Biblical ‘Twins’
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
When we think of biblical twins, Jacob and Esau come to mind. Twins they were but not identical. Not all biblical twins are human; some are verbal. These verbal twins may often seem identical but closer examination finds some distinguishing mark.
Take for example, the verbal twins “mercy” and “grace.” The mercy and grace of God are frequently mentioned in the Bible. Often only one or the other is named, but on occasion these two aspects of God’s love are referenced together, as in Hebrews 4:16: “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We quite often use these terms interchangeably, giving the impression they share the same meaning, as if the grace of God is simply an alternative way of expressing the mercy of God or that the mercy of God is a variation that means the grace of God.
In order to suggest a way of differentiating between God’s grace and His mercy, Theology 101 this week looks more closely at these essential attributes of God by suggesting that it takes both the lens of mercy and lens of grace for us to have 20/20 vision of divine love.
As a starting point, we take as a settled truth that “God is love” and that He loves us. How then does God manifest His love to His children? Think of divine love expressed to us through twin channels of His mercy and His grace. Or put another way, mercy and grace form twin lens’s through which to view God’s love.
One way to get a practical and understandable grip on these twin aspects of divine love is to think of it like this: mercy is God’s love expressed to us in withholding from us what we truly deserve for our waywardness, neglect and acts of disobedience while grace is God’s love bestowing on us what, in fact, we do not deserve.
Love does not wait to be deserved or earned. God gives His love freely in the twin acts of withholding and bestowing. Thought of like this, we understand God’s love to have both a positive and a negative dimension. Some way of understanding both mercy and grace helps us plumb the depths of God’s love. Together these two twin terms help us measure the immeasurable and express the inexpressible.
When the apostle Paul referred to his own testimony in writing Timothy, he wrote, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 1:12–14).
God’s love
God’s withholding love was seen in Paul not being justly punished for his blasphemy, his persecution of Christians and his arrogance. Rather than the just reward of punishment, God’s love operated as mercy in withholding what Paul deserved. In a similar way, God’s bestowing grace was seen in giving Paul what he had no right to expect and did not deserve, namely love that was exceedingly abundant and putting him into the ministry.
We too can reflect on how often divine mercy has withheld from us what we rightfully deserve and divine grace has bestowed on us in abundance what we have not earned and do not deserve.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Jerry Batson is a retired Alabama Baptist pastor who also has served as associate dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and professor of several schools of religion during his career.
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