DOCTRINE OF "COMMON" GRACE
QUESTION-What is common grace?
Answer: The doctrine of common grace pertains to the sovereign grace of God bestowed upon all of mankind regardless of their election. In other words, God has always bestowed His graciousness on all people in all parts of the earth at all time. Although the doctrine of common grace has always been clear in Scripture, in 1924, the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) adopted the doctrine of common grace at the Synod of Kalamazoo (Michigan) and formulated what is known as the "three points of common grace."
1. The first point pertains to the favorable attitude of God toward all His creatures, not only toward the elect. "The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made" (Ps. 145:9). Jesus said God causes "his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Mt. 5:45) and God "is kind to the ungrateful and wicked" (Lk. 6:35). Barnabas and Paul would later say the same thing: "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" (Acts 14:17). In addition to His compassion, goodness, and kindness, God also sheds 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 (Nahum 1:3). Every breath that the wicked man takes is an example of the mercy of our holy God.
2. 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 Gen. 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" (Gen. 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 (Ex. 34:23). To ensure the protection of God's people from invasion during these 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" (Ex. 34:24). God also restrained David from taking revenge on Nabal for scorning the messengers that David sent to greet Nabal (1 Sam. 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..." (1 Sam. 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..." (1 Sam. 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 (Ex. 4:21; Josh. 11:20; Isa. 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" (Ps. 81:11-12). The passage of Scripture best known for speaking of God's releasing of restraint is found in Rom. 1 where Paul describes those who suppress the truth by their wickedness. God "gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another" (Rom. 1:28).
3. 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" (Rom. 2:14). The necessity of God restraining the hearts of the unredeemed becomes clear when we understand the biblical doctrine of total depravity. If God did not restrain the evil that resides in the hearts of all men, hearts which are "deceitful and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9), humanity would have destroyed itself centuries ago. But because He works through common grace given to all men, 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.
SYNOPSIS OF JOHN WESLEY'S TEACHINGS ON GRACE.
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, described God's grace as threefold:
Prevenient Grace
Wesley understood grace as God's active presence in our lives. This presence is not dependent on human actions or human response. It is a gift - a gift that is always available, but that can be refused.
God's grace stirs up within us a desire to know God and empowers us to respond to God's invitation to be in relationship with God. God's grace enables us to discern differences between good and evil and makes it possible for us to choose good....
God takes the initiative in relating to humanity. We do not have to beg and plead for God's love and grace. God actively seeks us!1
Justifying Grace
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: "In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them" (2 Cor. 5:19). And in his letter to the Roman Christians, Paul wrote: "But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8).
These verses demonstrate the justifying grace of God. They point to reconciliation, pardon, and restoration. Through the work of God in Christ our sins are forgiven, and our relationship with God is restored. According to John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, the image of God - which has been distorted by sin - is renewed within us through Christ's death.
Again, this dimension of God's grace is a gift. God's grace alone brings us into relationship with God. There are no hoops through which we have to jump in order to please God and to be loved by God. God has acted in Jesus Christ. We need only to respond in faith.1
Conversion
This process of salvation involves a change in us that we call conversion. Conversion is a turning around, leaving one orientation for another. It may be sudden and dramatic, or gradual and cumulative. But in any case, it's a new beginning. Following Jesus' words to Nicodemus, "You must be born anew" (John 3:7 RSV), we speak of this conversion as rebirth, new life in Christ, or regeneration.
Following Paul and Luther, John Wesley called this process justification. Justification is what happens when Christians abandon all those vain attempts to justify themselves before God, to be seen as "just" in God's eyes through religious and moral practices. It's a time when God's "justifying grace" is experienced and accepted, a time of pardon and forgiveness, of new peace and joy and love. Indeed, we're justified by God's grace through faith.
Justification is also a time of repentance - turning away from behaviors rooted in sin and toward actions that express God's love. In this conversion we can expect to receive assurance of our present salvation through the Holy Spirit "bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Rom. 8:16).2
Sanctifying Grace
Salvation is not a static, one-time event in our lives. It is the ongoing experience of God's gracious presence transforming us into whom God intends us to be. John Wesley described this dimension of God's grace as sanctification, or holiness.1
Through God's sanctifying grace, we grow and mature in our ability to live as Jesus lived. As we pray, study the Scriptures, fast, worship, and share in fellowship with other Christians, we deepen our knowledge of and love for God. As we respond with compassion to human need and work for justice in our communities, we strengthen our capacity to love neighbor. Our inner thoughts and motives, as well as our outer actions and behavior, are aligned with God's will and testify to our union with God. 1
We're to press on, with God's help, in the path of sanctification toward perfection. By perfection, Wesley did not mean that we would not make mistakes or have weaknesses. Rather, he understood it to be a continual process of being made perfect in our love of God and each other and of removing our desire to sin.3
Faith and Good Works
Wesley insists that faith and good works belong together. What we believe must be confirmed by what we do. Personal salvation must be expressed in ministry and mission in the world. We believe that Christian doctrine and Christian ethics are inseparable, that faith should inspire service. The integration of personal piety and social holiness has been a hallmark of our tradition. We affirm the biblical precept that "faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead" (James 2:17).4
