Compassion
Regardless
of how we define Christ?s separation from the world, one fact
is clear: he did not separate himself from human beings and their
needs. Nor did he limit his concern to the spiritual part of man?s
personality.
--ERWIN W. LUTZER (1941? )
Compassion,
literally a feeling with and for others, is a fundamental and
distinctive quality of the Biblical conception of God, and to
its prominence the world owes more than words can express.
(1)
It lay at the foundation of Israel?s faith in Yahweh. For it was
out of His compassion that He, by a marvelous act of power, delivered
them from Egyptian bondage and called them to be His own people.
Nothing, therefore, is more prominent in the Old Testament than
the ascription of compassion, pity, mercy, etc., to God; the people
may be said to have gloried in it.
It
is summed up in such sayings as that of the great declaration
in Ex 34:6: ?Yahweh?a God full of compassion and gracious? (compare
Ps 78:38; 86:15; 111:4; 112:4; 145:8; Lam 3:22, ?His compassions
fail not?).
And,
because this was the character of their God, the prophets declared
that compassion was an essential requirement on the part of members
of the community (Hos 6:6; Mic 6:8; compare Prov 19:17).
(2)
In Jesus Christ, in whom God was ?manifest in the flesh,? compassion
was an outstanding feature (Mt 9:36; 14:14, etc.) and He taught
that it ought to be extended, not to friends and neighbors only,
but to all without exception, even to enemies (Mt 5:43-48; Lk
10:30-37).
The
God of the New Testament, the Father of us all, is most clearly
revealed as ?a God full of compassion.? It extends to the whole
human race, for which He effected not merely a temporal, but a
spiritual and eternal, deliverance, giving up His own Son to the
death of the cross in order to save us from the worst bondage
of sin, with its consequences; seeking thereby to gain a new,
wider people for Himself, still more devoted, more filled with
and expressive of His own Spirit. Therefore all who know the God
and Father of Christ, and who call themselves His children, must
necessarily cultivate compassion and show mercy, ?even as he is
merciful.? Hence, the many apostolic injunctions to that effect
(Eph 4:32; Col 3:12; Jas 1:27; 1 Jn 3:17, etc.). Christianity
may be said to be distinctively the religion of Compassion.
Mercy
Mercy
imitates God and disappoints Satan.
-- SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM (C. 347?407)
When
all thy mercies, O my God, My rising soul surveys, Transported
with the view, I?m lost In wonder, love, and praise.
-- JOSEPH ADDISON (1672?1719)
MERCY
is compassion for the miserable.
Its object is misery.
By the atoning sacrifice of Christ a way is open for the exercise
of mercy towards others, in harmony with the demands of truth
and righteousness.
(Genesis 19:19; Exodus 20:6; Exodus 34:6-7; Psalm 85:10; Psalm
86:15-16). In Christ mercy and truth meet together. Mercy is also
a Christian grace (Matthew 5:7; Matthew 18:33-35).
In
the Hebrew Scriptures it is most often the translation of , ?kindness,?
and ?loving-kindness.?
In
the Greek Scriptures ?mercy? (including the Septuagint translation
of the Hebrew texts) is associated with ?grace.?
As
the rule, the American Standard Revised Version of the Bible has
?lovingkindness? for ?mercy? when is used of God, and ?kindness?
when it is used of people in relation to each other. ?Compassion?
is also in several instances substituted for ?mercy? (Isa 9:17;
14:1; 27:11; Jer 13:14; 30:18), also ?goodness? (translation when
referring to people) (Hos 4:1; 6:6).
