Comparison-contrast essay

For my British Lit class this week, I had to write a comparison-contrast essay. Since we got to choose our own topic I decided to get a little creative and try and pick something that a lot of people have misunderstood. I ended up choosing to compare and contrast grace and mercy. Here's what I ended up with.
-taye
P.S. I altered the format from the essay format so that it was easier to read.


"Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father..."



Grace and mercy are two things that, I feel, a large number of Christians, and even non-Christians do not understand. Those words, “grace” and “mercy”, are found so many times within the pages of God’s Word, and if you have ever read a Christian book then I am sure you encountered at least one of the two multiple times there as well. But what do those words really mean? And why do they appear so often in the Bible?

Grace. According to Webster’s 1928 dictionary, grace is defined as “...the free, unmerited favor of God.” Growing up, I attended the same small Christian camp every summer, where we applied every activity we did to the gospel. There, I learned a simple, easy-to-remember definition for grace and mercy: grace is getting something we do not deserve, and mercy is not getting something we do deserve. I will return to the latter half of the definition in a moment, but for now I want to focus in on the former portion.
Grace is getting something we do not deserve. Grace is that, but it is also so much more; it goes far beyond simply receiving something that we are undeserved of. Grace is getting something that we do not deserve when what we do deserve is so much worse. The grace of God is so clearly shown in our salvation. Christ gives us something, really two things, which we absolutely do not deserve. He gives us forgiveness of our sins:

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”
[Ephesians 1:7 NIV]

Through His grace, He also makes us a promise. He promises those who have been forgiven, those who have found salvation in Him, that they shall have eternal life after they die in their physical bodies here on earth.

“And this is the promise that He made to us—eternal life.”
[1 John 2:25 ESV]

God gives us these things in spite of the fact that we are bound for hell due to our sinfulness,

“for the wages of sin is death…”
[Romans 6:23 NIV]

Therefore, God’s grace is a gift that we do not deserve, saving us from what we do deserve: eternal hell.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
[Ephesians 2:8 NIV]

How then, is mercy any different from grace? Indeed, it is very similar, in fact, that is what most people understand—the similarities; but grace and mercy are different. Webster’s 1928 dictionary defines mercy as “That benevolence, mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves…” What was discovered with grace was that Christ gives us forgiveness and eternal life even though we deserve hell, but what mercy shows us is that we cannot repay God for what He has given us, and yet, He gives freely anyway. God hates sin, but with Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for our sin, God can forgive us of that sin and give us His grace.

“…but if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins…” [1 John 2:1-2 NIV]

Mercy, as I see it, is most clearly defined in two words: forgiving compassion. Mercy is what God gives us when He looks on us and sees Jesus, His Son, and His righteous perfection instead of our sinfulness, our wretchedness, and our filth. For His blood, as an atoning sacrifice, has covered up our sin and God washes it away through His mercy; it is what He shows us through His forgiveness, compassion and love.

Grace, therefore, is getting something we do not deserve, and mercy is not getting something we do deserve. Mercy is God showing us forgiving compassion, if we receive Him as our Savior, and not sending us to hell, which we deserve; while grace is receiving eternal life, something we do not by any means deserve. Therefore, as you can see, grace and mercy have differences, however, they go hand-in-hand, like coffee and a mug—you cannot have one without the other or they do not serve their purpose.