Some say that God punishes, others that God forgives, because He is merciful. How is it possible to understand that the same God is just with some and merciful with others? Is it because people are predestined?
Lucas Ferreira – Rio de Janeiro
For many centuries, theology sought to explain this apparent “tension” between God’s severity and mercy. On the one hand, we see God, offended by sin, immediately inflicting the appropriate punishment on the offender. On other occasions, however, we see the same God displaying an astonishing outpouring of goodness. One need only read the Scriptures to corroborate this reality.
For some, divine justice is manifested above all in the Old Testament, while the New Testament represents a radical turning point in the line of mercy, as attested by certain striking examples, such as the forgiveness granted to the adulterous woman (cf. Jn 8:3-11), Jesus’ dialogue with the Samaritan woman (cf. Jn 4:7-26) and, finally, the plea for forgiveness on Golgotha on behalf of those who crucified the Lord (cf. Lk 23:34).
This conception of the opposition between punitive severity and mercy reached the point of absurdity in the Gnostic philosopher Marcion, according to whom there was a complete discontinuity between the Old and New Testaments, to the point of considering that different gods were revealed in each of them.
Based on Christian reflection on faith, and especially in the book Cur Deus Homo? – Why Did God Become Man? – by St. Anselm, an attempt was made to provide a conciliatory explanation, so to speak, for what was colourfully called the “conflict of the daughters of God,” which would become this apparent tension or even contradiction between the demands of justice and those of mercy within the Trinity itself. The solution found by God to appease justice and, at the same time, pour out His mercy was the Passion of Christ. On the Cross, justice was appeased in the Holy Victim and, through that same Victim, torrents of love and forgiveness poured out on sinners.
However, it is St. Thomas who will fully explain the question (cf. Summa Theologiæ, I, q. 21), seeking to reason more from God Himself, in whom all perfections are well unified in the marvellous simplicity of His essence.
To understand the Angelic Doctor’s explanation, it is worth remembering some essential principles of scholastic philosophy, beginning with the fact that God does not love as men do.
Men love what is lovable, what attracts them. No one loves five hundred grams of flour at first sight, but they do love a delicious cake…
Therefore, to obtain man’s affection, something must be good, desirable. God, on the contrary, by loving His creatures, makes them lovable. No one is good unless divine love makes them so (cf. Summa Theologiæ, I, q. 20, a. 2). As can easily be seen, this is a very important change of perspective.
Therefore, for St. Thomas, mercy consists in the ability to correct any deficiency and, in this sense, creation and Redemption are radical manifestations of God’s mercy.
On the other hand, for him, the Passion – although in a certain sense it took place to appease justice – constitutes above all a great work of mercy, for through it the Lord reveals to us the extremity of His love.
What, then, would justice be in God?
It manifests itself above all in two aspects. Firstly, in the exact measure with which He distributes graces. He does not make all human beings excellent to the highest degree, but creates an inequality among them, which depends on the love which He bestows on each one: some more, others less, but all with abundant generosity, according to Aquinas.
Secondly, in the punishment of evil. It should be borne in mind that the punishments inflicted on this earth are more merciful than just, for although they are painful, they open hearts to conversion, purify them and elevate them to the consideration of spiritual realities. St. Thomas explains that, when it comes to eternal punishment, God condemns the sinner after he has rejected all resources of mercy. And even in the case of condemnation to hell, He, in His goodness, mitigates the penalties due. ◊
