10 Reformed Theologians on Common Grace

A Word from Bob

Two years ago I began sharing posts where I collated quotes from Reformed theologians regarding common grace. I’ve wanted to collate those quotes into one blog post. Here it is. (Please note that each author wrote comprehensively on common grace. Even in a lengthy blog post, I am only able to provide samplers from each theologian.)

Here are links to the original posts.

Here’s the order in which you’ll find the quotes below:

John Calvin
Herman Bavinck
Cornelius Van Til
Abraham Kuyper (More to Come Soon on Kuyper and Common Grace)
David Powlison
Charles Hodge
John Murray
John Frame
Tim Keller
R .C. Sproul

Introducing “Common Grace”

In Reformed Christian theology, unregenerate persons are totally depraved and all of their thinking is seen as under the noetic (mind) impact of sin and fallenness.

Yet, also in Reformed thinking, the unregenerate/unsaved person can make valid contributions to society, culture, the arts, research, science, and more.

How can these two truths be held together at one time?

The Reformed doctrine of common grace explains how we can hold to both truths. It also explains how to engage with and evaluate common grace resources using the lens/spectacles of God’s all-sufficient Word.

Reformed Theologian #1: John Calvin

The Reformer, John Calvin, insisted that it is the Spirit of God who establishes all human competence in arts and sciences “for the common good of mankind” and that common grace is a tool given by God that should not be neglected. In the Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin taught that the Bible draws a distinction between God’s special or saving grace and His common or non-saving grace.

Calvin on the Unbelieving Mind

Calvin described the capacity for goodness in the non-Christian as a gift from God. He said that an unbelieving mind:

“Though fallen and perverted from its wholeness, is nevertheless clothed and ornamented with God’s excellent gifts” (Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.2.15).

Regarding “understanding,” Calvin wrote:

“When we so condemn human understanding for its perpetual blindness as to leave it no perception of any object whatever, we not only go against God’s Word, but also run counter to the experience of common sense” (Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, II.ii.12).

While a weakened human understanding stumbles around, according to Calvin:

“Its efforts do not always become so worthless as to have no effect, especially when it turns its attention to things below” (Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, II.ii.13).

Here, Calvin hints at the distinction that clarifies much of his thinking on this subject. He then explained himself more fully:

“To perceive more clearly how far the mind can proceed in any matter according to the degree of its ability, we must here set forth a distinction. This, then, is the distinction: that there is one kind of understanding of earthly things; another of heavenly” (Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, II.ii.13). (Note: Among “earthly things” Calvin includes government, household management, mechanical skills, and the liberal arts and sciences. Among the “heavenly things” are the pure knowledge of God, the nature of true righteousness, and the mysteries of the kingdom (Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, II.ii.13).

Similarly, the Canons of Dort explain,

“There remain, however, in man since the fall, the glimmerings of natural light, whereby he retains some knowledge of God, of natural things, and of the differences between good and evil, and discovers some regard for virtue, good order in society, and for maintaining an orderly external deportment.”

Calvin on the Knowledge of Earthly Things

According to Calvin, despite the Fall, unbelievers can come to a knowledge of earthly things, and he provides numerous examples. Regarding knowledge of the sciences, he wrote:

“Those men whom Scripture (1 Corinthians 2:14) calls ‘natural men’ were, indeed, sharp and penetrating in their investigation of inferior things” (Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, II.ii.15).

In the next section, he continued along the same lines, even more forcefully admonishing Christians not to neglect the scientific studies of the ungodly:

“But if the Lord has willed that we be helped in physics, dialectic, mathematics, and other like disciplines, by the work and ministry of the ungodly, let us use this assistance. For if we neglect God’s gift freely offered in these arts, we ought to suffer just punishment for our sloths” (Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, II.ii.16).

Calvin on “The Ministry of the Ungodly”

Similarly, Calvin made a startling case, in his Institutes (Beveridge ed.), 2.2.15–16, for Christians availing themselves of “the work and ministry of the ungodly”:

“Therefore, in reading profane authors, the admirable light of truth displayed in them should remind us that the human mind, however much fallen and perverted from its original integrity, is still adorned and invested with admirable gifts from its Creator. If we reflect that the Spirit of God is the only fountain of truth, we will be careful, as we would avoid offering insult to him, not to reject or condemn truth wherever it appears…. If the Lord has been pleased to assist us by the work and ministry of the ungodly in physics, dialectics, mathematics, and other similar sciences, let us avail ourselves of it.”

In his Commentary on Titus, speaking of Paul’s positive use of a non-Christian philosopher in Titus 1:12, Calvin explains:

“From this passage we may infer that those persons are superstitious, who do not venture to borrow anything from heathen authors. All truth is from God; and consequently, if wicked men have said anything that is true and just, we ought not to reject it; for it has come from God. Besides, all things are of God; and, therefore, why should it not be lawful to dedicate to his glory everything that can properly be employed for such a purpose?”

Calvin on Understanding

According to Calvin, the light of intelligence is also to be regarded as a divine grace and its power is discussed extensively in the Institutes at II: 2.12-15. For example:

“While men dispute about individual sections of the law, they agree on the general conception of equity. The fact remains that some seed of political order has been implanted in all men” (II: 2.13).

“Hardly anyone is found who does not manifest talent in some art” (2: 17).

