 Otto states that the response to the mysterium tremendum is not necessarily moral and explains this by saying that the emotion does not necessarily posit God as a moral judge or law-giver. But compassion does seem to be necessarily moral, though it is true that the idea of God as judge or law-giver is not particularly in the picture. The moral attribute of God that is quite directly posited by the emotion is that of mercy or compassion. The sufferer is construed as one with whom Christ has identified and for whom Christ has suffered. The other two emotions that we have looked at are also essentially moral: contrition is a construal of oneself as morally at fault and spoiled, and here the idea of God as judge is involved; and gratitude, as a construal of oneself as indebted for a gift, has reference to a kind of justice (though it is clearly not standard retributive justice [see Roberts 2004]).