By mercy and truth iniquity is purged

'By mercy and truth iniquity is purged'

— Proverbs 16:6

How can a holy God forgive sin? How can God be just and yet justify the ungodly? How is iniquity purged? The wise man, Solomon, gives us the answer of divine wisdom to this question: ‘By mercy and truth iniquity is purged.’

The law of God, as it was given at Sinai, proclaims truth without mercy. The law accepts no excuses and makes no exceptions. The soul that sinneth, it shall die.’ The unrenewed heart desires mercy without truth. Truth without mercy would destroy every transgressor. Mercy without truth would dishonor God and trample his law in the ground. If truth stands alone, this earth must cease to be a place of holiness. There stands God, the judge of all, in his strict justice. Here we stand, guilty sinners, having broken God’s law, deserving eternal damnation. If God gives us our due, there will be no mercy, If he simply passes by our transgressions, there will be no truth. God cannot be merciful at the expense of his justice, and he cannot be just at the expense of his mercy. How can God be both true to his law and merciful to sinners?

Behold the incarnate God, hanging on the cursed tree as the sinner’s Substitute, suffering the penalty of God’s law in the sinner’s place, the just for the unjust. In the cross of Christ truth and justice are fully satisfied and mercy and grace are righteously bestowed upon sinners. ‘Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other’ (Ps. 85: 10). The truth of God and the mercy of God, the justice of God and the grace of God, have put away the sins of God’s elect by the sacrifice of God’s own dear Son. ‘For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him’ (2 Cor. 5:21).