“If we regard the Spirit of God as the sole foundation of truth, we shall not despise it wherever it shall appear. Shall we deny that the truth shone in the ancient jurists? Shall we say they are insane who developed medicine? Shall we consider (mathematics) the ravings of madmen?” (II: 2.14).

“Whenever we come upon these matters in secular writers, let that admirable light of truth shining in them teach us that the mind of man through fallen and perverted from its wholeness, is nevertheless clothed and ornamented with God’s excellent gifts…. Shall we deny that the truth shone upon the ancient jurists who established civic order and discipline with such great equity? Shall we say that the philosophers were blind in their find observations and artful descriptions of nature? Shall we say that those men were devoid of understanding who conceived the art of disputation and taught us to speak reasonably? Shall we say that they are insane who developed medicine, devoting their labor to our benefit? What shall we say of all the mathematical sciences? Shall we consider them the ravings of madmen? No, we cannot read the writings of the ancients on these subjects without great admiration. We marvel at them because we are compelled to recognized how preeminent they are…. Those men whom Scripture (1 Cor. 2:14) calls ‘natural men’ were, indeed, sharp and penetrating in their investigation of inferior things. Let us, accordingly, learn by their example how many gifts the Lord left to human nature even after it was despoiled of its true good” (Calvin, Institutes, II: 2.15, 273-275).

“If the Spirit dwells only in believers, this refers to the Spirit of Sanctification. Nevertheless, he fills, moves and quickens all things by the power of the same Spirit. If the Lord has willed that we be helped in physics, dialectic, mathematics and other like disciplines by the work of the ungodly—let us own this assistance” (II: 2.16).

Of course, for Calvin, much more confined is humanity’s understanding of heavenly things. However, Calvin explained:

“Certainly I do not deny that one can read competent and apt statements about God here and there in the philosophers. The Lord gave them a slight taste of His divinity—sometimes impelled them to make utterances by the confession of which they would themselves be corrected. But their seeing did not direct them to the truth, much less enable them to attain it” (II: 2.18).

In his Commentary on Hebrews, while Calvin clearly distinguishes from the regenerate and reprobate mind, he still commends God’s work in the minds of the unbeliever:

“God indeed favors none but the elect alone with the Spirit of regeneration, and that by this they are distinguished from the reprobate; for they are renewed after his image and receive the earnest of the Spirit in hope of the future inheritance, and by the same Spirit the Gospel is sealed in their hearts. But I cannot admit that all this is any reason why He should not grant the reprobate also some taste of his grace, why He should not irradiate their minds with some sparks of his light, why he should not give them some perception of his goodness, and in some sort engrave his word on their hearts.”

In his Commentary on Genesis, Calvin noted how Cain’s descendants distinguished themselves in animal husbandry, music, and metallurgy: Jabal fathered “those who live in tents and raise livestock, while Jubal “was the father of all who play the harp and flute” and Tubal-Cain “forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron” (Gen 4:20-21). Calvin elaborates on this:

Moses now relates that, with the evils which proceeded from the family of Cain, some good had been blended. For the invention of arts, and of other things which serve to the common use and convenience of life, is a gift of God by no means to be despised, and a faculty worthy of commendation.

John Calvin: “Integrationist”???

No. I do not think John Calvin was an integrationist, even though, as we’ll see in today’s post, Calvin valued and used common grace insights from non-believers.

Some biblical counselors are using the word “integrationist” (or “neo-integrationist”) to describe fellow biblical counselors who value and use common grace insights. Like Calvin, many biblical counselors are using God’s Word as the lens or spectacles to assess and evaluate whether or not a given common grace insight—whether descriptive research, scientific research, neuroscience research, etc.—is potentially valid and helpful. Yet, they are being characterized as “integrationists.”

Re-reading John Calvin on the use of extra-biblical sources has me thinking:

If you took Calvin’s name out of his quotes on the validity of extra-biblical common grace sources, some modern biblical counselors would shout: “Calvin is an integrationist!”

If you took Calvin’s name out of his actual positive use of non-Christian sources like Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics, some modern biblical counselors would judge Calvin’s motive as using common grace “as a cover for syncretism!”

So, here’s a sampler of some of Calvin’s quotes on extra-biblical resources. Do these quotes make him an “integrationist”? Since they are from 500 years ago, would we make up a new term and call Calvin a “pre-integrationist,” or a “proto-integrationist,” or an “incipient-integrationist”?

A Calvin Sampler: Affirming Plato and Aristotle

To what extent did Calvin depend upon human authorities other than the Bible? To what extent did Calvin praise the ancient pagan philosophers? To what extent did Calvin follow the pagan (and now debunked) science of his day?

Calvin stated that the subtleties of the philosophers “are true, not only enjoyable, but also profitable to learn, and skillfully assembled by them” (Institutes I.15.6)” (131).

Calvin complimented pagan philosophers Plato and Aristotle on their teachings about psychology.

“Plato, in some passages, talks nobly of the faculties of the soul; and Aristotle, in discoursing of it, has surpassed all in acuteness…. They certainly thought more purely and wisely on the subject than some amongst ourselves, who boast that they are the disciples of Christ” (Calvin, Psychopannychia, in Selected Works, 3:420).

