God’s justice and mercy are seemingly incompatible. After all, justice involves the dispensing of deserved punishment for wrongdoing, and mercy is all about pardon and compassion for an offender. However, these two attributes of God do in fact form a unity within His character.
Illustration
1. One day, you return home from work to discover that your younger brother has been murdered. (God forbid)
2. The convict is brought before the court.
3. The judge says, the criminal has convicted a serious crime, he must be punished severely BUT I'm a merciful man, therefore I will not convit this criminal and therefore I'll set him free.
Questions to ponder upon:
1. How would you feel?
2. Is this justice?
3. Is this mercy justified?
4. Should every act of transgression must be punished for justices sake or should mercy take the front seat?
5. If a judge acted in such a fashion, most people would lodge a major complaint. It is a judge’s responsibility to see that the law is followed and that justice is provided. A judge who ignores the law is betraying his office.
Should God then forgive people's sin (which is a such a serious issue for God) without justice?
If God can forgive sin without justice,what the judge did in the illustration above is justified.
God is a righteous judge, therefore He will do justice. He will not overlook sin,even the smallest sin known to mankind.
Therefore,humanity has to pay the penalty of sin,that is death,here on earth as well in hell.
That's where God's mercy comes in. God himself bore the sins of mankind.
God’s mercy is shown through His justice. There is no setting aside of justice to make room for mercy.
God was merciful to the Ninevites who repented at the preaching of Jonah, who described God as “a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (Jonah 4:2). David said God is “gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in loving-kindness. The LORD is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 145:8–9, NASB).
But the Bible also speaks of God’s justice and His wrath over sin. In fact, God’s perfect justice is a defining characteristic: “There is no God apart from me, a righteous [just] God and a Savior; there is none but me” (Isaiah 45:21). “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he” (Deuteronomy 32:4).
In the New Testament, Paul details why God’s judgment is coming: “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming” (Colossians 3:5–6).
God’s justice and His mercy were demonstrated by Christ’s death on the cross. At the cross, God’s justice was meted out in full (upon Christ), and God’s mercy was extended in full (to all who believe). So God’s perfect mercy was exercised through His perfect justice.
The end result is that everyone who trusts in the Lord Jesus is saved from God’s wrath and instead experiences His grace and mercy (Romans 8:1). As Paul says, “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Romans 5:9).
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