"Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment"

Judgment without mercy will be shown to those who are not merciful, James 2:12-13 says, and mercy triumphs over judgment.  What do these statements mean and not mean?  Often, this passage could go unnoticed/forgotten or would be misunderstood to mean that mercy is morally superior to judgment, even rationalistic, morally valid judgment.  Also relevant but both unbiblical and independently logically false is the idea that judgment itself is evil.  Not only is this logically impossible—truth is what mercy would hinge on, so mercy could not be more important than core philosophical truths, including the obligations of justice, and that which is evil should be judged—but the Bible itself teaches otherwise.  Judgment is not ever problematic in itself (John 7:24).  It is impossible to not judge people unless one has no worldview, which is itself impossible.  Only hypocritical or otherwise irrationalistic judgment could be erroneous (Matthew 7:1-5).

Divine mercy that is accepted through repentance and commitment does triumph over divine judgment in that to receive mercy, one must have slipped into an avoidable error that is not being punished as it deserves.  To be "saved" at all, one must be granted what one does not deserve.  In this sense, yes, mercy triumphs over judgment when it is given, and this is a core part of Christian philosophy.  Nevertheless, mercy cannot be obligatory, and the Bible does not actually teach that it is, for humans or for God (if it did, all parts of the Bible saying such a thing would by logical necessity be false because justice is mandatory and mercy is the suspension of justice).  God could have thus never shown mercy to anyone and still been inherently perfect.  Justice, if it exists, is obligatory, and legitimate mercy is the optional suspension of justice not out of emotionalism, but out of love or the hope that someone will repent.

It is also true that mercy is not God's default standing towards someone because his very nature grounds justice.  Most people will still voluntarily walk in irrationalism, self-imposed blindness, and philosophical apathy down the path that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14), and to forcibly show them mercy—not just giving them another chance for repentance in this life or the next, but choosing to exempt them from just punishment of the second death no matter their desires—is unjust.  Yahweh's justice very clearly is what awaits most people according to the Bible, so mercy cannot triumph over judgment in a universalist or anti-moralistic way.

Again, it is not in the sense of all willing recipients of God's mercy being spared from the torment and annihilation that they deserve.  Mercy should not be the sole default for people in that they should always be ready to enact justice even if they do not want to, down to the execution of anyone who commits the capital sins Yahweh specifies in the Torah.  It is just that mercy, by nature, can only be shown when punitive justice is withheld, and this is what happens when people seek reason, God, and morality in repentance for whatever errors they have chosen.  By repentance and commitment to Yahweh/Christ, commitment (which is not epistemological faith as many irrationally believe) requiring the former to at least some degree in order to be genuine at all, people pass from death to life (John 5:24).

Theirs is not the second death, the fate of being purged from existence as beings unwilling to abandon their philosophical/moral flaws deserve (Romans 6:23).  Theirs is eternal life that can only be found, according to the actual statements of the Bible, by receiving it from the only being that in itself lives forever, that being Yahweh (1 Timothy 6:15-16).  The true Biblical doctrine about mercy is like the rationalistic truths about mercy that are there independent of whether Christianity is true: this doctrine is nuanced and important but in some ways so very simple.  It is logically impossible for mercy to be obligatory.  Mercy can still be morally good.  God is merciful, and he is just; the latter aspect of his character is obviously the more significant and foundational one.  There is still mercy that triumphs over judgment for all who are willing.