In this way, mercy is, in a certain sense, contrasted with divine justice and is revealed, in many cases, not only more powerful than it, but also more profound. The Old Testament already teaches that, although justice is an authentic virtue in man, and in God signifies transcendent perfection, love is nevertheless "greater" than it: it is greater in the sense that it is primary and fundamental. Love, so to speak, conditions justice, and, ultimately, justice serves charity. The primacy and superiority of love over justice (this is characteristic of all revelation) are manifested precisely through mercy. This seemed so clear to the psalmists and prophets that the very term "justice" came to mean the salvation achieved by the Lord and his mercy. Mercy differs from justice, but does not conflict with it, if we admit in human history—as the Old Testament does—the presence of God, who already as Creator has bound himself with a particular love to his creature. Love, by its very nature, excludes hatred and the desire for evil toward the one to whom it has once given itself as a gift: Nihil odisti eorum quae fecisti, "You despise nothing of what you have created." These words indicate the profound foundation of the relationship between justice and mercy in God, in his relations with humanity and the world. They tell us that we must seek the life-giving roots and intimate reasons for this relationship by going back to the "beginning," in the very mystery of creation. And already in the context of the Old Covenant, they foretell the full revelation of God, who "is love."
