Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 3 Study # 8
January 26, 2020
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: "Showing mercy" is a special "gift" that has its focus upon dealing with people who have been made sharply aware of their "liability" under "Justice" and have been drawn to a desire to be forgiven.
Introduction: In this study we come to the last of the "gifts" that Paul determined to use as a kind of overarching explanation of God's purpose for "salvation". "Salvation" in its largest sense is the deliverance from the self-focus of "Sin" so that the love-focus of God can be developed in the "vessels of mercy" for the experience of the "Joy of Life" for all of the heirs of the Eternal Kingdom of God. It is a very complex operation, involving a great number of particulars, but it is also fairly easily summarized under the theses of "faith" unto "justification" as the beginning, and "faith" unto "participation in Eternal Joy" as the ultimate result. Paul's point is that once "faith unto justification" has become a steady part of a person's "understanding", "faith unto complete sacrifice" is not only "possible", but "realized". And, once a "believer" makes the presentation of his body to God upon the altar of "the mercies of God", the outcome will be an active participation in God's processes of the growth of the Body of Christ unto a mature reality.
This active participation is tied to the concept of each believer having a special, Spirit-imparted, and Spirit-developed, "grace gift" that is to be used for the sake of the others who exist in the "Body of Christ" plan of God.
This evening we come to the seventh, and last, "special ability" that some believers have for the impact that it has in the life of the Church. This last gift is called "showing mercy", and it is the focus of our study tonight.
- I. The "Gift" of "Showing Mercy".
- A. This is the third "gift" in the second "group" included in Paul's instruction.
- 1. As we have already seen, the first "group" has to do with those whose "gifts" focus upon the fact that we have "words from God" for the purpose of "living" in this world in light of the coming of the New World promised by God.
- 2. And, we have seen that there is a pattern of the "groups" that seems to be that of a kind of parallelism so that the special abilities in the first "group" are "explained" in terms of their impact by the second "group".
- a. This means that the "gift" called "ministry" is related specifically to the special ability called "giving" and the special ability called "teaching" is related specifically to the special ability called "ruling" and the special ability called "summoning" is related specifically to the special ability called "showing mercy".
- b. This means that "having words from God for the purpose of living" (the first group) is further developed by "expressing the reality of those words in living" (the second group).
- B. Thus, we are now looking at the gift called "showing mercy" as the third of the second group dealing with "how" the expression of God's words and gifts are to be "seen" in practice.
- 1. In respect to "mercy" this seventh and last "gift" is focused upon "how" the gift of "summoning" works out in real time.
- a. As we said in our study of "summoning", the underlying "problem" is the distance people maintain between themselves and God.
- b. It should go without saying, then, that there has to be some mechanism put in place that will entice them to "close the distance"...to "give up the effort to maintain the attitude of personal self-direction for the sake of personal "satisfaction in experience".
- 1) "Joy in experience" is every person's "bottom line".
- 2) It is the "How to Achieve It" that is the major point of contention.
- a) "Sinners", without exception, "believe" that the answer to this question of method is "looking out for oneself at the expense of sacrificing others whenever necessary".
- b) God, alternatively, seeks to establish in the hearts and minds of "believers" the absolute fact that "looking out for others at the expense of one's own losses, whenever necessary", is the answer to this question.
- c. This means, then, that "showing mercy" is God's solution to the "Maintain the Distance" stance of disbelief.
- 2. This means that we need to understand what it means to "show mercy".
- a. Thus, the first question is "What is Mercy?".
- 1) There are ten references to "mercy", by the word Paul used in this text, in this letter to the Romans.
- a) Unfortunately the phrase " the mercies of God" found in 12:1 and serving as the overall title of our studies of Romans 12-16 is not one of them.
- i. I use the word "unfortunately" because confusion arises when different Greek words are translated by the same English word.
- ii. The word used in 12:1 refers specifically to the emotional attitude that drives the exercise of mercy, whereas the word used in our text refers specifically to "mercy" itself.
- b) In these ten references to "mercy", there are two issues.
- i. The first of the two is "the refusal to impose judicial consequence(s) upon a person in light of his/her attitudes and behaviors.
- i) The determination to maintain distance from God always produces actions that, under judicial oversight, deserve significantly destructive consequences.
- ii) God's refusal to impose what is deserved under "Justice" is what is called "mercy".
- iii) Romans 9:23 in context establishes that the Large Plan of God is to reveal a potent distinction between the "wrath" of God, rooted in "Justice", and the "mercy" of God rooted in "Grace".
- iv) In this larger picture, it is "wrath" that partially drives the "distance keeping" attitude of men because of fear, and "mercy" that partially drives the willingness to "close the distance".
- ii. The second of the two is "the active communication of Life" to a person, but this is, properly, the domain of "Grace".
- c) Thus, we can draw this conclusion regarding the meaning of "mercy": it is the active refusal to not give sinners what they clearly deserve while "grace" has its part in the issue of "mercy" by being a determination to give good to those who clearly do not deserve it.
- b. Therefore, we can see that "mercy" primarily has to do with "forgiving sins" so that there is no application of "Justice" involved.
- 1) Mercy is the refusal to apply "Justice".
- 2) Forgiveness is the foundation for such a refusal.
- c. Thus, "showing mercy" is done by "forgiving" so that "wrath" is not expressed.
- 3. Thus, "summoning" is wrapped up in "showing mercy" so that the "summons" includes the offer to "forgive".
- C. Then, we come to the characterization of the legitimate expression of "mercy": what the Authorized Version calls "cheerfulness".
- 1. Paul's use of the word involved here is interesting in that he is the only New Testament author who uses it and he only uses the noun form one time and the adjectival form one time (two uses in the entire New Testament is all we have).
- 2. The uses.
- a. The adjective is found in 2 Corinthians 9:7 in the context of Paul's teaching about "giving" monetary/physical provisions to those in need.
- 1) There are three concepts in this one verse that "color" our understanding of this adjective: personal purpose out of the heart; a complete absence of 'sorrow'; and a complete absence of 'necessity'.
- a) These three concepts.
- i. Purposeful: another single-use word in the New Testament meaning 'to personally move a "valued" issue higher up the structure of the "value system" so that it displaces earlier "valued items"; it becomes a greater and greater priority, and that, from the heart.
- ii. Without 'sorrow': this word is used in 14 texts and the concept involves the sense of great loss because a "valued" issue is denied (as in wanting a beloved person to remain with us, but seeing them die); in other words, the movement up the value system is not to be done with any sense of "loss".
- iii. Without 'necessity': this word is found in 18 texts and the concept involved is a feeling of being pressured by outside forces against ones own wishes; in other words, the movement up the value system is done because of great desire, not because of compelling need.
- 2) Thus, there is nothing of "reluctance" in "cheerfulness".
- b. The noun is found only in the verse under consideration in this study. The concept is defined in one source as "with a laughing heart" or "with dancing eyes".
- 1) This idea strongly implies that "cheerfulness" is the attitude of "I am getting what I want" (the 'closing of the distance').
- 2) Thus, the positive appeal in the "summons" involved in "mercy's search" for unity is that there is no sense of reluctance in the one doing the "summoning" by "showing mercy".
