![]() ![]() If we have truly come to faith in Jesus, we have acknowledged the inescapable fact of our own sinfulness. Philippians 2:1-2 – “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.” But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’” When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, ‘Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?’ But when Jesus heard this, He said, ‘It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. Matthew 9:10-13 – “Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.” James 5:10-11 – “As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ![]() Lamentations 3:22 – “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail.” For the Lord is a God of justice how blessed are all those who long for Him.” ![]() Isaiah 30:18 – “Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. … Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.” Psalm 103:8, 13 – “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. His very essence is one of compassion, moved to act because of the suffering of humanity. How comforting to read that God defines Himself as compassionate. When we get a glimpse of God’s glory, we are seeing His attributes on display. God proclaimed His name to Moses in response to his request to see God’s glory. The root word is splagchnon, from which we get “spleen.” The bowels or inward parts were seen to be the seat of inward affection, love, and pity, expressing an intense emotion, a yearning, that deeply moves one inwardly, creating a desire to relieve suffering.Įxodus 33:19 – “And He said, ‘I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.’”Įxodus 34:6 – “Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.’” The Old Testament Hebrew word for compassion is rāḥami and is often translated “mercy.” In the New Testament, the Greek word is splagchnizomai : to be moved as to one’s inwards. The dictionary defines compassion as “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.” It differs from empathy or pity, in that while these words indicate an emotional response to the suffering of others, compassion moves one to act. God’s perfections must be thought of as always actively present together and mutually influencing each other without any hierarchy, even when they are not all mentioned in a given passage of Scripture.” –John MacArthur “God’s essence is one indivisible whole, so that each and all of His perfections actively characterize God’s entire being. As the Psalmist reminds us, God is not like us: “You thought that I was altogether like you” (Psalm 50:21). Instead, all His attributes are divinely and perfectly in harmony with Himself – never in competition. From our human experience, we expect God to be “one or the other,” as we are. Both the Old Testament and New Testament testify to the unconditional love and mercy that arises from His compassion, even and especially when it is viewed alongside those passages that describe God’s just and holy wrath towards sin. One of the most visible character attributes of God, as seen in Scripture, is His compassion. ![]()
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