Stop. Imagine that I took Calvin’s name out of that quote, and you thought that I said this:

“Plato talks nobly of the faculties of the soul. Aristotle in talking about psychology has surpassed all in acuteness! Plato and Aristotle thought more purely and wisely on psychology than many Christians today who claim to be Christ’s disciples!”

I imagine the response might be something like this, “Kellemen is clearly an integrationist who loves secular psychology more than he loves the Bible and biblical counselors!”

A Calvin Sampler: Heavily Influenced by Secular Philosophical Psychology

In The Logic of the Body, Matthew LaPine notes that, “Roy Battenhouse sees heavy philosophical influence on Calvin’s anthropology” (133). And, “Likewise Battenhouse suggests that Calvin never quite ‘freed himself from the outlook of his early reading of Platonism’” (133-134, from Battenhouse, The Doctrine of Man in Calvin, 448).

LaPine further develops the influence of Plato on Calvin.

“Much has also been made of Calvin’s use of the Platonic term ‘prison house’ of the soul, referring to the body (Institutes, I.15.2). Ther term originates from Plato’s Phaedo…. Alida Sewell notes that Calvin both ‘likely read Phaedo personally’ and uses the term ‘prison house’ in his writings more often than Plato, a total of ninety-one times” (134, quoting Alida Sewell, Calvin, the Body, and Sexuality, 23).

Stop. Once again, imagine that you read my writings and found that ninety-one times I used a phrase first used by Plato, or by Freud! Might the response be, “Kellemen—a Freudian integrationist!”

LaPine explains that,

“Jean Boisset, likewise, sees in Calvin an intimate familiarity and recourse to Plato: ‘These statistics show that Calvin never ceased, from 1536 to 1560, to have recourse to Platonic sources, that he clarified his borrowings, and that he augmented them in the last edition of the Institutes in comparison with those of 1543 and 1550’” (135, quoting Jean Boisset, Sagesse et Saintete dans la Pensee de Jean Calvin, 227).

LaPine contends that the psychological concepts Calvin “inherited were roughly Platonic…. Charles Partee’s comment is apt:

‘Calvin looks at the subject of soul and body, immortality and resurrection through ‘the spectacles of Scripture.’ The lens of Calvin’s spectacles were certainly tinted by Platonism here, but the source of Calvin’s view of soul and body is the Scriptures’” (136, quoting, Charles Partee, Calvin and Classical Philosophy, 65).

What’s being said? While Calvin used the spectacles of Scripture to develop his psychology, those spectacles were tinted (tainted) with Platonism!

LaPine opines that Cavlin “often supplemented his arguments with appeals to general revelation, famously with his sensus divinitatis (Institutes I.15.2). LaPine, continues:

“Edward Adams claims, ‘It seems to me to have been established beyond any serious doubt that Calvin draws his theory of the sensus divinitatis from the Hellenistic philosophical dogma of the ‘preconception’ (prolepsis) of God. The doctrine of the preconception originated with Epicurus, but was taken over and developed by the Stoics. The notion of the preconception is prominent in Cicero’s dialogue On the Nature of the Gods and it is from this source that Calvin derives it’” (136, quoting, Edward Adams, “Calvin’s View of Natural Knowledge of God,’ International Journal of Systematic Theology 3, no. 3 (November 2001): 284-285).

“When Calvin gets to the ‘true,’ ‘enjoyable,’ and ‘profitable’ teachings of the philosophers on this matter, he produces an intentionally synthetic account. While he does cite Plato’s Theaetetus, he engages more with Aristotle than Plato. Calvin’s account of the faculties [of the soul] explicitly relies on De anima [Aristotle]. Irena Backus connects Calvin’s account of the five senses with De anima III.1 (425a13-426b21); his account of the imagination with De anima III.3 (427a15-429a9); his account of reason with III.4 (429a10-430a9); his account of the passive and active intellect with III.5-6 (430a10-430b9); and his distinction between the three appetitive and cognitive faculties with [Aristotle’s] Eudemian Ethics II.7 (1223121-27)” (161 referencing Irena Backus, Historical Method, 95). Paul Helm remarks, “Here we see Calvin’s admiration for Aristotle” (161, quoting Helm, “Vermigli, Calvin, and Aristotle’s Ethics,’ Unio Cum Christo 3, no. 2 (October 2017): 92).

A Calvin Sampler: Influenced by Debunked (and Junk) Science

Aelius Galenus (129-216 AD), often anglicized as Galen, was a Roman and Greek physician, surgeon, and philosopher. To what extent was Calvin’s thinking influenced by Galen?

LaPine explains,

“Finally, we have already noted that Aquinas was unwittingly and indirectly influenced by Galen’s medicine. What about Calvin? To what extent did Galen influence his theology? That Calvin was a Galenist is almost a truism since it was the reigning medical paradigm. It hardly would have been possible for him not to espouse these medical views” (137).

“We have strong evidence of Calvin’s intimate acquaintance with Galenic medicine and its theories about spirits, the four humors, and even physiological aspects of personality” (143). Calvin wrote, “In regard to the structure of the human body one must have the greatest keenness in order to weigh, with Galen’s skill, its articulation, symmetry, beauty, and use” (143, quoting Calvin, Institutes, I.5.2).

