mercy

The first four beatitudes express in one way or another our dependence on God; the next three the outworking of that dependence. This beatitude is relatively straightforward: people who show mercy on others will themselves be the recipients of mercy. The adjective for merciful (found elsewhere in the New Testament only in Heb. 2:17) means those whose bent is to show mercy, not those who engage in an occasional merciful impulse. Such people will receive mercy, a truth we often observe in this life. But Jesus is surely referring basically to an eschatological truth. There are people who show by their habitual merciful deeds that they have responded to God’s love and are living by his grace. They will receive mercy on the last day.¹

Mercy is to not give a punishment

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. The disciple is a follower of Christ because he has been called and accepted by God. Having thus received mercy, he becomes in turn a channel to convey mercy to others. One who truly understands the freedom of being forgiven will share the same release with others. On the other hand, one who refuses to forgive “breaks down the bridge over which he himself would pass.” James writes, “He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy” (James 2:13, kjv). Jesus illustrated this in the story of the unforgiving debtor who, having been forgiven ten million dollars, was unwilling to forgive another man a mere twenty dollars! Jesus followed His model prayer by showing a direct relationship between experiencing God’s grace and expressing God’s grace.

The word “mercy” must be seen in its historic and positive meaning. Jesus’ use of the word is based on the Hebrew word chesedh, used frequently in the Old Testament to express the unique quality of the everlasting mercy of Jehovah. The word carries the meaning of identification in the suffering of others, of going through something with another, of entering into another’s problem with understanding and acceptance. And this is what God did for us in Christ; identifying with humanity and suffering on behalf of our sin.²

This beatitude is so misunderstood in our day because it makes our obtaining mercy conditional on our being merciful. This is not the condition on which we obtain mercy—“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5, italics mine). We should be merciful because we have obtained mercy. “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” (1 Pet. 2:9–10).³

Obtaining mercy—rejecting mercy (vv. 23–24; 5:7). The Pharisees majored on minors. They had rules for every minute area of life, while at the same time they forgot about the important things. It is usually the case that legalists are sticklers for details, but blind to great principles. This crowd thought nothing of condemning an innocent man, yet they were afraid to enter Pilate’s judgment hall lest they be defiled (John 18:28).

There is no question that the Old Testament Law required tithing (Lev. 27:30; Deut. 14:22ff). Abraham had practiced tithing long before the Law was given (Gen. 14:20), and Jacob followed his grandfather’s example (Gen. 28:20–22). The principles of Christian giving under grace are given in 2 Corinthians 8–9. We are not content simply to give a tithe (10 percent), but we also want to bring offerings to the Lord out of hearts filled with love.

Justice, mercy, and faithfulness are the important qualities God is seeking. Obeying the rules is no substitute. While it is good to pay attention to details, we must never lose our sense of priorities in spiritual matters. Jesus did not condemn the practice of tithing. But He did condemn those who allowed their legalistic scruples to keep them from developing true Christian character.⁴

Those who are merciful … shall obtain mercy has reference to those who have been born again by the mercy of God. Because divine love has been extended to them, they have the work of the Holy Spirit in them producing a mercy which defies explanation by unregenerate men. Jesus Himself became the ultimate example of this when He cried from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). The form of proverbial teaching should not confuse the order of these statements; for example, the believer does not show mercy in order to obtain mercy, he shows mercy because he has obtained mercy. In so continuing to show the evidence of the grace of God in his life he continues to receive that grace. In other words, he is not saved simply because he shows mercy and is kind to people. He shows mercy and is kind because he is saved.⁵

5:7 Those who are merciful … shall obtain mercy has reference to those who have been born again by the mercy of God. Because divine love has been extended to them, they have the work of the Holy Spirit in them producing a mercy which defies explanation by unregenerate men. Jesus Himself became the ultimate example of this when He cried from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). The form of proverbial teaching should not confuse the order of these statements; for example, the believer does not show mercy in order to obtain mercy, he shows mercy because he has obtained mercy. In so continuing to show the evidence of the grace of God in his life he continues to receive that grace. In other words, he is not saved simply because he shows mercy and is kind to people. He shows mercy and is kind because he is saved.⁶

5. Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy

One of the expressions of a hunger for righteousness is mercy. This is an interesting statement of Jesus for he does not say, ‘Blessed are those who are shown mercy for they will be merciful’, which we may have expected. Rather it is, ‘Blessed are the merciful …’ those who show mercy, ‘for they will be shown mercy’. There is an important spiritual principle here. God is not pouring his blessing, his mercy and his grace willy-nilly. The condition to receiving from God is giving. We pointed out earlier that the Sermon on the Mount was not addressed to the crowd who listened—it was not an evangelistic sermon—but to the disciples. ‘His disciples came to him and he began to teach them saying …’ (5:2). This principle does not apply to those outside of Christ, teaching that to receive from God they must first give, but it does apply to living the Christian life.

