Mercy implies the imperfection of the object upon which it is bestowed. Because of man’s imperfection, mercy was brought into active existence. Sin is not the object of God’s love, but of His hatred. Yet He pities the sinner, because the guilty one bears the Creator’s image and has received from Him the capabilities that make it possible for him to become a son of God, not through his own merits, but through the imputed merits of Jesus Christ, through the great sacrifice the Saviour has made in his behalf.... (TMK 46.4) MC VC