Paul begins his letter to the Galatians by referring to “this present evil age” in which we now live (Gal. 1:4). In a similar way, he draws the attention of Titus to the dark reality that “there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers” (Titus 1:10). We who have come to Christ in salvation were no different: “We also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another” (Titus 2:3). God, though, has intervened: “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy” (Titus 3:5). What exactly does the apostle mean when he refers to the mercy of God?
Wolfgang Musculus (1497–1563), a major Reformed theologian in the period of the Reformation, provides helpful teaching on the attribute of God’s mercy.1 Musculus never studied at a university, but was educated at a Benedictine monastery which he entered at the age of fifteen. Some of Martin Luther’s books came to him, and he became so enthralled by Luther’s gospel teaching that he became known as the “Lutheran monk.”
Musculus left the monastery at the age of thirty and headed to Strasbourg where he studied Greek and Hebrew and became the secretary of Martin Bucer, the same Reformed theologian who had a significant influence upon John Calvin. Musculus then went to Augsburg and served there for seventeen years as a pastor, before teaching for fourteen years as a professor of theology at Bern. Musculus became a premier biblical commentator highly praised by Calvin. It is remarkable that a dynasty of pastors in Bern lasting over two and a half centuries descended from Musculus.
What Mercy Actually Is
Musculus produced a large theological text entitled Loci Communes in 1560, which was translated into English in 1563 and entitled Commonplaces of the Christian Religion.2 While Calvin barely touches on the divine attributes in the Institutes of the Christian Religion, Musculus provides a lengthy discussion in his massive theological text. Of particular significance is his exposition on the attribute of divine mercy.
Mercy is “a certain compassion in our heart of some other’s misery whereby we are compelled to help them if we can.”
Musculus contends that there are two constituent elements found in mercy. He appeals to Augustine’s position that mercy is “a certain compassion in our heart of some other’s misery whereby we are compelled to help them if we can.”3 Musculus places a lot of stress upon the inward heart being moved: “It makes a man’s heart miserable and pitiful.” It means that a person is “touched and broken within the heart, with the misery of others.”4
Scripture and Experience
There are two ways in which we may be assured that God is merciful. We learn of the mercy of God in Scripture, and we also experience the mercy of God in our own lives in the midst of trials and difficulties. On the one hand, by the “testimonies of the Holy Scriptures, the faithful man is perfectly well assured of the mercy of God.”5 But there is something else that teaches us about divine mercy: “As often as we do feel the mercy of God, either in ourselves, either in others, let us acknowledge his goodness, and confess that thereby there is declared how good God is, not how just and good we be.” 6Indeed, the believer in Christ “is also most certainly persuaded by sure process and trials, declared not only in others, but also in himself, that God of his nature is good, loving towards man, merciful, meek, pitiful, and ready to forgive.”7
Musculus draws attention to David who was particularly noted for crying out to God for mercy: “Let the reader mark how much David did make use of the commendation of God’s mercy.” “You shall hardly find one that did with such boldness, and so often, cry upon the mercy of God, as he did.”8 David, though, was not an isolated case. “Holy men and prophets,” Musculus reminds us, “did flee to the mercy of God, in which matter there is prescribed also a rule over unto us, which have much more need than they had of the grace of God’s mercy.”9 We must remember that our God does not have a cold heart of stone: “If we ask for the works of God’s mercy, they pass all number, like as there is no number of our miseries, calamities, afflictions, needs, and necessities.”10
The Foundation of Divine Mercy
Musculus reflects upon the cause of the mercy of God toward mankind in our misery. He notes that we as humans can have compassion upon another person who is suffering because we have the same human nature with the same kind of afflictions and difficulties in life. God, though, has a divine nature, something completely different than what we have: “There is no cause of mercy in God, which can come of any communicating of nature, condition, life, and estate with us.” What then is the cause of his mercy? Musculus states, “He has no other cause of his mercy, but his incomparable goodness of nature.”11
Musculus appeals to Titus 3 in support of his position that divine goodness is the underlying reality that leads to divine mercy. This, without question, is a central biblical text regarding the real bedrock of our salvation. Paul declares concerning God: “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy” (Titus 3:5). Our salvation, argues the apostle, cannot be grounded upon our good deeds and decent behavior. No matter how careful we may be in constructing a life of personal goodness and integrity, one undeniable fact remains—our foundation will always be cracked with omissions and inconsistencies. Imperfection cannot bring justification, the declaration by God that all is well and his law has been fulfilled. The Lord demands that we “abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them” (Gal. 3:10). Scripture insists upon absolute and complete obedience. For fallen man, weak through the flesh (Rom. 8:3), the command of perfect love exceeds what we can do. This is why our salvation is tied to the mercy of God. It is our only hope.
The basis of eternal life is not to be found in human achievement. The saving hand of the Almighty extended to us in our desperate need is not because of merit. It is grounded rather on what God is in himself—full of compassion towards man in his broken condition: “But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, He saved us” (Titus 3:4). Mercy from God is founded upon the simple fact that unbounded goodness resides in the divine nature.
Our God Is Good
Let us remember in the midst of the trials, difficulties, and sorrows of life in a fallen world that we may ever call upon the mercy of God to be our help. May we recognize that the mercy of the Lord is based upon his infinite goodness, kindness, and love. Jesus drew attention to the core of the divine nature in a striking statement: “No one is good but One, that is, God” (Matt. 19:17). Musculus would certainly have agreed with the Zurich reformer Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531) who commented on Jesus’ statement: “In these words we see that God alone is good in the sense of being an absolutely and perfectly good being.” “The things which are called good, as ‘all that he has made was very good,’ and ‘every creation of God’s is good,’ are good not by nature but . . . by derivation.”12 John Calvin (1509–1564), a contemporary of Musculus and Zwingli, had the same perspective concerning the divine and human natures—infinite goodness is found in God and great dependence and need is our ongoing condition. The gospel invites to pray as Calvin did: “Now let us cast ourselves down before the face of our good God, acknowledging our sins, beseeching him so to cleanse us by his Holy Spirit that, vile and impure though we are, he may remake us as living stones in his temple.”13
Dr. Mark J. Larson
Warrenville, SC
1 Two Musculus scholars are Craig S. Farmer and Jordan J. Ballor. Dr. Farmer wrote The Gospel of John in the Sixteenth Century: The Johannine Exegesis of Wolfgang Musculus (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997). Dr. Ballor published Covenant, Causality, and Law: A Study in the Theology of Wolfgang Musculus (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012).
2 This volume is available online at the Post-Reformation Digital Library (PRDL). I have provided contemporary spelling for the 1563 English translation.
3 Wolfgang Musculus, Commonplaces of the Christian Religion (London: R. Woulfe, 1563), 411b.
4 Musculus, Commonplaces of the Christian Religion, 412a.
5 Musculus, Commonplaces of the Christian Religion, 412b.
6 Musculus, Commonplaces of the Christian Religion, 414a.
7 Musculus, Commonplaces of the Christian Religion, 412a.
8 Musculus, Commonplaces of the Christian Religion, 412a.
9 Musculus, Commonplaces of the Christian Religion, 412ab.
10 Musculus, Commonplaces of the Christian Religion, 414b.
11 Musculus, Commonplaces of the Christian Religion, 414.
12 Ulrich Zwingli, On Providence and Other Essays, ed. William John Hinke (Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 1999), 131.
13 John Calvin, Sermons on the Beatitudes, trans. Robert White (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2006), 16.
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