What is common grace?

Answer

The concept of common grace relates to God’s sovereign grace bestowed upon all humanity regardless of their election. In essence, God has always shown His grace to all individuals worldwide at all times. While the idea of common grace has consistently been evident in Scripture, it was in 1924 that the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) officially embraced the doctrine of common grace at the Synod of Kalamazoo (Michigan) and articulated what is now known as the “three points of common grace.”

The first point concerns God’s favorable disposition towards all His creations, not just the chosen ones. “The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made” «The LORD is good to all: And his tender mercies are over all his works. », (Psalm 145:9). Jesus affirmed that God makes “his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” «that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. », (Matthew 5:45), and God “is kind to the ungrateful and wicked” «But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. », (Luke 6:35). Barnabas and Paul later echoed this sentiment: “He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy” «Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons. », (Acts 14:17).

, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” , (Acts 14:17). In addition to His compassion, goodness, and kindness, God also bestows His patience upon both the elect and the non-elect. While God’s patience for His own is undoubtedly different from His patience with those whom He has not chosen, God still exercises “longsuffering” toward those whom He has not chosen “The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.” , (Nahum 1:3). Every breath that the wicked man takes is an example of the mercy of our holy God.

The second point of common grace is the restraint of sin in the life of the individual and in society. Scripture records God directly intervening and restraining individuals from sinning. In Genesis 20, God restrained Abimelech from touching Sarah, Abraham’s wife, and affirmed it to him in a dream by saying, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her” “And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.” , (Genesis 20:6). Another example of God restraining the wicked hearts of evil men is seen in God’s protection of the land of Israel from being invaded by the pagan nations on their border. God commanded the men of Israel that three times a year they would leave their plot of land to go and appear before Him “Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.” , (Exodus 34:23). To ensure the protection of God’s people from invasion during those times, even though the pagan nations surrounding them desired their land year-round, God promised that “no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the Lord your God” «For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year. », (Exodus 34:24). God also restrained David from taking revenge on Nabal for scorning the messengers that David sent to greet Nabal «But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them. », (1 Samuel 25:14). Abigail, Nabal’s wife, recognized God’s grace when she pleaded with David not to seek vengeance against her husband, “since the Lord has kept you, my master, from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands…” «Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. », (1 Samuel 25:26). David acknowledged this truth by responding, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you…” «For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. », (1 Samuel 25

:34).

This second point of common grace not only includes God’s restraining of evil but also His sovereignly releasing it for His purposes. When God hardens the hearts of individuals (Exodus 4:21; Joshua 11:20; Isaiah 63:17), He does so by releasing His restraint on their hearts, thereby giving them over to the sin that resides there. In His punishment of Israel for their rebellion, God gave “them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices” (Psalm 81:11-12). The passage of Scripture best known for speaking of God’s releasing of restraint is found in Romans 1 where Paul describes those who suppress the truth by their wickedness. God “gave them over to the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another” «And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; », (Romans 1:28).

The third point of common grace as adopted by the CRC pertains to “civic righteousness by the unregenerate.” This means that God, without renewing the heart, exercises such influence that even the unsaved man is enabled to perform good deeds toward his fellow man. As Paul said of a group of unregenerate Gentiles, they “do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law” «For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: », (Romans 2:14). The necessity of God restraining the hearts of the unredeemed becomes clear when we understand the biblical doctrine of tTotal depravity. If God did not restrain the evil that resides in the hearts of all individuals, hearts which are “deceitful and desperately wicked” «The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? », (Jeremiah 17:9), humanity would have destroyed itself centuries ago. But because He works through common grace given to all people, God’s sovereign plan for history is not thwarted by their evil hearts. In the doctrine of common grace, we see God’s purposes stand, His people blessed, and His glory magnified.