By mercy and truth iniquity is purged.
The mission of mercy and truth
Some plead for prevailing mercy, and some for prevailing justice, in jurisprudence, education, and theology. Some try to blend the two, but find the effort a hopeless one. By a mercy and truth torn apart, and set in opposition to each other, iniquity is not purged. Solomon was speaking in the spirit of the Old Testament; yet he has no sense of contradiction between these two qualities: he makes no endeavour to show how they may be adjusted to each other. He does not say that truth is tempered with mercy, or that mercy must not be carried too far lest it should interfere with truth. He says simply, “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged.” Both are equally enemies of iniquity; both are equally interested in its extirpation; both are equally interested in the deliverance of the creature who is tormented by it. This view alone could satisfy the Jew who believed in the God of Abraham. The Lord of heaven had revealed himself to his fathers as the God of righteousness and truth. The Jews were tempted to honour beings less righteous; and they yielded to the temptation. But the Being whom they forgot was what He had ever been. His mercy and truth were fixed as the hills. By and by the recollection of Him came back to them. It was their comfort to believe there was One unlike themselves, One who was not changeable and capricious as they were. He was merciful, and forgave their transgressions. This unfolded to them depths in the Divine character of which they had known nothing, or only by the hearing of the ear. They felt that only a perfectly righteous Being could be perfectly merciful. The psalmists implore mercy, but they implore it of One who, they believe, is willing to bestow it, because He is righteous. That view of mercy, in which it takes the form of indulgence of sins, they dare not cherish. The fear of God is the fear of the righteous and merciful Lord; not the fear of some false being, some creature of their own thoughts, clothed with their own evil qualities. Such creatures they were not to fear; they were to fight continually against the fear of them. In the Son of God did any one see that warfare of truth with mercy which we have so rashly dreamed of in the eternal mind? His warfare was the warfare of truth and mercy against untruth and hardness of heart. Jesus showed that mercy and truth were divided only by the evil which seeks to destroy both. It is by their perfect union that iniquity is purged. The sacrifice of purges iniquity. But we are not taught in the Bible that the sacrifice of Christ was the sacrifice to one attribute, for the sake of bringing it into agreement with another. By the mercy and truth of God the Father, Son, and Spirit is the iniquity of our race, and of each of its members, purged. By the fear of this great and holy name do men depart from evil. The fear of an unbending Lawgiver will not keep men from evil. The New Testament name for God is the name of absolute eternal Truth and Love, and this alone makes us fear to sin. (F. D. Maurice, M.A.)
By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil,--
Sins of men arising from a want of the fear of God, and the instigation of the devil
The wickedness of man is referable to two causes, a want of due apprehension of the Almighty, and the instigation of the devil. Consider who God is, and what are His chief qualities. He is the creator and governor of the universe: a Being of infinite power, present everywhere, privy to our most secret transactions. If we had these ideas constantly before our eyes, should we ever dare affront Him with our iniquities? There is a particular scepticism in too many, with regard to the attributes of God. They doubt whether He possesses some qualities in that extent in which reason and Scripture assure us that He doth. They persuade themselves that His presence is not universal; that He does not regard human concerns minutely; that He is not too rigidly just; and that His goodness will tone His justice. But if they did not wish to deceive themselves, they would never reason in this manner. Nor may we impute our iniquities to our natural frailty, seeing we are promised aids in overcoming it. The want of the fear of God is the prime cause of unrighteousness. The enemy only attacks us when he perceives us defenceless; then he plies us with suitable temptations. Our safety from him lies in keeping, continually, well within the fear of the Lord. (G. Haggitt, M.A.)
The fear of God
The term “fear” is here used for the principle of religion. This principle is the only one which will cause men to forsake evil. A reverent regard to the Divine will is the only security for human virtue. Fear, then, here embraces all the feelings and motives, which tend to keep men separate from everything which God disapproves. Dread of the Divine displeasure prepares the soul for the operation of higher and better feelings. There are those who are disposed to censure the text, as conveying an expression positively wrong. Reason is the power which persons of this stamp profess to worship; and reason, as well as religion, has in all ages, had her bigots and fanatics. The fear of the Lord they spurn, as a motive infinitely beneath them. All fear, they tell us, is sordid and slavish. They say that all virtue is to be despaired of which is not built on disinterested feeling, i.e., on a complete independence either of punishment or reward. But if we take away the fear of God, what safeguard have we left for the integrity of man? True, man has two guides, his moral sense, or perception of right and wrong, and his sense of what is useful and expedient. But would the virtue of individuals or the peace of society be long secured in the custody of these sages?
1. We must not speak in disparagement of the moral sense. But it is the fact, that the breath of a corrupt world has passed over this breastplate of light and perfection, and hath dimmed its glory. This faculty has deeply partaken of man’s degeneracy. The sense of moral fitness often degenerates into a mere taste or impulse. The advantages this world has to offer are not clearly on the side of virtue. Were virtue to be found at perpetual variance with pleasure or with safety, it is absurd to imagine that she would long retain her votaries.
2. Will man’s sense of what is useful for the general good of mankind do any more for him than the sense of moral propriety. Suppose each member of a commonwealth were under an implied covenant with his fellow-men to abstain from actions which may be at variance with the general interest. What is there to secure this compact from daily and hourly violation, when there is no witness to report it, and no external power to control it. Who but the man himself is to interpret the rules of universal convenience and expediency in cases where doubt really exists, or where selfishness raises the apparition of a doubt? Here, then, we have a law left to execute itself. Suppose human laws come to aid the powers within us; it may still be urged that these are not effective if the powers of the world to come be removed. No law can long maintain its authority without reference to the Supreme Will, the fountain of all law throughout the universe. Equally rash would it be to rely on the fear of infamy to prevent disorder and crime. For here again the hope of escaping discovery would come in to pacify the apprehensions of disgrace. It is public opinion that wields this scourge, and it is the general prevalence of high moral feeling that makes public opinion a stern and formidable executioner. The moral sense, and the rule of public usefulness, furnish, no doubt, very strong recommendations to virtuous practice, but nothing less than the fear of an avenging Deity can ever generally enforce it. (C. W. Le Bas, M.A.)
Mercy and truth evidential of salvation
The application might be restricted to the manner in which the God of mercy and truth, the God who Himself “delighteth in mercy,” and who “requireth truth in the inward parts,” manifests His regard to the practice of these virtues in His creatures. There is a Scriptural sense, too, in which mercy and truth, and the kindred graces, impart confidence towards God; but it is only as evidential of interest in the salvation by grace which the Divine Word reveals; it is neither as meritorious, nor as expiatory. (R. Wardlaw, D.D.)