“Specifically, Calvin integrates Galen’s views on the spirits and humors in many places. In De Clementia he writes, ‘Still it is truer to say that all living beings consist of four elements and divine spirit. This was clearly Aristotle’s opinion. For they derive flesh from earth, humor from water, breath from air, heat from fire, and natural disposition from divine spirit’” (143-144, quoting Calvin, De Clementia, 103-105).

“Calvin even cites the humoral personality theory, writing to Monsieur de Richebourg of a certain Louis: ‘as he was of a more sanguine temperament, was also more lively and cheerful. Charles, who has somewhat of melancholy in his disposition, is not so easily drawn out of himself’” (145-146, quoting Calvin, Selected Works, 4:252).

Stop. Imagine that I wrote, “The secular concept of temperaments is truer than any other model of the human personality, and should be integrated into our biblical counseling thinking and practice!” Might I be charged with being an integrationist?

A Calvin Sampler: A Platonic Dualist

LaPine writes about Calvin and dualism.

“In the soul’s relationship to the body, we see something of Calvin’s respect for Stoic ethics. Battles writes, ‘Calvin recognized Seneca’s supreme gift to be in ethics, and this judgment is certainly borne out in the course of the Commentary’” (138, quoting, Ford Lewis Battles, “The Source of Calvin’s Seneca Commentary,” in John Calvin, 48).

“In discussing the philosophers’ views, Calvin adds that the soul, though ‘not spatially limited,’ is ‘set in the body, it dwells there as in a house; not only that it may animate all its parts and render its organs fit and useful for their actions, but also that it may hold the first place in ruling man’s life’ (Institutes, I.15.6). Certainly, the language here is Platonic and Augustinian; Calvin does not use the language of ‘form’ here. But there are also perhaps some echoes of an Aristotelian, entelechist model, i.e., the soul as vital principle, especially Calvin’s terminology of animating its parts and rending its organs useful…. The relation of body to soul in Calvin’s psychology is not perfectly transparent. It is fair to say he was more Platonic than Aristotelian. But given Calvin’s immediate Scholastic context, it is difficult to make a rigid demarcation” (155-156).

“Insofar as the medieval development tended toward dualism, Calvin’s position is not surprising in the least. Calvin simply reflected the common psychological trends of his time” (159).

A Calvin Sampler: Calvin, Stoicism, and Emotions

LaPine examined Calvin on emotions.

“On the issue of emotion, Calvin never really rid himself of his Stoic sensibility” (184).

“The Stoic sensibility is especially pronounced in Calvin’s language of bridling emotions. To list just a very few selections from Calvin’s Commentary on the Psalms, he suggests bridling affections in commenting on Psalms 21:1; 36;1; 37:8; 39:1-2; 82:1-4; 85:8; 119:147. Uncomfortable with the emotive expression of the Psalms, Calvin seemed to think that the chief value of the Psalms is to uncover hypocrisy…. Calvin’s rhetoric only confirms what his psychological structure implies, that there is no room for responding to negative emotion other than suppressing it” (185.).

What Explains Calvin’s Thinking and Practice?

Was all of this accidental? Was it simply that Calvin did not realize how much he was impacted by his intellectual environment? To some extent, that is one possible explanation. Our worldview, no matter how much we insist it is only developed by God’s worldview, is more influenced by the world’s worldview than we realize and care to admit. It is the old “frog in the kettle” analogy of simply not being aware of how the environmental temperature is slowly impacting us.

Perhaps we are all a tad tainted? Perhaps we are all a tad infected? Perhaps all of us, like Calvin, and like Tertullian before him, will one day be exposed by future generations who more clearly see how we were unknowingly effected by the worldview of our fallen world.

Tertullian famously declared that Jerusalem should have nothing to do with Athens—meaning that secular philosophy should not have any role in our thinking about God and humanity. However, when one reads Tertullian today, it is almost laughable, and certainly sad and ironic, how clearly Tertullian, unbeknownst to himself, was so impacted by the Neo-Platonic thought of his day.

So, yes, some of this likely was Calvin being impacted by his world’s worldview without him realizing it.

However, for the great Reformed theologian, John Calvin, much of this was also theological.

See all the preceding quotes on Calvin and common grace to demonstrate that Calvin based his engagement with extra-biblical thinking on his theological convictions about common grace, the noetic effect of sin, the role of fallen human understanding, and God’s sovereign plan.

The Moral of the Story: “Calvin-Like Biblical Counselors”

Maybe after reading about Calvin and secular information, you want to label John Calvin, the father of Reformed theology, an “integrationist.” I do not.

After all of these quotes, why don’t I see Calvin as an integrationist? Because we can’t “cherry-pick” quotes from Calvin to create a pre-determined narrative about Calvin.

And that’s the moral of the story:

We should not cherry-pick quotes from our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to create a pre-determined narrative about them.
We should carefully and comprehensively read and accurately and fairly characterize our fellow Christian biblical counselors.
We’ve falsely created a new definition of “integration” that claims someone is a “neo-integrationist” for simply believing and practicing the Reformed doctrine of common grace, even when they do so by engaging and evaluating common grace resources using the spectacles of God’s all-sufficient Word.
We create an unseemly spectacle when we place blinders on our spectacles and falsely accuse fellow biblical counselors of not using the spectacles of God’s Word as they view common grace resources.

Sadly, here’s what has been happening.

