Quaestio disputanda

Divine mercy does not entail an act on God's part different from divine justice. For God offers to every human person a share in his nature (2 Peter 1:4), which we do not deserve. That is mercy inasmuch as it takes away sin, which we could never do for ourselves. The saved are those who freely and definitively accept that offer on his terms; the damned are those who freely and definitively choose to suffer rather than accept it on his terms. Both outcomes are just, but God does nothing different for the damned than for the saved. Hence on God's part, mercy and justice are the same act. But they constitute outcomes different from each other, the difference being dependent on how we choose to react to the one divine act.

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