What is mercy? How does it differ from grace? The two terms are frequently synonymous; but where there is a distinction between the two, it appears that grace is a loving response when love is undeserved, and mercy is a loving response prompted by the misery and helplessness of the one whom love is showered upon. Grace answers to the undeserving; mercy answers to the miserable.
D A Carson, "A Study of Matthew 5-10", page 29