Some biblical counselors quote a comment or two from Calvin and use it to be able to claim, “See, we affirm comment grace!”
These same biblical counselors ignore all of the Calvin quotes from post like today that actually illustrate how Calvin uses non-Christian resources.
Then they judge the motives of fellow Christian biblical counselors, mischaracterizing them as using common grace “as cover for syncretism.”

We need to find more apt descriptors for biblical counselors today who are committed to using the spectacles of God’s all-sufficient Word to engage and evaluate common grace resources. The apt descriptor is not “integrationist” or “a cover for syncretism.” The more apt descriptor is:

“Calvin-like biblical counselor.”

Amazing Grace! Amazing Common Grace!

So why would someone like John Calvin—the founder of Reformed theology—who emphasized total depravity, also marvel at the common grace insights of the unsaved?

John Calvin was not, ultimately, marveling at the unsaved mind; he was marveling at God’s mercy!

John Calvin was not, ultimately, marveling at the wisdom of humanity; he was marveling at the wisdom of God!

In advancing the truth of common grace, John Calvin, Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck, and all Reformed thinkers are marveling at God’s amazing common grace. They understand biblically the truth that many modern biblical counselors misunderstand. They understand the affectionate sovereignty of God.

In common grace, God is sovereignly moving forward His eternal kingdom plan first inaugurated in Genesis that His image bearers would subdue the earth. In God’s common grace, He is affectionately and, yes, graciously, assuring that His will would never be thwarted—not by Satan, not by sin, not by sinners.

Calvin, Kuyper, Bavinck, and modern biblical counselors who recognize the common grace insights of the non-Christian are not frustrated with the Scriptures and fascinated with the secular.

We are fascinated with how God frustrates the plan of Satan, sin, and sinners!

We are fascinated with how God frustrates even depraved anti-God thinking and causes all things to advance His eternal kingdom purposes.

In celebrating the amazing grace of God’s common grace, we are not extolling humanity. Just like saving grace does not extol fallen but saved humanity, so common grace does not extol unsaved humanity.

Common grace extols not the wisdom of humanity—saved or unsaved—but the wisdom of God!

Those modern biblical counselors who decry common grace insights for biblical counseling do not realize that they are decrying the wisdom of God’s eternal plan. In their theological misunderstanding, they are decrying the affectionate sovereignty of God who works all things according to the counsel of His will.

Calvin-like biblical counselors glory in God’s grace—in Christ’s common grace, in God’s amazing common grace!

Doxology: Romans 11:33-36

³³Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
³⁴“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
³⁵“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
³⁶For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Reformed Theologian #2: Herman Bavinck

The next set of quotes are from:

Bavinck, Herman. “Herman Bavinck’s ‘Common Grace.” Raymond C. Van Leeuwen, Translator. Calvin Theological Journal, 24(1), April 1989.

The Good Gift of Common Grace

Bavinck, following Calvin, taught that common grace is the source of all human virtue and accomplishment, even that of unbelievers who have not been regenerated by the salvific grace of God (Inst., 2.2.12-17) Bavinck’s view of common grace articulates a theological worldview that enables us to acknowledge the importance of creation and human culture as good gifts of God that not only form the arena of his redemptive activity but are themselves subject to redemption.

“There is thus a rich revelation of God even among the heathen—not only in nature but also in their heart and conscience, in their life and history, among their statesmen and artists, their philosophers and reformers. There exists no reason at all to denigrate or diminish this divine revelation. Nor is it to be limited to a so-called natural revelation…. The working of supernatural forces in the world of the heathen is neither impossible nor improbable” (41, in all quotes, the bold emphasis is added by me).

“…it would not do to deny the true, the good, and the beautiful that one can see in mankind outside of Christ. That would not only be in conflict with experience but would also entail a denial of God’s gifts and hence constitute ingratitude toward him…. All that is good and true has its origin in this grace, including the good we see in fallen man. The light still does shine in the darkness. The spirit of God makes its home and works in all the creation” (51).

“Consequently, traces of the image of God continue in mankind. Understanding and reason remain, and he possesses all sorts of natural gifts. In him dwells a feeling, a notion of the Godhead, a seed of religion. Reason is a precious gift of God and philosophy a praeclarum Dei donum [splendid gift of God]. Music too is God’s gift. The arts and sciences are good, useful, and of great value. The state is an institution of God. The goods of life do not just serve to provide for man’s needs in the strict sense; they also serve to make life pleasant. They are not purely ad ecessitate [for necessity]; they are also ad oblectamentum [for delight]. Men still have a sense of the truth and of right and wrong; we see the natural love that binds parents and children together. In the things which appertain to this earthly life, man can still accomplish much good” (51).

Bavinck on Calvin and Engagement with the World

Throughout this article, Bavinck insists that he builds his view of common grace upon the foundation of Calvin’s view of common grace. He also insists that Calvin and Reformed thinking insists on active engagement with the world rather than a separatist approach.

“In this doctrine of gratia communis the Reformed maintained the particular and absolute character of the Christian religion on the one hand, while on the other they were second to none in appreciating all that God continued to give of beauty and worth to sinful men. Thereby they acknowledged both the seriousness of sin and the legitimacy of the natural” (52). “In contrast, the Anabaptists scorn the creation; Adam was of the earth, earthly; the natural order as such is unclean; but Christ, who brought his human nature down from heaven, infuses a new, spiritual, and divine substance into man at his rebirth. The born-again man, since he is wholly renewed and other, may have no intercourse with unbelievers. Consequently, the Anabaptists reject oaths, war, the magistracy, the death penalty, worldly dress and lifestyle, marriage with unbelievers, and infant baptism; the supernatural order thrusts aside the entire natural order” (53).

