Merciful

James 2:12-14 - Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?

Luke 6:37 - "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

James 1:25 - But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

Romans 3:22-24 - This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Conclusions:

• Jesus did not relieve His followers of the need for discerning right and wrong, but He condemned unjust and hypocritical judging of others
• The perfect law is the moral and ethical teaching of Christianity, which is based on the Old Testament moral law, as embodied in the Ten Commandments, but brought to completion by Jesus Christ
• In contrast to the sinner, who is a slave to sin, obeying the moral law gives the Christian the joyous freedom to be what he was created for
• Justified describes what happens when someone believes in Christ as his Savior: From the negative viewpoint, God declares the person to be not guilty; from the positive viewpoint, He declares him to be righteous
• God cancels the guilt of the person’s sin and credits righteousness to him when justified
• No one lives a perfectly good, holy, righteous life
• There is no one righteous and all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
• Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law
• Even though all are sinners and not sons, God will declare everyone who puts his trust in Jesus not guilty but righteous
• This legal declaration is valid because Christ died to pay the penalty for our sin and lived a life of perfect righteousness that can in turn be imputed to us
• Christ’s righteousness will be credited to believers as their own
• The central thought in justification is that although man clearly and totally deserves to be declared guilty, because of his trust in Christ God declares him righteous
• God declaring the believer righteous is stated in several ways: (1) freely, (2) by His grace, (3) through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus and (4) through faith
• Redemption is a word taken from the slave market—the basic idea is that of obtaining release by payment of a ransom
• Paul uses redemption to refer to release from guilt, with its liability for judgment, and to deliverance from slavery to sin, because Christ in His death paid the ransom for us

Application:

• Do you judge? Do you condemn? Do you forgive?
• Do you obey the moral law?
• Have you been justified and redeemed?

All Scripture verses taken from the NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible