Mercy

Biblical Texts

In the New Korean Revised Version (Gaeyeok Gaejeong), the word geungyul ("mercy") appears throughout both the Old and New Testaments. Representative passages include the following:

• Exodus 33:19 — "And will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." Paul quotes these words in Romans 9.
• Lamentations 3:22 — "It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not."
• Matthew 5:7 — The fifth of the Beatitudes declares that the merciful shall obtain mercy.
• Matthew 9:13; 12:7 — Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6: "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice."
• James 2:13 — "Mercy rejoiceth against judgment."
• Ephesians 2:4; Titus 3:5 — These passages state that salvation originates in God's mercy.

Original Languages and Background

The Hebrew words most often rendered geungyul ("mercy") are the verb racham ("to have compassion") and the noun rachamim. Because these words are regarded as sharing a root with rechem ("womb"), they are often explained by analogy to the deep affection a mother feels for her child. Hesed, which denotes faithful love grounded in the covenant, is usually translated in the New Korean Revised Version as inja ("lovingkindness") or inae ("steadfast love"). The Septuagint, however, frequently rendered hesed with the Greek eleos, which is why the word translated inae in Hosea 6:6 appears as geungyul ("mercy") in Matthew. In the New Testament, eleos means pitying and helping someone in distress. When the Gospels say that Jesus "was moved with compassion" on the multitudes, the word used is splanchnizomai, which derives from the word for "bowels" or "inward parts" and expresses compassion welling up from deep within.

Meaning Across the Bible

In the Old Testament, mercy is above all an attribute of God's character. God is revealed as "merciful and gracious" (Exodus 34:6), and his mercy is presented as the reason a sinful people is not destroyed. The New Testament declares that this mercy was revealed in Jesus Christ. Jesus practiced mercy by healing the sick and eating with sinners. People such as Bartimaeus cried out, "Have mercy on me," and the tax collector in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector offered the same prayer: "God be merciful to me a sinner."

At the same time, mercy is demanded of those who have received mercy from God as the disposition they must show toward their neighbors. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, "he that shewed mercy" is presented as the true neighbor, and the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant rebukes the one who received mercy yet refused to show it. Hebrews 4:16 urges believers to come boldly unto the throne of grace "that we may obtain mercy."

Interpretation and Points of Debate

• Mercy and salvation: Matthew 5:7 and James 2:13 place the mercy people show alongside the mercy they receive from God. The Reformed tradition generally reads human mercy not as a condition of salvation but as fruit flowing from grace already received. The Catholic Church has classified acts such as feeding the hungry as "works of mercy" and has emphasized them as practices of the life of faith. John Wesley taught "works of mercy" alongside "works of piety" as means of grace.
• The predestination debate: The phrase in Romans 9, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," is frequently cited in discussions of predestination. Calvinism reads the verse as showing God's sovereign election, while Arminianism tends to see it as a statement about God's way of saving Israel and the Gentiles.
• Distinction from grace: Sermons often distinguish the two by saying that "grace is God giving blessings we do not deserve, and mercy is God withholding the punishment we do deserve." This is a summary intended to aid explanation; the Bible does not always draw so strict a line between the two words.

In the Korean Church

In Korean churches, the expression "Lord, have mercy on us" is frequently used in tongseong gido (simultaneous audible prayer) and in representative prayer offered on behalf of the congregation. The ancient church's "Lord, have mercy" (Kyrie eleison) is part of the order of worship in liturgical churches, including the Anglican Church of Korea. Some churches also call their relief and neighbor-care ministries "mercy ministries."