“By means of this organic way of relating nature and grace, the Reformation in principle overcame the mechanical juxtaposition and dualistic worldview of the Catholic Church. And thereby, too, the significance of the cosmos increases greatly…. While it is true that the world has been corrupted by sin, it nevertheless remains the work of the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth. Of his own will he maintains it by his covenant, and by his gratia communis he powerfully opposes the destructive might of sin. He fills the hearts of men with nourishment and joy and does not leave himself without a witness among them. He pours out upon them numberless gifts and benefits. Families, races, and peoples he binds together with natural love and affection. He allows societies and states to spring up that the citizens might live in peace and security. Wealth and well-being he grants them that the arts and sciences can prosper” (60).

“The entirety of the rich life of nature and society exists thanks to God’s common grace. But why should he continue to preserve such a sinful world by a special action of his grace? Does he squander his gifts? Is he acting purposelessly? Is it not because natural life, in all its forms has value in his eyes in spite of sin’s corruption? The love of family and kin, societal and political life, art and science are all in themselves objects of his divine good pleasure…. Contempt for this divine order of creation is thus illegitimate; it flies in the face of experience and conflicts with Scripture. Here all separatism or asceticism is cut off at the roots. All world-flight is a repudiation of the first article of our Apostolic Creed. Christ indeed came to destroy the works of the devil. But more than that, he came to restore the works of the Father and so to renew man according to the image of him who first created man” (60).

Bavinck on the Role of the Arts and Science

Bavinck, again following Calvin, explains the purpose of common grace—in relationship to the arts and science.

“Christ came not to do away with the world and the various spheres of life but to restore and preserve them. Ultimately the same holds for the relation of the Christian religion to the arts and sciences” (64).

“But here too re-creation is something different than creation. The arts and sciences have their principium not in the special grace of regeneration and conversion but in the natural gifts and talents that God in his common grace has also given to nonbelievers. Therefore, Christian theologians of all times have also profited from pagan art and learning and have insisted upon a classical education for every man of learning, including the theologian. They were not blind to the dangers of such an education, and desired that it take place under Christian leadership. But they nevertheless maintained the right and independence of the arts and sciences, requiring only that they be sanctified by the Spirit of Christ. Scripture itself, they maintained, gave them freedom to this end. For Moses was reared in all the wisdom of Egypt, the children of Israel decorated the house of the Lord with the gold and silver of Egypt, Solomon used the services of Hiram to build the temple, Daniel was trained in the science of the Chaldeans, and the wisemen from the East laid their gifts at the feet of the baby in Bethlehem” (64).

“Theology itself as a science was not born apart from the gifts of the gratia communis. She does of course hold a unique place among the sciences. She has her own principle, object, and goal and derives these exclusively from the gratia specialis. But she would still not be theology in the scientific sense had she not availed herself of the thinking consciousness of man sanctified by faith and used it to penetrate revelation and understand its content. Theology first came into existence in the body of Christ when gratia communis and gratia specialis flowed together” (64).

“Consequently, theology accords to the other sciences their full due. Theology’s honor is not that she sits enthroned above them as Regina scientarium [Queen of the sciences] and waves her scepter over them but that she is permitted to serve them all with her gifts. Theology also can rule only by serving. She is strong when she is weak; she is greatest when she seeks to be least. She can be glorious when she seeks to know nothing save Christ and him crucified. Theology is ultimately nothing other than interpretation of the gratia Dei [grace of God] in the arena of science. Grace she ponders and grace she seeks to understand in its length and breadth, in its height and depth. In the middle of the human woe that life reveals all about us, and also in science, theology raises its doxology of the love of God shown forth in Jesus Christ our Lord. And she prophesies a glorious future in which all oppositions, including those between nature and grace, shall be reconciled, and all things, whether on earth or in heaven, shall again in Christ be one” (65).

Calvin and Bavinck on God’s Gifts to All People

The next set of quotes come from:

Bavinck, Herman. “Calvin and Common Grace.” Geerhardus Vos, Translator. The Princeton Theological Review, 7(3), 1909, 437-465.

Bavinck presents Calvin as delicately balancing the two scriptural truths of the depravity of the unregenerate person and common grace which is the foundation for the legitimate contribution of the unregenerate person.

“…with Calvin reprobation does not mean the withholding of all grace. Although man through sin has been rendered blind to all the spiritual realities of the kingdom of God, so that a special revelation of God’s fatherly love in Christ and a specialis illuminatio by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the sinners here become necessary, nevertheless there exists alongside of these a generalis gratia which dispenses to all men various gifts. If God had not spared man, his fall would have involved the whole of nature in ruin. As it was, God immediately after the Fall interposed, in order by His common grace to curb sin and to uphold in being the universitas rerum. For after all sin is rather an adventitia qualitas than a substantialis proprietas, and for this reason God is operis sui corruptioni magis infensus quam operi suo. Although for man’s sake the whole of nature is subject to vanity, nevertheless nature is upheld by the hope which God implanted in its heart. There is no part of the world in which some spark of the divine glory does not glimmer. Though it be a metaphorical mode of expression, since God should not be confounded with nature, it may be affirmed in a truly religious sense that nature is God. Heaven and earth with their innumerable wonders are a magnificent display of the divine wisdom” (PDF, 9) (all page numbers are from the PDF linked above) (all bold wording has been added by me for emphasis).

