Justice and Mercy are the Same in the Wisdom of God?

The Wonders of the Justice of God--St. Ephrem the Syrian Nisibis XI

In traditional spiritual writers, very often the justice of God is made to seem opposed and contrary to the mercy of God.  Often we think of the two attributes in the sense of a scale.  God, in other words, may grant us mercy (gifts which we have no right to receive) but ultimately His justice is going to have to be satisfied as well.  In the Christian West this dichotomy between God’s mercy and justice gives rise to the belief in “temporal punishment” the temporary punishment which a soul must under go in Purgatory in order to satisfy the justice of God, even though God has forgiven the sins of the individual in question.  In this way of thinking there is clearly a wide divide between the Lord’s mercy and His justice. 

Some readers who are very well read in the sciences may be aware of a thing known as the Unified Field Theory.  The idea behind this theory (as yet unproven) is that all the various kinds of energy that we experience in the world are in fact the same, even though they may seem different in nature.  Well, in a similar way, Our Holy Father Ephrem the Syrian has a Unified Grace Theory.  He believes, and argues persuasively that the justice and mercy of God are in fact the same.  His argument is one from experience.  All of us are qualified to make similar observations from our experience too, since all of us have experienced the justice and mercy of God in our individual lives. This is the way that he describes his own knowledge from experience:

Thy chastening is, as a mother of our infancy:-- her rebuke is merciful, in that thou has restrained,-- the children from folly, and they have been made wise.  Glory be to thy justice.

2. Let us search out Thy justice: for who is sufficient-- to measure its help? since by it the wanton are oftentimes made chaste.

In other words, St. Ephrem is observing that the

vice of lust has often been corrected by God taking action, perhaps in his own life, or in others he has known. How many other vices are cured that we know of by the action of what Ephrem is referring to as justice?

We cannot help but think that, in many ways, what Ephrem is describing has more in common with what we call “mercy.” Nevertheless, it becomes more and more clear as we continue to read that Ephrem’s “justice” is definitely a “tough love”. 

Oftentimes Thy hand, O my Lord, has made the sick whole,--for it is the healer in secret of their diseases,--and the fount of their life.

4. Exceeding gently, the finger of Thy justice, in love and compassion, touches the wounds of him that is to be healed.

5. Exceeding mild and merciful, is her cutting to him that is wise: her sharp remedy, in its mighty love, consumes the corrupt part.

Here we have Ephrem referring to the justice of God as a surgeon.  Often in the Eastern Christian tradition Christ is referred to as “The Divine Physician” but here we have Ephrem extending that metaphor even further.  Here, God in His justice is the surgeon excising the cancerous tumor. 

6. Exceeding welcome her wrath, to him who is discerning: but her remedies are hateful to the fool who has delight in the trouble of his limbs.

Being able to discern the loving actions of God, especially in the sufferings of our life is a sign of the wisdom from God.  The sort of discernment that Ephrem is talking about is a gift, and if we do not have it (if we are the fool that Ephrem is referring to) or if we have it only intermittently, then we need to pray for the gift of that discernment.  God has a loving design for our lives.  Because of our many sins and disorders that loving design has much to do with unpleasant treatment at the hand of God.  It would be easy for us (without discernment) to become convinced that the Divine Physician and Surgeon hates us and in fact wants to destroy us.  Having received the gift of discernment, we are able to see God’s loving design. Ephrem teaches us to be glad for our sufferings: “a cause of negligence is Thy indulgence to the careless; a cause of profit is Thy rod among the slothful--so that they become as seasoned merchants.--