Biblical mercy is a spiritual condition that God’s love toward sinners and forgives sinners without punishment through compassion. More specifically, the biblical mercy is similar from secular mercy as they both look at forgiveness and compassion toward an individual when one has power to inflict harm or punish. Biblically, mercy is a type of unmerited love that is in response to the human need to attain forgiveness and compassion. In the secular realm, mercy is a compassionate attitude and treatment to those in distress. Both approaches, secular and biblical, look at mercy from a perspective of a weak and stronger individual, with the weaker one receiving compassion or forgiveness. In the book of Jonah, there is a theme on mercy and compassion. Jonah is angry that God was compassionate on the city of Nineveh. The book records “…for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” (Jonah 4:2 NIV). With this in mind, the biblical mercy is not getting angry, but having eternal love and tolerant mistake of others. That is God’s love for believers, forgive them and not punishing them. In comparison, in the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, the meaning of mercy is given as “kind or forgiving treatment of someone who could be treated harshly” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (10th ed.), 1999). This dictionary definition has a similar meaning with the bible that one receives unmerited compassion and kindness, despite having committed harm or having wronged another individual. The latter decides to show love and ignore the need to punish the offender. Jonah’s experience with God’s compassion and mercy is meaningful to Christians as it reveals the goodness of God. Even where Christians have wronged an all-powerful God, He chooses to overlook their iniquities with love and compassion. Therefore, Biblical mercy is an expression of love, one that surpasses all other forms to reveal an unselfish attitude of putting love above punishment even where one has been wronged.

Biblical mercy is a spiritual revelation of God’s love toward sinners and the forgiveness He extends to them without punishment of wrongdoings. The result of mercy is that it draws people nearer to God. In more detail, biblical mercy leads one to understand the extent of the love of God and the need to remain thankful for compassion and love. The Bible records that “But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:16 NIV). This reveals the need for mercy, both as a spiritual and physical tool to lead others to being merciful and to extend the same courtesy that God offers through love and compassion. It means that if one receives mercy from God, they would readily express the same love to others.

The result of mercy is making creating a cycle of believers who are aware of a merciful God and His love to mankind. Likewise, in the book of Luke “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35-36). This Bible verse further widens the need to be merciful. God sees the act of kindness and mercy that comes with being compassionate as a personal reward, physically in the form of satisfaction and spiritually in the form of eternal life and mercy from God.

With this in mind, who get mercy from God will be the children of the Most High, that is the reward from God. Which mean the person get reward will live with God. These elements are meaningful for Christians as they emphasize the need to be conscious of Biblical mercy and to understand how God expects us to relate with each other with love, just like He has loved us. Overall, biblical mercy send a message of love, of being cognizant of God’s compassion, and knowing that He expects us to also be kind and merciful to others even where we feel entitled to cause harm or punish.

Biblical mercy leans to a concern for others similar to how God has loved us and shown mercy even when we did not merit it. Particularly, the bible has many stories that demonstrate mercy as a gift from God as an expression of selfless love. For example, in the book of Matthew, the parable of the unmerciful servant records that “He knelt down and pleaded with his master and said, “Be patient with me…The master moved his compassion, forgave him the debt, and let him go (Matthew 18:23-27).” The result of this act was joy from the one whose sins were forgiven because he knew he did not deserve it. However, he did not extend the same courtesy to another who owed him a debt and he sent him to prison until he could pay. The same treatment was given to him even though his master had been gracious before (Matthew 18:28-33). The result is that God teaches us to be merciful even when we are in positions of power.

Clearly, from the stories in the Bible, it shows the biblical mercy is a kind of forgiveness without punishment, and it is God’s love for believers. The master in the story pardoned the servant because of mercy. With this in mind, all human being should follow God’s instruction to be kind to others and forgives others without punishment. That is the mercy from God, others should also learn what God did. The story shows why mercy is given and why it needs to be in a chain so that in the end we all receive compassion even where we have fallen short of expectations. For Christians, the story in Matthew 18 teaches on the need to extend mercy and to understand that God expects the same from all of us, even where we feel that a sinner deserves to be punished.

In summary, not only God should show mercy to his believers, but ordinary person should also treat those around them with mercy. Mercy reveals a higher form of love, one that creates unselfish attitude even where compassion is not merited. The mercy from secular person in life is very necessary. If everyone can have mercy on others, the secular world will become more harmonious.