Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Mercy and grace both began in the Old Testament (OT), but mercy exceeded grace then. Grace, however, takes the lead in the New Testament (NT) as one of the blessings of God that characterizes this Covenant. Although not many more, there are other differences between mercy and grace. But before we continue let us define them. In both Testaments, I believe God defines grace as unmerited favor and compassion. The meaning of mercy, however, is versatile. In the OT, I believe God defines mercy as merited favor and compassion—almost the opposite of grace. But in the NT mercy is used interchangeably with grace.
One had to earn mercy in the Old Testament. If you wanted God's sure mercies then you had to work for them. It is written that God made a Covenant with the children of Israel in which His Divine Mercy was contingent upon their obedience to His Commandments (New International Version, Deuteronomy 7: 9-13). In the New Testament sometimes you have to earn mercy other times not. Grace you never have to earn in either Old or New Testaments.
Sometimes in the New Testament, mercy has the same meaning as grace—unmerited favor and compassion. An example of this is illustrated in the story Jesus tells of The Good Samaritan, who was merciful to someone who, by being outside of his faith, was undeserving (Luke 10: 25-37). Sometimes in the NT mercy is still based on the same point system of rewards as it was in the Old Testament for example Jesus says to His disciples during one of His lessons: "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:28). Christ is merciful to His disciples by rewarding them for their duties performed. And so will God be merciful to the rest of Christ's enduring followers by rewarding them according to their services rendered to Him, or their faithfulness.
Not because He has to, but because God is merciful, He rewards us when we obey His commands. God does not have to reward us for our faithfulness to Him because God is Sovereign. After we have been obedient to Him, we have only done our duty, so we did not profit (Luke 17: 7-10). But because God is merciful, He rewards us for our loyalty to Him.
God did not command His people to be gracious in the Old Testament, only merciful. God was merciful to you and favored you in the Old Testament because you kept Covenant with Him—whatever blessings you received from God is what you earned, in other words you got out what you put in. And because God favored you He commanded you to extend certain mercies to those who kept Covenant with God along with you. They deserved your mercies by being in the same Covenant of God with you.
God Himself was gracious to only a few in the Old Testament (Please see God's Sovereignty), so I guess that's why He never commanded His people to be gracious to each other or to outsiders. Christians, in the OT, were allowed to hate their enemies, and commanded to fight them. God even allowed the children of Israel to take revenge on each other (Deu. 25:19, I Kings 16: 7-13). Grace was in very small quantities in the OT.
God commands us to be both merciful and gracious in the New Testament. Jesus teaches in the New Testament "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy"
(Matt. 5:7). And as to grace, He teaches "Love your enemies," (Matt. 5: 43-48). Another example of grace is when Jesus healed the Canaanite woman's daughter, when God had only sent Him to the Israelites (Matt. 15: 22-28).
In the New Testament, God commands us to be gracious because He has been vastly gracious in that He loved the entire world. God's love for the world is evident in that He gave Christ for all people (John 3:16). It is written that "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us; For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith" (Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:8). So in keeping with His Own Character, God commanded His people to be merciful in the OT; and both merciful and gracious in the NT.
I have found that God never commands us to do anything He isn't willing to do or hasn't already done Himself; that is the justice of God and Christ, and He commands us to be like Him. It is written, "Be ye holy, because I am holy" (I Peter 1:16).
God is more gracious this Covenant because of Christ; He does not want His Gift to be in vain. Jesus, God's beloved Son sacrificed His Life by lowering Himself from being like the angels, and living in glory to becoming like man, and living on the earth. Because Jesus lived as a Man on the earth, He is able to sympathize with the weaknesses of man and his temptations; this qualifies Jesus to help us (Hebrews 2: 5-18, 4:15). The Scripture says that Jesus mission on earth was to do the will of God, to "Bind up the brokenhearted…and comfort all who mourn" (Isaiah 61: 1-2, Luke 4:18).
The next time that we talk about God's blessings of "grace and mercy" towards us, hopefully we'll remember to bless others with our grace and mercy too like God Commanded.
Yours in Christ's Love,
Denise
PS When were you filled with the Holy Spirit?
