MacDonald: mercy and justice

Saturday, August 1, 2015
Meditation:
    Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
    —Luke 6:36 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We are enjoined to forgive, to be merciful, to be as our father in heaven. Two rights cannot possibly be opposed to each other. If God punish sin, it must be merciful to punish sin; and if God forgive sin, it must be just to forgive sin. We are required to forgive, with the argument that our father forgives. It must, I say, be right to forgive. Every attribute of God must be infinite as himself. He cannot be sometimes merciful, and not always merciful. He cannot be just, and not always just. Mercy belongs to him, and needs no contrivance of theologic chicanery to justify it.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “Justice”, in Unspoken Sermons, Third Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1889, p. 119 (see the book)
    See also Luke 6:36; Deut. 32:4; Ps. 86:5; 62:12; 116:5
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are just and merciful. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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