What is the difference between the words “gracious” and “merciful?” Is there a difference? We often hear that God is both gracious and merciful in the same sentence. The phrase “gracious and merciful” is repeated many times throughout the Old Testament (2 Chronicles 30:9, Nehemiah 9:31, Psalm 111:4, Psalm 145:8, Joel 2:13). Are these words synonyms, or do they describe different attributes?
Two years ago, I got an Ancestry DNA kit for Christmas. It wasn’t something I had asked for, but I’d seen the Ancestry DNA commercials and was interested in it. I’ve always been intrigued by genealogy and genetics. I’ve wanted to learn about my family tree, who my ancestors were, and where they were from for a long time, but I had never had the time nor the resources to research it. After filling a little vial with my saliva and sending it back to the lab, I discovered that I am 53% English/Northwestern European. It turns out I’m also 16% Irish, 16% Scottish, 8% Swedish, and 7% Welsh. While I still have a lot to learn about my family tree, these results gave me a small glimpse of who I am and where I’m from.
There are lots of family trees or genealogies written in the Bible, but we often skip past them, believing these lists of names to be kind of boring and not that important to the story line. But whenever we come across a genealogy in our Bible reading, we should slow down, pay attention, and read carefully because these family trees teach us a lot more than we think they do. One of the most important genealogies in Scripture is Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1, and while it may seem like just another list of names, it actually contains a deeper meaning about who Jesus is.
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Everybody sins. We all make mistakes. You don’t have to teach a toddler to say “no” or to disobey their parents. You don’t have to teach a child to cheat on their tests or be mean to their friends. We have an innate desire to sin, and that innate desire never goes away. Throughout our entire lives, we are tempted and lured by sins. And it is only by God’s grace that we are able to resist these temptations.
But we will never be able to fully escape sin while we are living on this earth. So, as a way to justify our sins or assuage our guilt, we often rank our sins. Sins like murder, rape, and abuse are big, terrible sins that surely deserve to be punished. But sins like gossip, envy, or pride are just “small” sins that can just be swept under the rug. They’re seemingly not that big of a deal, and they’re not really hurting anyone. Therefore, many people, including many who claim to be Christians, believe that these little sins don’t deserve punishment.
In their 2020 State of Theology survey, Ligonier Ministries found that sixty-six percent of American adults disagree with the statement, “Even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation.”[1] But is this belief – the belief that small sins shouldn’t send someone to hell – backed up by Scripture? Do small sins deserve to be punished?
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During the Protestant Reformation, there were five phrases that were popularized and used to describe the key teachings of protestants, and they all began with the word sola, which is Latin for “only” – solo Christo (Christ alone), sola scriptura (scripture alone), soli Deo gloria (to the glory of God alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and sola fide (faith alone).[1]
These phrases may already seem familiar to you, especially if you have read some of Paul’s letters. Nearly everyone who has been in church for a significant amount of time knows Ephesians 2:8-9 by heart –
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV
But if you turn a few more pages in your Bible to the book of James, you’ll find a very different message-
“You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” James 2:24
So, which is it? Are we saved by grace through faith, or are we saved by our works?
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There once was a kid named John. John was a rule-breaker. He cheated on tests. He lied to his parents. He was mean to the kids he didn’t like. One day, as John was walking around the video game store, he saw a game that he’d been wanting to get for WEEKS, but he didn’t have enough money for it. So, he grabbed the game, looked around to see if anyone was watching, and ran out the door. But John was caught. His father was called to pick him up. John apologized to his father, not only for his theft but for his other sins as well, and his father forgave him without chastising or berating him. He paid for the stolen game and took John home. Instead of making John pay him back for the game, he let him keep the game for free. Then, he took John to Disney World for a week. While many would say this is poor discipline or bad parenting, others could call it grace.
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