What the Bible says about God's Lovingkindness
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Psalm 92:2 We should acknowledge and thank God for His lovingkindness and faithfulness toward us. In His love and faithfulness, He had endowed us with so much. We should constantly think about the following blessings and thank God for them, and be careful not to take them for granted: » His truth, which He continues to reveal to us. » His gifts, spiritual and physical, that He continually pours out to us. » His church and our part in it. » His ministry and their unstinting service to us. » Our brethren and the opportunities for fellowship with and service to them. » Our families and their health and prosperity. » Our nations and all the blessings that accrue from our citizenship. » And myriads of other gifts and good things He bestows so freely. Staff Thanksgiving Related Topics: God's Blessing | God's Faithfulness | God's Lovingkindness

Matthew 5:7 Mercy begins with the love of God. He is always the source of righteous character and righteous deeds. Without God's love as the source of those things and our guide, our "merciful" good works (as we see them) are suspect. If they do not have God as the source, we cannot trust them to be truly good. Jesus points out the Pharisees as the opposite of what He wants. They did their good works for selfish reasons, as both Matthew 6 and Matthew 23 show. They did their works to be seen by others, that is, hypocritically. They did not do them primarily to help the needy. They did them so others would say, "Wow, what a righteous person that guy is." Jesus calls them what they were—hypocrites. Conversely, the mercies of God are untainted by this idea of "what can doing this get me," because the love of God is the agape love. It is selfless, a divine sacrificial love that gives, not for something in return but because it is good and right to do so. The structure of this beatitude implies a reciprocal relationship between the merciful God and the converted Christian. It is a covenant relationship like the agreement between a lord and a vassal, bound by oaths and promises. Here, the agreement is that God has given mercy, which obliges the Christian to show mercy to others, and God then will continue to extend mercy. Both God and the Christian fulfill their roles, not to get something like salvation. Both do their parts out of love because it is good. It is what pleases God and helps other people. While the word is not present in Jesus' beatitude, the structure of this idea harkens to a pervasive Old Testament concept found in the Hebrew word hesed, which means "covenant loyalty." It can also connote "loyal or steadfast love." It is frequently translated in the Old Testament as "favor," "lovingkindness," "kindness," "goodness," or "mercy." Because we have made a covenant with God to be molded into His image, we have vowed through our baptism to uphold this idea of hesed. Our baptism is a sign of our covenant with God. By it, we have promised to keep the New Covenant. In this beatitude, Jesus reminds us that to remain loyal to Him, our covenantal agreement requires us to show mercy just as God has shown mercy to us. Richard T. Ritenbaugh The Merciful Related Topics: Beatitudes: Merciful | Chesedh | Covenantal Relationship with God | God's Lovingkindness | Goodness | Hesed | Hypocrisy | Kindness | Mercy

John 1:14-17 Notice in verse 14 that Jesus is described as "full of grace"—suggesting lovingkindness and benevolent gifts—"and truth." Then, verse 16 says that from that fullness of grace we receive grace. In other words, it is from our relationship with Him that we receive many beneficent gifts toward salvation. Other Bibles translate the phrase "grace for grace" as "grace on grace" or "grace upon grace." In a paraphrase, it may be rendered as "blessing after blessing." The phrase pictures grace as if it were objects being stacked one on top of another or endlessly linked as if side by side. Our calling is an act of God's grace, a gifting completely apart from any merit on our part. We tend to think of grace primarily in regard to justification and the forgiveness of sin, but that is far, far too limiting. John is showing us that our relationship with God through Jesus Christ is a connection that supplies us with a continuous flow of grace, blessings, gifts, favor, powers, forgiveness, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, healings, protection, and more through God's loving concern. He is not supplying our every desire but our every need as His spiritual creation of each of us moves toward His conclusion. Again, remember that, for this truth to be more fully appreciated, it must be understood that He does not owe us one tiny jot or tittle of it. Just as surely as the manna physically appeared to the unconverted Israelites every morning in the wilderness and the cloud was in the sky by day and a pillar of fire by night, God is supplying our every need in relation to His salvation and purpose. It is all freely given toward His glorification and His purpose of creating us to fill a position, a place in His Kingdom. The apostles used charis ("grace") in many other situations, but they applied it most especially to mean the powers given by God to meet our spiritual needs. John W. Ritenbaugh Living By Faith and God's Grace Related Topics: Charis | God's Lovingkindness | Grace | Grace upon Grace | Jesus Christ's Lovingkindness | Manna

 

		The Berean: Daily Verse and Comment Sign up for the Berean: Daily Verse and Comment, and have Biblical truth delivered to your inbox. This daily newsletter provides a starting point for personal study, and gives valuable insight into the verses that make up the Word of God. See what over 155,000 subscribers are already receiving each day. Email Address:     A Faithful VersionKing James VersionNew International VersionNew King James Version Leave this field empty
We respect your privacy. Your email address will not be sold, distributed, rented, or in any way given out to a third party. We have nothing to sell. You may easily unsubscribe at any time.