Donovan Neufeldt

Existence and Majesty of God: Final Assignment

The objective of this paper is to explain the attributes of justice and mercy,
and how they are both expressed by God simultaneously in completeness and
perfection. The primary point of emphasis is how these attributes relate to
soteriology, so that it answers the questions, “how does God express mercy (and
grace) to people deserving of hell’s eternal torment if He is truly just?” and, “how
can a merciful and loving God send people to hell?”. The answer is summarised in
the assertion that Jesus received our just punishment at the cross, that we might
be pardoned. This cross is the expression of the wrath and justice of God, as well
as the love and mercy of God.

God’s justice is, in essence, His zeal make wrong things right, or one might
say it is the “yes” to the question, “Shall not the judge of all the earth to right?”
(Genesis 18:25). It is Heaven’s proclamation that all God’s works are true and
righteous (Revelation 16:7; 19:2).The justice of God is inextricably linked to his
righteousness, holiness, love, and wrath, without contradiction. A.W. Tozer even
states that justice and righteousness are scarcely to be distinguished from each
other.1

Because of his blazing holiness and righteousness, he cannot allow sin to go

unpunished (justice). It is not because God is constrained by an outside force that
He must enforce or oversee of moral equity that we ascribe the attribute of
Justice to Him. Like the other attributes, God’s justice originates within God and is
defined by His very nature. God is just simply because that is how God is, and
although there is no outside force constraining him to act justly, we can depend

1
Tozer, Aiden Wilson. The Knowledge of the Holy. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1961. p. 86.
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on His justice because He has revealed that it is His nature and because he does
not change (Malachi 3:6).

The mercy of God is displayed most powerfully in His forgiveness toward

the repentant, but also in the restraint and delay of his judgement. The essence of
mercy is not receiving what one deserves, while grace works in a similar yet
different fashion by giving one what he or she does not deserve. Every moment of
time in one’s life is given by the mercy of God. To the unbeliever, every moment is
undeserved time to repent; although they deserve to go to the lake of fire
immediately, God patiently withholds judgement to woe and to warn, that the
sinner may turn from wickedness and turn to God through the person of Jesus. An
example is the Jezebel who was in Thyatira, who did not receive the offer God’s
patience, mercy, and forgiveness, but received the just due for her wickedness
(Revelation 2:20-23).

For the believer, the greatest act of mercy and forgiveness has taken place
at the new birth, yet mercy continues to be extended during the process of
sanctification via the finished work of Calvary, because believers continue to sin in
immaturity, ignorance, and weakness, they require the continued mercy of God to
preserve them in righteousness before God. God delights to extend mercy to
those who are weak and immature, yet have a heart of obedience and love for
God. The salvation of believers is efficacious by the grace and mercy of God
working together through the faith of the repentant. Mercy gives room for the
release of power to live in the righteousness of the new life in Christ, and is
therefore extended into justification, sanctification, and glorification.

The two attributes of justice and mercy do seem to be in tension with one
another, for with both these attributes in mind the question shifts from the most
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common accusation, “How could a loving (and merciful) God send people to
hell?” to “How could a just God not send everybody to Hell?”. The former
question is answered in the light of God’s justice and holiness, as well as our sin,
rebellion, and scorn of His love, which reveals that eternal torment is the just due
for all. The latter question is answered in the light of God’s delight in mercy. Even
with these perspectives, however, the tension has not been entirely resolved,
because it would seem that God must suspend his justice in order to exercise
mercy, or vice versa. Indeed this would be so if God had chosen to redeem
humanity apart from the cross of Christ.

At the outset it must me noted that the author does not believe that this
tension can ever be completely resolved or explained in human terms. Fully
explaining what happened at the cross is as difficult as comprehensively
explaining other biblical mysteries such as the trinity, the incarnation, or the
union and inter-indwelling of Christ to His bride (the community of the redeemed)
through the Holy Spirit. However, we have been given an invitation to search out
the mysteries of God, so with regard to these attributes of love, wrath, justice,
and mercy, one is driven to their ultimate expression at Calvary, which also gives
the greatest explanation of God’s non self-contradiction.

His righteous judgements and justice do not in any way contradict other
attributes such as love and mercy of God, but are rather according to them and
act to remove all that hinders love. Although there are many facets of this truth to
develop, the primary focus here is the cross, because it is the pinnacle of God’s
self-revelation. In the cross, the guilt of sin was placed on Jesus when “He [the
Father] made Him who knew no sin [Jesus] to become sin for us, that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NKJV). Jesus did
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not leave sin unpunished; he did not contradict His justice and holiness by
ignoring sin. This is the essence of what the doctrine of justification is about; the
just and legal penalty of our sin was placed upon Jesus.

The language of propitiation is also used to describe the justice and mercy
of the cross. Propitiation means that God’s wrath (which is good, righteous, and
just) is placated and appeased. On the cross, God poured out His wrath on his
perfect Son, Jesus, thus satisfying the justice of God for all who would receive it
through faith and repentance. Allen hood puts it this way, “We need to
understand that the cross demonstrates God’s wholehearted commitment to
judge all that is unholy. Jesus bore the wrath of God for you, but if you do not
accept His sacrifice, He will dispense that wrath upon you on the last day” 2

There is one more pressing question related to the cross, however, and that
is how it is just for one who was and is perfectly sinless, and in fact God himself,
to receive the punishment for the crimes he did not do. What is left in mystery on
this point should by necessity draw one’s heart into loving adoration of God’s
unfathomable love, “behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,
that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1, NKJV).

The first consideration one must make is that is that Jesus was determined
to go to the cross and was fully aware that he was born to die (Mark 8:31-34,
9:30-31, 10:32-34, 10:45). He fully consented to the cross the whole way through;
to every lash of the whip, to every beating, to every mockery, and to every nail,
while maintaining perfect love for his tormentors. We know this because Jesus
could have summoned at least 12 legions of angels for his deliverance with only a

2
Hood, Allen. Excellencies of Christ: An Exploration into the Endless Fascination of the God-Man. Kansas City,
Missouri: Forerunner Books, 2006. p. 229.
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word (Matthew 26:53). More significant yet, is that He consented to becoming sin
for us and thus experiencing the most painful separation from His heavenly Father
by which He cried out “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mark
15:34). Furthermore, the cross was the deepest desire of Jesus’ heart because it is
the means by which he might reconcile and redeem mankind unto himself, and
provide the greatest revelation of who He is and who the Father is (John 17).
Because of the incarnation, the cross, and the resurrection men may now know
what God is like; when one sees Yahweh in the flesh hanging on an accursed tree,
dripping with blood and crying out in agony, one cannot help but weep at this
terrifyingly glorious display of unfathomable love.

The last consideration one must make is that the cross does not disagree
with God’s character, but is in perfect harmony with His other attributes. It agrees
with His holiness, justice, and wrath because He has manifested these, displaying
the horrors of sin’s consequence, with his love and mercy because the cross
openly reveals God’s burning passion for reconciled relationship and delight in
mercy, with his humility because there is nowhere more humiliating to die than
on the cross of a criminal, as one marred more than any man (Isaiah 52:14,
Philippians 2:5-8).

In the cross, it becomes plain that the reason God requires all men to do
justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with the Lord (Micah 6:8) is because justice,
mercy, and humility are at the very core of who God is. These attributes are
gloriously manifested together in the cross, so that we might know God and know
the lifestyle God esteems not only through command, but also by Jesus’ own
leadership by example.
Donovan Neufeldt