Basic HTML Version
(
+ $
, 1713) denotes “a person on a journey” (
, “a journey”), “a
passenger on shipboard”; then, “a merchant,” Matt. 13:45; Rev. 18:3, 11, 15, 23.¶
MERCIFUL (Adjective, and Verb, to be), MERCY (Noun, and Verb, to
have, etc.)
A. Nouns.
1.
(
+
, 1656) “is the outward manifestation of pity; it assumes need on the
part of him who receives it, and resources adequate to meet the need on the part of him
who shows it. It is used (a) of God, who is rich in mercy, Eph. 2:4, and who has provided
salvation for all men, Titus 3:5, for Jews, Luke 1:72, and Gentiles, Rom. 15:9. He is
merciful to those who fear him, Luke 1:50, for they also are compassed with infirmity,
and He alone can succor them. Hence they are to pray boldly for mercy, Heb. 4:16, and if
for themselves, it is seemly that they should ask for mercy for one another, Gal. 6:16; 1
Tim. 1:2. When God brings His salvation to its issue at the Coming of Christ, His people
will obtain His mercy, 2 Tim. 1:16; Jude 21; (b) of men; for since God is merciful to
them, He would have them show mercy to one another, Matt. 9:13; 12:7; 23:23; Luke
10:37; Jas. 2:13.
“Wherever the words mercy and peace are found together they occur in that order,
except in Gal. 6:16. Mercy is the act of God, peace is the resulting experience in the heart
of man. Grace describes God’s attitude toward the lawbreaker and the rebel; mercy is His
attitude toward those who are in distress.”*
“In the order of the manifestation of God’s purposes of salvation grace must go
before mercy … only the forgiven may be blessed.… From this it follows that in each of
the apostolic salutations where these words occur, grace precedes mercy, 1 Tim. 1:2; 2
Tim. 1:2; Titus 1:4 (in some mss.); 2 John 3” (Trench,
- !
Sec.xlvii).
2.
(
*
$
, 3628), “pity, compassion for the ills of others,” is used (a) of
God, Who is “the Father of mercies,” 2 Cor. 1:3; His “mercies” are the ground upon
which believers are to present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, as
their reasonable service, Rom. 12:1; under the Law he who set it at nought died without
compassion, Heb. 10:28; (b) of men; believers are to feel and exhibit compassions one
toward another, Phil. 2:1,
RV
“compassions,” and Col. 3:12,
RV
“(a heart) of
compassion”; in these two places the word is preceded by No. 3, rendered “tender
mercies” in the former, and “a heart” in the latter,
RV
.¶
3.
(
1
, 4698), “affections, the heart,” always in the plural in the
NT, has reference to “feelings of kindness, goodwill, pity,” Phil. 2:1,
RV
, “tender
mercies;” see
AFFECTION
, No. 2, and
BOWELS
.
Note:
In Acts. 13:34 the phrase, lit., “the holy things, the faithful things (of David)” is
translated, “the holy and sure blessings,”
RV
; the
KJV
, following the mss. in which the
words “holy and” are absent, has “the sure mercies,” but notices the full phrase in the
margin.
B. Verbs.
1.
(
# !
, 1653), akin to A, No. 1, signifies, in general, “to feel sympathy with
the misery of another,” and especially sympathy manifested in act, (a) in the active voice,
* From
Notes on Galatians,
by Hogg and Vine, pp. 340, 341.