“Especially the human race is still a clear mirror of the operation of God, an exhibition of His manifold gifts. In every man there is still a seed of religion, a consciousness of God, wholly ineradicable, convincing all of the heavenly grace on which their life depends, and leading even the heathen to name God the Father of mankind. The supernatural gifts have been lost, and the natural gifts have become corrupted, so that man by nature no longer knows who and what God seeks to be to him. Still these latter gifts have not been withdrawn entirely from man. Reason and judgment and will, however corrupt, yet, in so far as they belong to man’s nature, have not been wholly lost. The fact that men are found either wholly or in part deprived of reason, proves that the tithe to these gifts is not self-evident and that they are not distributed to men on the basis of merit. Nonetheless, the grace of God imparts them to us” (PDF, 9).

Calvin and Bavinck on Honoring and Making the Most of Art and Science

Based upon their theology of common grace, both Calvin and Bavinck teach that unregenerate persons can make contributes in the arts, sciences, and other areas that regenerate persons should not despise.

“The reason whereby man distinguishes between truth and error, good and evil, and forms conceptions and judgments, and also the will which is inseparable from human nature as the faculty whereby man strives after what he deems good for himself,—these raise him above the animals. Consequently it is contrary to Scripture as well as to experience to attribute to man such a perpetual blindness as would render him unable to form any true conception. On the contrary, there is light still shining in the darkness, men still retain a degree of love for the truth, some sparks of the truth have still been preserved. Men carry in themselves the principles of the laws which are to govern them individually and in their association with one another. They agree in regard to the fundamentals of justice and equity, and everywhere exhibit an aptness and liking for social order (PDF, 9-10).

“Sometimes a remarkable sagacity is given to men whereby they are not only able to learn certain things, but also to make important inventions and discoveries, and to put these to practical use in life. Owing to all this, not only is an orderly civil society made possible among men, but arts and sciences develop, which are not to be despised. For these should be considered gifts of the Holy Spirit” (PDF, 10).

“It is true the Holy Spirit as a spirit of sanctification dwells in believers only, but as a spirit of life, of wisdom and of power He works also in those who do not believe. No Christian, therefore, should despise these gifts; on the contrary, he should honor art and science, music and philosophy and various other products of the human mind as praestantissima Spiritus dona, and make the most of them for his own personal use” (PDF, 10).

“In the diversity of all these gifts we see the remnants of the divine image whereby man is distinguished from all other creatures” (PDF, 10).

“Calvin affirms, it is true, that the virtues of the natural man, however noble, do not suffice for justification at the judgment-bar of God, but this is due to his profound conviction of the majesty and spiritual character of the moral law. Aside from this, he is more generous in his recognition of what is true and good, wherever it be found, than any other Reformer. He surveys the entire earth and finds everywhere the evidence of the divine goodness, wisdom and power (PDF, 10).

Bavinck on the Reformed Appreciation for the Good and Beautiful Given by God to the Unsaved

The following quotes are from Anthony Hoekema, Created in God’s Image, pages 190-191, and derived from Bavinck’s 1894 lecture entitled Common Grace. You can find the source of these quotes here.

(Bavinck writing): “From this common grace proceeds all that is good and true that we still see in fallen man. The light still shines in the darkness. The Spirit of God lives and works in everything that has been created. Therefore there still remain in man certain traces of the image of God. There is still intellect and reason; all kinds of natural gifts are still present in him. Man still has a feeling and an impression of divinity, a seed of religion. Reason is a priceless gift. Philosophy is an admirable gift from God. Music is also a gift of God. Arts and sciences are good, profitable, and of high value” (Created in God’s Image, 190-191).

(Bavinck writing): “The state has been instituted by God…. There is still a desire for truth and virtue, and for natural love between parents and children. In matters that concern this earthly life, man is still able to do much good…. Through the doctrine of common grace the Reformed have, on the one hand, maintained the specific and absolute character of the Christian religion, but on the other hand they have been second to none in their appreciation for whatever of the good and beautiful is still being given by God to sinful human beings” (Created in God’s Image, 190-191).

Reformed Theologian #3—Cornelius Van Til

Van Til, Kuyper, Bavinck, and Biblical Counselors: An Assessment

This is the first of a three-part blog mini-series on Cornelious Van Til and common grace. Here in Part 1, I’m focusing on a specific issue:

Can biblical counselors legitimately follow the common grace teachings of Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck? Or, as some claim, to be a true biblical counselor, must we only follow the teachings of Cornelius Van Til on common grace?

The Importance of Cornelius Van Til for Biblical Counselors

Cornelius Van Til (May 3, 1895 – April 17, 1987) was a Dutch-American Reformed theologian, professor, and author. He is credited with being the originator of modern presuppositional apologetics. Both Jay Adams and David Powlison expressed the impact that Van Til’s writings had on their thinking (see: Presuppositional Counseling: An Introduction to Van Til’s Influence Upon Jay Adams by Jared Poulton).

