The Mercy and Love of God

The mercy and love of God stand at the very center of the gospel. These authors teach that God's kindness is not a response to human goodness but flows entirely from his own heart, and it is displayed most clearly in the death of Christ for sinners. Understanding this doctrine matters because it humbles human pride, gives hope to the despairing, and becomes the motive for a life of grateful obedience.

Grace superabounds over sin

Charles Spurgeon opens the subject by insisting that grace is greater than sin. He writes that despite the devastations of sin, grace superabounds, which is the more pleasing part of the subject (Romans 5:20). Grace surpasses sin in its measure and power, so that one act of divine pardon can cancel even the most numerous and enormous sins (Romans 5:20). This means no sinner is beyond hope. Spurgeon even argues that the very fact that a person is a law-condemned sinner who acknowledges iniquity is a sign that they are a vessel of mercy (Romans 5:20). When the sinner is brought to the end of himself under the law, that is the moment for turning from condemning law to abounding grace (Romans 5:20).

Matthew Henry agrees that God's grace is absolutely free and undeserved, unlike human favor which may have some cause in the person favored (Romans 3:24). He adds that God is more ready to save upon an imputed righteousness than to condemn upon an imputed guilt, because showing mercy is more agreeable to his goodness than punishing (Romans 5:15). Jonathan Edwards sharpens this point by arguing that God's kindness appears more abundant when He shows kindness without any excellency in the receiver to draw it forth, because abundant goodness flows from within rather than needing external attraction. God's kindness and love appear most triumphant and wonderfully great when the receiver is not only without all excellency but altogether vile and hateful.

The Father's initiative in love

These authors are careful to say that Christ's death did not make the Father loving. Spurgeon states plainly that Jesus did not die to make the Father gracious; rather, His death flows from the Father's eternal love and the eternal covenant of grace (Romans 4:25). The Father delivered up His Son to death, and this was the supreme proof of the Father's love to sinners (Romans 4:25). Henry explains that God the Father took the initiative in reconciliation by foreordaining, appointing, anointing, qualifying, and publicly exhibiting Christ as the propitiation for a guilty world (Romans 3:25).

Spurgeon also notes that God had no self-interest in sending Christ to die for sinners, since sinners could do nothing to serve or repay him (Romans 5:8). Christ died for us unasked, when we had neither the power nor the will to pray or seek him (Romans 5:8). God took the initiative in redemption, entreating man to be reconciled rather than waiting for man to ask for mercy (Romans 5:8). Henry echoes this by saying that God's grace toward all who partake of it is preventing, effectual, and distinguishing, finding those who did not seek him (Romans 9:16). God's grace often begins with us before we seek him, and this should be remembered with thankfulness (Romans 10:20).

Christ died for sinners

The death of Christ is the highest demonstration of God's love. Spurgeon says God commends his love not by words but by a deed, namely the death of Christ (Romans 5:8). The first commendation of God's love is that Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). It was beyond even angelic thought that God himself would become flesh and die, yet the Son of God willingly declared that he would do so (Romans 5:8). The death of Christ is the highest demonstration of God's love because it was the eternal, divine Creator himself who died for sinners (Romans 5:8).

Henry adds that Christ died for sinners who were neither righteous nor good but guilty criminals, and this magnifies and makes illustrious the love of God (Romans 5:8). God commended and magnified his love by giving an unparalleled instance of it, designed to win and endear sinners through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:8). Christ died for enemies, traitors and rebels against God, which is an unprecedented and mysterious instance of love that should command our eternal adoration (Romans 5:10).

Spurgeon emphasizes the personal nature of this love. Christ's suffering and death were personally for believers, so his blood, agony, and tears are for them (Romans 5:8). God commends his love by Christ dying for us while we were still sinners, not after we became penitent (Romans 5:8). Christ died for people who had sinned directly against him (Romans 5:8). It is astonishing that the injured Christ bore the penalty for those who injured him (Romans 5:8). Christ died for his enemies, for those who hated and scorned him (Romans 5:8).

That God himself should become man, and then should die for you! “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, Christ should die. Roll that thought over in your mind; ponder it in your meditations; weigh it in your hearts Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Love's Commendation”

God commendeth his love towards us,” not only because Christ died for us, but that CHRIST DIED FOR US WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Love's Commendation”

If a man should be injured in the street, if a punishment should be demanded of the person who attacked him, it would be passing strange if the injured man should for love’s sake bear the penalty, that the other might go free; but ‘twas so with Christ Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Love's Commendation”

Hope for the worst sinners

A recurring theme is that no sinner should despair. Spurgeon writes that even those whose sins are aggravated by knowledge, faithful preaching, and conscience still have Christ dying for them (Romans 5:8). No sinner should despair because of aggravated sin, since Christ may yet make him rejoice in his redemption (Romans 5:8). Christ's love can forgive even the greatest transgressors, including those who crucified him (Romans 5:8). Even those who have blasphemed Christ and mocked his people may find him to be their Savior if they repent and feel their need of him (Romans 5:8).

