothing else for us. Even if we were to die and cease to exist. Even if we were to never go to heaven or know Him.

It would still have been infinite mercy to us, to NOT give us what we DID DESERVE.

The difference between grace and mercy is that mercy is not getting what we deserve.

The Radiance of God’s Grace

But God's grace goes beyond mercy; He is infinitely gracious. In His grace, He not only withheld His wrath but also actively saved us:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…

The Greek word for "grace," "charis," means: kindness, favor, "a gift or blessing brought to man by Jesus Christ," or "kindness which bestows upon one what he has not deserved."

See the difference? In His mercy, God withholds WHAT WE DO DESERVE; in His grace, God heaps upon us infinite blessings WE DO NOT DESERVE. In mercy, He withholds what we DID MERIT – eternal wrath; and in grace, He pours out upon us what we COULD NEVER MERIT: Eternal life, infinite joy, being one with Christ, being made like Christ.

Grace is God’s free gift of His undeserved, unmerited favor.

God’s grace is, “…the merciful kindness by which God, exerting His holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.”

When we believe in Jesus, because of His mercy, God does NOT give us what we deserve:

  • His wrath, eternal punishment in hell

And when we believe in Jesus, because of His grace, God gives us what we don’t deserve. He:

  • Gives us eternal life
  • Adopts us as His children
  • Makes us joint-heirs with Christ, giving us infinite riches in Christ
  • Gives us His Holy Spirit
  • Gives us power and victory over sin
  • Lives in us
  • Conforms us to Christ
  • Causes all things to work together for our good
  • Hears our prayers
  • Gives us gifts of the Spirit
  • Produces fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, etc.
  • Gives us good works to walk in
  • He will never remove His love from us
  • And someday we will see His face

And the list goes on and on….

And God doesn’t begrudgingly pour out His grace. He longs to lavish it upon us. Isaiah 30:18 says, “Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.”

God is lavish with His grace. He doesn’t just give us a little. He pours it out:

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us…

So what should our response be to God’s amazing mercy and lavish grace?

I don’t have room in this post, but a few ways we should respond:

  • Thankfulness
  • Wonder, amazement, praise, and worship
  • Living wholeheartedly for the one who saved us
  • Imitating our God by being merciful and gracious to those who don’t deserve it

If you’ve never believed in Jesus, He offers you the free gift of His grace, because of all Jesus did.

He is the eternal God, yet became a man, lived a sinless life of perfect obedience to His Father, then bore our sins and God’s wrath on the cross.

Then He rose from the dead and ascended to heaven where He reigns as Lord of Lords.

And He promises that for all who believe in Him and call upon Him to save them, He will have mercy on them, forgive their sins, and give them eternal life and lavish His grace upon them.

He longs to lavish salvation on you. Don’t wait another day to believe in and call on Him to save you!

The difference between grace and mercy is that grace is getting what we don’t deserve.

So What’s The Difference Between Grace and Mercy?

Both grace and mercy reveal the staggering, glorious, delightful character of God.

In His mind-boggling mercy, He doesn’t give us what we deserve. Instead, He gave that to Jesus.

In His outrageous, lavish grace, He gives us what we don’t deserve. He gives us the rewards earned by Jesus.