Basic HTML Version
418
d. Special grace works in a spiritual and re-creative way, renewing the whole nature of man,
and thus making man able and willing to accept the offer of salvation in Jesus Christ, and to
produce spiritual fruits. Common grace, to the contrary, operates only in a rational and moral
way by making man in a general way receptive for the truth, by presenting motives to the will,
and by appealing to the natural desires of man. This is equivalent to saying that special (saving)
grace is immediate and supernatural, since it is wrought directly in the soul by the immediate
energy of the Holy Spirit, while common grace is mediate, since it is the product of the mediate
operation of the Holy Spirit through the truth of general or special revelation and by moral
persuasion.
This conception of common grace should be carefully distinguished from that of the Arminians,
who regard common grace as a link in the ordo salutis and ascribe to it saving significance. They
hold that, in virtue of the common grace of God, the unregenerate man is perfectly able to
perform a certain measure of spiritual good, to turn to God in faith and repentance, and thus to
accept Jesus unto salvation. They go even farther than that, and maintain that common grace
by the illumination of the mind and the persuasive influence of the truth incites the sinner to
accept Jesus Christ and to turn to God in faith and repentance, and will certainly achieve this
end, unless the sinner obstinately resists the operation of the Holy Spirit. The Canons of Dort
have this in mind where they reject the error of those who teach “that the corrupt and natural
man can so well use the common grace (by which they understand the light of nature), or the
gifts still left him after the fall, that he can gradually gain by their good use a greater, that is, the
evangelical or saving grace, and salvation itself.”[III-IV. Rejection of errors 5.]
C. COMMON GRACE AND THE ATONING WORK OF CHRIST.
The question naturally arises, whether the manifestation of common grace is in any way
connected with the atoning work of Christ. As far as we know, Dr. Kuyper does not posit such a
connection. According to him Christ as the Mediator of creation, the light that lighteth every
man coming into the world, is the source of common grace. This means that the blessings of
common grace flow from the work of creation. But this hardly suffices to answer the question,
how it is to be explained that a holy and just God extends grace to, and bestows favors upon,
sinners who have forfeited everything, even when they have no share in the righteousness of
Christ and prove finally impenitent. The question is exactly, How can God continue to bestow
those blessings of creation on men who are under the sentence of death and condemnation?
As far as the elect are concerned this question is answered by the cross of Christ, but how
about the reprobate? Perhaps it can be said that it is not necessary to assume a specific judicial
basis for the bestowal of common grace on man in view of the fact (a) that it does not remove
the guilt of sin and therefore does not carry pardon with it; and (b) that it does not lift the