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common grace, without which some of the others would not be conceivable. The following
fruits may be mentioned here:
1. THE EXECUTION OF THE SENTENCE IS STAYED.
God pronounced the sentence of death on
the sinner. Speaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He said. “In the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Man did eat of it, and the sentence went into
execution to a certain extent, but clearly was not fully executed at once. It is due to common
grace that God did not at once fully execute the sentence of death on the sinner, and does not
do so now, but maintains and prolongs the natural life of man and gives him time for
repentance. He does not at once cut short the life of the sinner, but affords him an opportunity
to repent, thereby removing all excuse and justifying the coming manifestation of His wrath
upon those who persist in sin unto the end. That God acts on this principle is abundantly
evident from such passages as Isa. 48:9; Jer. 7:23-25; Luke 13:6-9; Rom. 2:4; 9:22; II Peter 3:9.
2. THE RESTRAINT OF SIN.
Through the operation of common grace sin is restrained in the lives
of individuals and in society. The element of corruption that entered the life of the human race
is not permitted, for the present, to accomplish its disintegrating work. Calvin says: “But we
ought to consider that, notwithstanding the corruption of our nature, there is some room for
divine grace, such grace as, without purifying it, may lay it under internal restraint. For, did the
Lord let every mind loose to wanton in its lusts, doubtless there is not a man who would not
show that his nature is capable of all the crimes with which Paul charges it, (Rom. 3 compared
with Ps. 14:3 ff).”[Inst. II. 3,3.] This restraint may be external or internal or both, but does not
change the heart. There are passages of Scripture which speak of a striving of the Spirit of God
with men which does not lead to repentance, Gen. 6:3; Isa. 63:10; Acts 7:51; of operations of
the Spirit that are finally withdrawn, I Sam. 16:14; Heb. 6:4-6; and of the fact that in some cases
God finally gives up men to the lusts of their own hearts, Ps. 81:12; Rom. 1:24,26,28. In addition
to the preceding passages there are some which are clearly indicative of the fact that God
restrains sin in various ways, such as Gen. 20:6; 31:7; Job 1:12; 2:6; II Kings 19:27,28; Rom. 13:1-
4.
3. THE PRESERVATION OF SOME SENSE OF TRUTH, MORALITY AND RELIGION.
It is due to
common grace that man still retains some sense of the true, the good, and the beautiful, often
appreciates these to a rather surprising degree, and reveals a desire for truth, for external
morality, and even for certain forms of religion. Paul speaks of Gentiles who “show the work of
the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts
one with another accusing or else excusing them,” Rom. 2:15, and even says of those who gave
free vent to their wicked lives that they knew the truth of God, though they hindered the truth
in unrighteousness and exchanged it for a lie, Rom. 1:18-25. To the Athenians, who were devoid