This principle is repeated elsewhere. In the ‘Lord’s prayer’ Jesus says, ‘Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors …’ (6:12). In other words he is teaching us to pray as a Christian, ‘Forgive me my sins in exactly the same way I forgive other people their sins’. The principle is the same—the condition to receiving from God is giving. In that context Jesus went on to say, ‘If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins’ (6:15). This is not a condition to becoming a Christian, but it is a condition for maintaining a wholesome growing relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and is in fact a result of our receiving the mercy and forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ in the first place. Paul wrote to the Colossians, ‘Bear with each other, and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you’ (Col. 3:13). We forgive as he forgave us, but it is as we forgive he goes on forgiving.

Later still Jesus said, ‘Whoever wants to save his life must lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it’ (16:25). This criteria for receiving life is losing it. For now we are concerned only with the principle: the condition to receiving is giving. The extent to which we know the enrichment of God in our lives is the extent to which we allow ourselves to be an enrichment to others.

I remember an elderly man praying to God in a meeting, ‘Thank you we are not called to be like cups but pipes’. He didn’t explain himself, and was perhaps referring to something said earlier which I had missed, but the image struck me forcibly. A cup is something which, when it is full, is full. We like that idea. However a pipe is different. Everything poured in at one end will flow out through the other.

This is the idea Jesus spoke about when he said, ‘ “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him”. By this he meant the Spirit …’ (John 7:37–39). If you are thirsty, said Jesus in effect, do not remain thirsty, come to me and drink. But that is not the end result, ‘streams of living water will flow from within him’. There will be an overflow from your life of that which God has put in you. John adds, ‘By this he meant the Spirit’. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Looking after ourselves first has little to do with the Christian life, but we will be looked after when our interests become the interests of other people. If you really want to know the blessing of God in your life, don’t just pray, ‘Lord bless me’ but pray, ‘Lord make me a blessing’, and you will be blessed. If you really want God to teach you something, don’t just pray, ‘Lord teach me something new’, but ‘Lord help me to teach somebody something useful today’, and you will learn. The condition to receiving is giving.

That in turn will lead to the next ingredient in happiness:⁷

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (v. 7). This beatitude contains a glorious promise, but there is also something a bit frightening about it. The promise for divine blessing in this case is reserved for the merciful. As we have seen throughout our study of these beatitudes, Jesus is not singling out different groups of people and giving particular rewards to those who manifest particular virtues. Each of us should embrace and manifest all the virtues contained in the beatitudes.

A Spirit of Mercy

The character of the Christian manifests a spirit of mercy. That is not always manifested among Christians, to our great shame. We cannot draw a single breath except by the mercy of God. We are to manifest a spirit of mercy because we ourselves live by it every day and inherit eternal life strictly on the basis of mercy rather than justice. This theme is echoed even in the Lord’s Prayer, which we will examine in more detail later: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matt. 6:12). The frightening aspect of the beatitude is that if God’s forgiveness toward me in anyway reflects my spirit of forgiveness toward others, I am in serious trouble. Since the granting of forgiveness is in some nature a granting of mercy, we who live by mercy should be willing to be merciful to others.

This concept is so important in Jesus’ teaching that we find it later on in Matthew’s Gospel in the parable of the unforgiving servant. A servant was unable to repay a debt he owed, so, when he begged for mercy, his master forgave him. Later, however, the servant refused to forgive a fellow servant who was indebted to him, so the master who had forgiven the first servant’s debt withdrew his mercy and turned that servant over to the jailers. Jesus concludes the parable with these words: “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses” (Matt. 18:35).

The warning should ring in our ears. If we refuse to extend mercy to those who ask it of us, how can we possibly expect to receive mercy from the hand of God? That is the downside of this blessing. If we stated it in negative terms, the oracle would be one of doom: “Cursed are you who are unmerciful, for you will not receive the mercy of God.” Jesus frames this in a positive way, of course, promising the Father’s blessing on those who are merciful, because if they are, they in turn will receive mercy.

We have already received such mercy from the hand of God that if He were never merciful another time as long as we live, we would have nothing to complain about. The good news is that the mercy we have already received is not the end of the mercy that we shall receive. It shall go on into eternity.

1 Morris, L. (1992). The Gospel according to Matthew (p. 100). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.

2 Augsburger, M. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Matthew (Vol. 24, p. 18). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.

3 McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Gospels (Matthew 1-13) (electronic ed., Vol. 34, p. 76). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

4 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 85). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

5 Hindson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV Bible Commentary (p. 1885). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

6 Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible commentary (Mt 5:7). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.

7 Price, C. (1998). Matthew: Can Anything Good Come Out of Nazareth? (pp. 68–70). Fearn, Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications.