Our Role in God’s Kingdom Part 6
This past Sunday we looked at the last two of the seven gifts Paul listed in Romans 12:
Many people believe that Compassion (or Mercy) is the most frequently distributed gift of all. Does that line up with your experience? Have you ever received the ministry of someone gifted with compassion?
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2 Comments
by Bruce
On February 11, 2009
Steve
You use compassion and mercy interchangeably, I was wondering if there is difference was between the two. In Romans 9:15 Paul is using two separate Greek works and they are also translated differently ‘eleeo’ is used for mercy and ‘oikteiro’ for compassion, where in Romans 12:8 ‘eleeo’ is used. So what is the actual distinction that Paul is saying in Romans 9:15?
by Pastor Steve
On February 12, 2009
Bruce,
Good observation. Yes, there are two different Greek words in Romans 9:15 which are often translated “mercy” and “compassion”.
These two words are synonyms—there is little to no difference in meaning between them. The Old Testament passage which Paul quoted is a good example of synonymous parallelism: a poetic device whereby the second line emphasizes the same message of the first using different terms or images.
Our English words “Compassion” and “Mercy” could be used to translate either of those Greek words interchangeably—the meaning is the same.