Grace and Mercy Grounded in Love

Yesterday's Lord's Day sermon on Eph. 2:1-10, preached by NCC pastor Andrew Fulton, provided liberating food for the dull duty-bound believer. More than that, though, good as that was for me, it also stirred me to contemplate more clearly the nature of grace and mercy in relation to love, which I've wondered at for years. I think the Lord has given me some light.

So what is the mercy of God, what is the grace of God, and what is the love of God? And how do grace, mercy, and love relate? This text—Eph. 2:4-5—brings these together plainly and brightly. First, I'll give definitions that I believe are governed by the context of this text. Then I'll try to bring them together.

So what is the mercy of God? Simply stated, mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. This is the negative side, we might say. Born and dead in transgressions and sins (Eph. 2:1), God's mercy comes in and pities the suffering and misery of our condemnation and judgment under the Judge's just wrath. And God withholds exactly what we deserve. He does not condemn the guilty.

So then, what is the grace of God? Well, it is the positive side: grace is God giving us what we don't deserve. Grace gives us a free gift we didn't and can't earn. Grace gives lavish generosity to those who've been stubbornly and persistently stingy and sinful. It moves way beyond mercy.

Mercy says, "I will not sentence you to death, a death that is your due for rebelling against the law of the Lawgiver, for spitting in the face of your good and kind King, for worshiping (delighting in and desiring and loving) the creature and creation rather than (supremely delighting in and desiring and loving) the Creator—who is blessed forever! Amen!" (Rom. 1:25). So speaks Mercy. 


But Grace comes in, wonder of wonders, and says, "I will move beyond granting pardon. Wonderful as mercy is, I will do more. I will seat you in the heavenlies in my risen and exalted Son and make you a co-heir of all that is his (Eph. 2:6; cf. Rom. 8:17). The tripersonal God of infinite love and joy and sweetness will be your everlasting portion and treasure and enjoyment. I know you spit in my face. I know you disregarded my glory. And so I showed you stunning mercy. But that's not all. I also want to make you my son, with all the privileges and possessions of that status." So speaks Grace.


Well then, what is love, if it's not what's already been described? It is this: love is the infinite fountain-like heart of God that pours forth mercy and grace on greasy ingrates from all eternity and on into all eternity. "Because of the great love with which he loved us" (Eph. 2:4). Notice that love grounds the mercy that's gone before to deal with our condition in Eph. 2:1-3. And notice that love then also grounds the grace that lavishes upon us what follows in Eph. 2:5-7. Love is the bottom of all the free mercy and grace of God that comes to us through Christ in the gift of his Spirit. 


And this Holy Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son, now poured out through the risen and living Savior and Lord of all—on us—on dirty, grimy, slimy, unholy idolaters. This Spirit is the life of God given to us in union with the risen Son—we who were cold corrupting corpses in trespasses and sins. Now, because of grace and mercy, bottomed in eternal love, now we live with the very life of the risen Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. He made us alive with him—by grace you have been saved! (Eph. 2:5). O praise the glory of this great triune grace! (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14). This is the free, unfettered gift of God—so no boasting! (Eph. 2:8-9). Except of grace, glorious grace. God's grace.


So love is the bottom of this grace and mercy, the eternal love of the Father, Son, and Spirit (Eph. 1:4). But how may we know this love? What does it look like? I'm glad you asked, for I'm glad to tell you. It looks like this: "We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us" (1 Jn. 3:16); "God did not spare his own Son" (Rom. 8:32); "God gave his only unique Son" (Jn. 3:16); "Christ loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). Love looks like the cross. Love looks like Christ crucified. Love looks like the King killed. For you, and for me.