Truth and Mercy

The following passage is from Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, by J. C. Ryle. Ryle was a British minister in the late 1800’s, and his four volume set on the Gospels is deep and comprehensive, yet not difficult to read. The passage is taken from the section on John 1:15-18, and deals specifically on the contents of verse 17:

“We are taught, secondly, the vast superiority of Christ to Moses, and of the Gospel to the Law. It is written that ‘the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.’

Moses was employed by God ‘as a servant,’ to convey to Israel the moral and ceremonial law. (Heb. 3:5.) As a servant, he was faithful to Him who appointed him, but he was only a servant. The moral law, which he brought down from Mount Sinai, was holy, and just, and good. But it could not justify. It had no healing power. It could wound, but it could not bind up. It ‘worked wrath.’ (Rom. 4:15.) It pronounced a curse against any imperfect obedience. The ceremonial law, which he was commanded to impose on Israel, was full of deep meaning and typical instruction. Its ordinances and ceremonies made it an excellent schoolmaster to guide men toward Christ. (Gal. 3:24.) But the ceremonial law was only a schoolmaster. It could not make him that kept it perfect, as pertaining to the conscience. (Heb. 9:9.) It laid a grievous yoke on men's hearts, which they were not able to bear. It was a ministration of death and condemnation. (2 Cor. 3:7-9.) The light which men got from Moses and the law was at best only starlight compared to noon-day.

Christ, on the other hand, came into the world ‘as a Son,’ with the keys of God's treasury of grace and truth entirely in His hands, (Heb. 3:6.) Grace came by Him, when He made fully known God's gracious plan of salvation, by faith in His own blood, and opened the fountain of mercy to all the world. Truth came by Him, when He fulfilled in His own Person the types of the Old Testament, and revealed Himself as the true Sacrifice, the true mercy-seat, and the true Priest. No doubt there was much of ‘grace and truth’ under the law of Moses. But the whole of God's grace, and the whole truth about redemption, were never known until Jesus came into the world, and died for sinners.”

For Ryle, both the grace and truth that Jesus brought to us demonstrate His mercy. Grace is found in the divine plan to save us, even while we were enslaved by sin and in active rebellion against God. Truth is found in the perfect means of that salvation; His spotless, righteous life and effectual, atoning death on the cross in our place. Both show us His amazing mercy, and it is this mercy that both makes our new birth possible and continues to sustain us in our walk with Him.

Why then can it be so hard for us to show mercy to others, when it is so central to our relationship with God? Read James 2:13 – it is of vital importance that we extend mercy in our own sphere of relationships. When we meditate on just how much we have been forgiven, and understand the cost paid personally by Jesus to do so, we become much more open to extending mercy to others. Mercy triumphs over judgment, James says, and that is good news that we all need to hear and experience.