Spurgeon calls the statement that Christ died for the impious a great net that takes in even the greatest and most numerous sinners (Romans 5:6). God's saving mercy is directed toward sinners, prodigals, and the unworthy rather than toward the outwardly respectable (Romans 5:6). Christ died out of pure pity, not because the ungodly were attractive or deserving (Romans 5:6). Christ loved the ungodly because his heart was full of pity, and he would not let them perish (Romans 5:6). Pity moved Christ to seek the most needy objects in order to display his love by lifting them from the lowest degradation to the highest position of holiness and honor (Romans 5:6).

Christ died for the impious’ is a great net which takes in even the leviathan sinner; and of all the creeping sinners innumerable which swarm the sea of sin, there is not one kind which this great net does not encompass Charles Spurgeon, sermon “For Whom Did Christ Die?”

Pity moved him to seek the most needy objects that his love might display its utmost ability in lifting men from the lowest degradation, and putting them in the highest position of holiness and honour Charles Spurgeon, sermon “For Whom Did Christ Die?”

Henry agrees that the free gift of salvation is offered generally and freely to all, and upon believing it brings justification that entitles believers to life (Romans 5:18). God would call many Gentiles his people and beloved, even though they had not previously been his people, showing that former unworthiness does not bar present grace (Romans 9:25). Those whom God calls his people he also calls beloved, because he loves those who are his own (Romans 9:25).

The kindness of God leads to repentance

God's mercy is not only a fact to be believed but a force that changes the heart. Spurgeon argues that the free love of Christ to unworthy sinners touches the heart more quickly than threatenings of wrath (Romans 5:6). Mercy and free forgiveness win the heart more effectively than punishment and threats (Romans 5:6). God deals with sinners by offering free forgiveness rather than only threatening punishment, and this kindness leads to repentance (Romans 5:6, Isaiah 1:18). The influence of divine love, applied by the Spirit, conquers hardened hearts and opens them to grace (Romans 5:6, Isaiah 44:22). The infinite love of God shown in forgiveness changes the heart and turns a person's whole nature from sin to righteousness (Romans 5:6).

Henry makes the same point when he says that God's goodness is designed to lead sinners to repentance, not to embolden them in sin (Romans 2:4). God leads sinners to repentance gently through goodness and love, not by driving them like beasts (Romans 2:4). Despising God's goodness, patience, and forbearance is at the root of much sin (Romans 2:4).

Edwards adds an important nuance about how this repentance works. True repentance humbles the sinner before God by including hope in his mercy; without that hope, sorrow drives the sinner further from God. The confession of sin to which mercy is promised is a confession made with faith in God's mercy, not a despairing confession (Proverbs 28:13). David's confession in Psalm 32 shows that forgiveness came when he acknowledged his sin and began to encourage himself in God's mercy (Psalms 32:1–5).

Now, sinner, in that fashion God is dealing with you. Great sinners! Ungodly sinners! God says, ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways. I have threatened you, and you hardened your hearts against me. Therefore, come now, and let us reason together: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool Charles Spurgeon, sermon “For Whom Did Christ Die?”

Evangelical repentance is an humiliation for sin before God; but the sinner never comes and humbles himself before God in any other repentance, but that which includes hoping in his mercy for remission: if sorrow be not accompanied with that, there will be no coming to God in it, but a flying further from him Jonathan Edwards, “Justification by Faith Alone”

Peace, assurance, and the love of God

Justification brings the believer into a new relationship with God. Henry explains that justification removes the guilt of sin, which was the cause of enmity between God and sinners, and so makes way for peace with God (Romans 5:1). This peace with God is not merely the end of hostility but includes friendship and loving-kindness, so that God becomes our best friend (Romans 5:1). Spurgeon adds that true peace with God gives the believer an inward sense of God's acceptance through Christ's reconciling work (Romans 5:1). Peace with God gives the believer calm resignation and even glad submission to the Father's will in affliction (Romans 5:1).

