God's Two Attributes
But he is far from representing strict justice as the only attribute of God: in agreement with the ancient Israel theology of the מדת הדין, "the attribute of justice", and מדת הרחמים, "the attribute of mercy" (Gen. R. xii., end; the χαριστική and κολαστική of Philo, Quis Rer. Div. Heres, 34 Mangey, i. 496), he teaches that God combines goodness and mercy with strict justice (Ḥag. 14a). Hence his maxim, referred to above, "God rules the world in mercy, but according to the preponderance of good or bad in human acts."
Read more about this topic: Akiva Ben Joseph
Famous quotes containing the words god and/or attributes:
“I do not object to Gladstone’s always having the ace of trumps up his sleeve, but only to his pretence that God had put it there.”
—Henry Labouchere (1831–1912)
“Even though fathers, grandparents, siblings, memories of ancestors are important agents of socialization, our society focuses on the attributes and characteristics of mothers and teachers and gives them the ultimate responsibility for the child’s life chances.”
—Sara Lawrence Lightfoot (20th century)