Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 3 Study # 8
January 26, 2019
Humble, Texas
(038)
1769 Translation
8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, [
let him do it] with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
1901 ASV Translation
8 or he that exhorteth, to his exhorting: he that giveth, [
let him do it] with
liberality; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.
- I. Paul's List of "Grace-Gifts" And His Instructions Continued [see notes (027) (029) (031) (033) (035)].
- A. The "prophecy" gift is the first listed and the "standard" for our grasp of the "way" the rest are also to be exercised. It is also listed first because it is the primary, foundational "gift" as it makes the "words of God" available to men as revelation of the "Truth for Life".
- B. After "prophecy" comes a "list" of six more "gifts".
- 1. There are "six", divided into two groups of "three" [See notes (033)].
- 2. The "six" divided into two groups of "three" present the entire picture of "gift/stewardships" in brief.
- 3. We have now come to the last of the "gifts" that Paul listed. It is the last of the second group of three, and has a corollary with the last of the first group of three: "summoning"; the "gift" of drawing people into the Light and Life of God.
- a. In the first group of three, "summoning" has primarily to do with calling believers into the presence of, and fellowship with, God Himself. It has an automatic assumption built-in: there is "distance" between God and His "believer" caused by some moral flaw that is not being properly addressed by grace through faith.
- 1) In harmony with the parallelism between the two groups of three, I assume a strong connection between "summoning" and "showing mercy".
- 2) The suggestion of such a connection seems to be that "summoning" must be exercised with, perhaps, a great deal of mercy tangibly exercised. This would comport with the "assumption" of "distance" caused by moral failure since that is the only realm in which "mercy" is exercised (there is no need for "mercy" when there is no fault).
- b. The issues involved in "mercy".
- 1) The definite article plus the active participle indicates "he that is demonstrating mercy".
- 2) Logos says that the verb may indicate either "having mercy" or "showing mercy"; the former indicating an attitude and the latter indicating a certain kind of behavior. In this text/context, the issue is not primarily about "attitude" except in the last set of three, but the "attitudes" involved have to do with the "how" of the exercise of the particular "gift" that is under consideration. Thus, since it is the exercise of the "gifts" that is in view from beginning to end (12:6-8), we must choose the "showing mercy" option so that we may, then, wed the needed attitude to the action.
- 3) What does it mean to "show mercy"?
- a) Paul uses this verb in seven texts in Romans. He, additionally, uses the noun in three.
- i. The noun shows up in 9:23 in the identification of the second of two groups of humanity: "vessels of mercy" in contrast with the earlier "vessels of wrath". It shows up again in 11:31 where Paul reveals the divine plan of using His "judgment" upon one group to bring a second group into "mercy" (so that "mercy" is juxtaposed to "judgment" -- a kind of not imposing what is deserved in contrast to imposing what is deserved). And, in the third case, "mercy" is what the Gentiles "glorify God" for because He has extended it to them.
- ii. The verb is used three times in chapter nine (9:15, 16, and 18) in the context of absolute divine prerogative. It is likewise used three times in chapter eleven (11:30, 31, and 32) in the context of God's extension of "faith" to those who have been dominated by disbelief as the means to mercy. The last (seventh) use is in our current text.
- b) In all cases, "mercy" is presented as a refusal to give a person the "just" desserts of his/her actions of unbelief.
- c) Thus, "showing mercy" means demonstrating a willingness to refrain from imposing "justice" (i.e., "condemnation") upon a justice-deserving person.
- c. Thus we can see that "showing mercy" is parallel to "summoning" in that the "summons" is a call to a "Life" that is the opposite of what the "distance" dictates ought to come in the process of living.
- 1) "Justice" and "Mercy" are polar opposites. It is difficult to see any two of the attributes of God that are more different than these two.
- 2) This makes living within the harmony of the Glory of God a significant challenge for the people of God. We seem to have a penchant for bouncing between the questions that arise for us in settings where our behavior towards someone is in view. Shall I be "just" in this case? Shall I show mercy? The Corinthians are an apt demonstration of this complexity especially in regard to their failure to act properly toward the man who was sexually involved with his father's wife (1 Corinthians 5:1). The Corinthians arrogantly assumed his was a case where "mercy" was called for, but the apostle disabused them of that attitude with some strong language of rebuke. But, in respect to many other issues in their lives with one another, they didn't seem to have this same "mercy" flaw and were demonstrably willing to be unjustly "just" towards each other. Their example simply reveals the difficulties involved here.
- 3) "Showing mercy" has specific boundaries, the major one being the requirement that the one deserving "justice" voice the humility of repentance in the face of his/her moral flaws. Many are they these days that say "mercy" does not have "requirements" upon others, but those people have never absorbed Jesus' meaning in Matthew 18:22-35 or Luke 17:1-4. The "merciful" are not the "enablers" who refuse to "rebuke" or otherwise hold transgressors accountable; they are, instead, "summoners" who "show mercy" when "justice" might well be the preferred "option". "Justice" cares not for the mitigation that "repentance" calls for and insists that its "requirements" be fulfilled, but "Mercy" is to be the Preferred Attitude (Matthew 9:13 and 12:7) if repentance is professed.
- d. This brings us to the correct "characteristic" that is to attend the showing of mercy: what the translators of the Authorized Version call "cheerfulness".
- 1) Paul's use of the word involved here is interesting in that he is the only New Testament author who uses it and he only uses the noun form one time and the adjectival form one time. Two uses in the entire New Testament is all we have.
- 2) The uses.
- a) The adjective is found in 2 Corinthians 9:7 in the context of Paul's teaching about "giving" monetary/physical provisions to those in need.
- i. There are three concepts in this one verse that "color" our understanding of this adjective: personal purpose out of the heart; a complete absence of 'sorrow'; and a complete absence of 'necessity'.
- ii. These three concepts.
- i) Purposeful: another single-use word in the New Testament meaning 'to personally move a "valued" issue higher up the structure of the "value system" so that it displaces earlier "valued items"; it becomes a greater and greater priority, and that, from the heart.
- ii) Without 'sorrow': this word is used in 14 texts and the concept involves the sense of great loss because a "valued" issue is denied (as in wanting a beloved person to remain with us, but seeing them die); in other words, the movement up the value system is not to be done with any sense of "loss".
- iii) Without 'necessity': this word is found in 18 texts and the concept involved is a feeling of being pressured by outside forces against ones own wishes; in other words, the movement up the value system is done because of great desire, not because of compelling need.
- b) The noun is found only in the verse under consideration in this study. The concept is defined in one source as "with a laughing heart" or "with dancing eyes".