This peace is grounded in the unchanging love of God. Henry writes that the Holy Spirit sheds abroad the love of God in the hearts of all the saints, giving them a sense of God's love to them (Romans 5:5). God's giving of his own Son is the foundation of the believer's hope and the proof of his love (Romans 8:32). God will freely give believers all things that infinite wisdom judges needful and good for them, without reluctance or price (Romans 8:32). It is unthinkable that God would give the greater gift of his Son for enemies and then deny lesser good things to those who are now his friends and children (Romans 8:32).

Spurgeon declares that nothing in all creation can separate believers from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:27). Henry explains that these troubles cannot separate believers from Christ's love to them; they are neither a cause nor an evidence of any lessening of his love (Romans 8:35). The love between God and believers exists only through Christ as Mediator, and this is the ground of its steadfastness (Romans 8:39). God rests in his love because Jesus Christ, in whom he loves believers, is eternally unchanging (Romans 8:39).

And what says the Apostle—"I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Grace Exalted—Boasting Excluded”

This is the ground of the stedfastness of the love; therefore God rests in his love (Zeph. iii. 17), because Jesus Christ, in whom he loves us, is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

The response of faith and gratitude

Since salvation rests entirely on God's mercy, boasting is excluded. Spurgeon says boasting cannot claim the highest place in salvation, because salvation is not of man or by man, but rests on God's sovereign mercy (Romans 3:27). Faith is letting go of one's own trust and casting oneself entirely upon Christ and the mercy of God for salvation (Romans 3:24). Sinners are to come to God as they are, wretched and self-condemned, casting themselves on God's mercy revealed in Christ's death (Romans 4:19–21). Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, and whoever comes to Christ will never be cast out (Romans 4:19–21).

Henry reminds us that the mercy of God, especially gospel mercy shown to Gentiles, is a compelling reason to present our bodies to God (Romans 12:1). God's mercy to our bodies, including creating, maintaining, and redeeming them, obligates us to offer ourselves to him (Romans 12:1). Spurgeon adds that knowing that all sins are forgiven and that Christ will bring the believer safely to glory produces grateful service (Romans 3:27).

Henry also notes that remembering former sinfulness magnifies divine mercy and grace in the believer's present holiness (Romans 6:17–18). Pardoned people are the only truly blessed people, and this blessedness is the foundation of all other benefits (Romans 4:7). Eternal life is the gift of God, not earned by obedience; sinners merit hell, but saints do not merit heaven (Romans 6:23).

And the angel says, "But have you not heard that the salvation of souls is not of man, nor by man, but that God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy and will have compassion on whom He will have compassion? Get you gone, Boasting, for the highest seat can never be yours, when God, in direct opposition to human merit, has rejected the Pharisee and chosen the publican and the harlot, that they may enter into the kingdom of Heaven Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Grace Exalted—Boasting Excluded”

He, therefore, says, “Sinner, let go thine own trust, and drop into the sea of my love.” We look down, and say, “Can I be saved by trusting in God? He looks as if he were angry with me, and I could not trust him Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Justification by Grace”

Nay, your having been so formerly tends much to the magnifying of divine mercy and grace in the happy change. God be thanked that the former sinfulness is such a foil and such a spur to your present holiness Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

The backslider's hope

Even those who have wandered from God are not beyond the reach of his mercy. Spurgeon writes that the backslider is called to return to the Lord, who promises to blot out transgressions and not remember sins (Romans 5:1). God welcomes returning sinners with full restoration, like the father receiving the prodigal son (Romans 5:1). Christ remains ready and able to save sinners who come to Him, and His atoning blood and heavenly intercession still prevail (Romans 5:1).

Henry adds that God's patience toward provoking sinners is admirable but limited, like a day that has a night at its end (Romans 10:21). God's patience made Israel's disobedience more sinful, while their disobedience made God's patience more gracious (Romans 10:21). The sum of our duty and the condition of our happiness is to keep ourselves in the love of God, fearing the Lord and his goodness (Romans 11:22).

Jehovah seeks you. He cries unto you tonight, and by the lips of His ambassador says, "Return, O backsliding children, return unto Me for I am married unto you, says the Lord. You have wearied Me with your sins, you have made Me to serve with your iniquities, but I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions for My name's sake, and will not remember your sins Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Peace By Believing”

There is the kiss of His love. "Take off his rags, clothe him, put shoes upon his feet, bring forth the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry, for this, My son, which was dead, is alive again, he was lost and is found Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Peace By Believing”

God's patience with them was a very great aggravation of their disobedience, and rendered it the more exceedingly sinful; as their disobedience advanced the honour of God's patience and rendered it the more exceedingly gracious. It is a wonder of mercy in God that his goodness is not overcome by man's badness; and it is a wonder of wickedness in man that his badness is not overcome by God's goodness Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”