Some current biblical counselors have taken this impact an additional—unwarranted—step, claiming that biblical counselors must exclusively follow Van Til’s teaching on presuppositionalism and on common grace, to the exclusion of the writings of other Reformed thinkers, including Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck.

If someone wanted to substantiate the claim that biblical counselors can only follow Van Til and not follow Kuyper and Bavinck, they would have to establish that Van Til argued that following Kuyper and Bavinck placed a Christian outside of Orthodoxy. With that in mind, we’ll start our study of Van Til by highlighting his alignment with Kuyper and Bavinck.

Cornelius Van Til on Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck

To say that Van Til was a “detailed theologian” is an understatement. Van Til was notorious for digging into the minutia of theological arguments, and for placing himself in the “Goldilocks Zone” of perfect balance between everyone else who was either to the “left” or the “right” of himself. So, yes, Van Til did distinguish some of his teachings on presuppositional apologetics and common grace from some of the teachings of Kuyper and Bavinck on these matters.

However, Van Til never claimed that alignment with Kuyper and Bavinck put someone outside Reformed thinking. In fact, as we shall see, Van Til greatly praised both Kuyper and Bavinck.

A Letter on Common Grace

In Van Til’s book, Common Grace and the Gospel, he includes a 50-page “Letter on Common Grace.” Van Til wrote this letter to dispute fellow Reformed theologian William Masselink’s contention that Van Til’s view of common grace was aligned against Kuyper and Bavinck. In Van Til’s own words:

“My main purpose in this letter is to seek to remove some misunderstandings that have developed with respect to my views” (171).

“My position is reported to be a part of a reconstruction theology, a theology of rebellion against the views of Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck of Holland” (170).

Van Til is writing specifically to prove that his views are not in rebellion against the views of Kuyper and Bavinck.

Van Til also wrote to dispute Masselink’s contention that Van Til’s teaching meant that Christians could learn nothing from non-Christians. Van Til is writing specifically to prove that he does believe that Christians can use the results of the scientific work of non-Christians:

“Dear Friend: Recently you wrote me asking about my views on common grace. You remarked that somebody had made a statement in your hearing that if he were to take my position on common grace he did not see how he could make any use of the results of the scientific work of those who are not Christians. This gentleman apparently got the impression that on my view the non-believer must be thought of as being unable to discover any truth at all of any sort in any field” (169).

“I am said to hold to an ‘absolutist position,’ a posting that involves ‘intellectual Anabaptism,’ a position that is out of accord with the Reformed confessions, which speak of the ‘natural light’ that remains in men after the Fall and of the ‘remnants’ of knowledge of God and of morality that they still possess” (170).

Van Til on His View of Kuyper and Bavinck

Dr. Masselink was a follower of Kuyper and Bavinck. Masselink argued that Van Til was aligned against Kuyper and Bavinck. Here’s Van Til’s response:

“The second point [of Masselink] is calculated to make the reader think that my disagreement with these great theologians goes to the root of their theology…. Well, has there been in anything I have ever said or written as much as an insinuation that the root of their thinking was not from the Bible?” (177).

While acknowledging some disagreement over the minutia on common grace, Van Til strenuously disputes the notion that he disagrees with the root of their theology—calling Kuyper and Bavinck “great theologians.” For any biblical counselor today to claim that a fellow biblical counselor was not a “real biblical counselor” because they follow Kuyper or Bavinck, is to go against Van Til’s own assessment.

Notice Van Til’s high assessment of Kuyper and Bavinck, especially related to presuppositional thinking:

“It is well to emphasize again that it is from Kuyper, more than from anyone else in modern times, that we have learned to think concretely. Both on the question of the universal and on that of particular, Kuyper has taught us that we must build on our own presuppositions. In similar words I began my section on Bavinck by praising him for having shown, better than any one before him, the necessity of building up one’s theology from one basic principle, namely, Scripture” (177).

Speaking of Kuyper and Bavinck as “Amsterdam” and speaking of B. B. Warfield and Charles Hodge as “Old Princeton,” Van Til writes five pages (214-218) about his common agreement with Kuyper, Bavinck, Warfield, and Hodge on seven essential, foundational theological convictions about common grace. He introduces these seven areas of essential agreement saying,

“Here then is, so far as I am now able to see, the direction in which we ought as Reformed Christians to travel” (214).

Then Van Til detailed these seven areas of agreement (over five pages), which I will provide in introductory form:

“The foundation of the thinking of both the Amsterdam and the Old Princeton men was that which both derived via Calvin and from Paul, namely, the fact that God has unavoidably and clearly revealed Himself in general and special revelation….” (214).
“Both the men of Amsterdam and the men of Old Princeton agree that God has promulgated to mankind in Adam His will of command. He set before mankind the task of subduing the earth….” (215).
“Amsterdam and Old Princeton agree that the relation between the will of the decree and will of command cannot be exhaustively understood by man….” (215).
“Amsterdam and Old Princeton agree on the doctrine of sin….” (216).
“Amsterdam and Old Princeton agree on the doctrine of election….” (216).
“Amsterdam and Old Princeton agree on the genuine significance of human responsibility….” (216).
“Both Amsterdam and Old Princeton taught common grace as well as the common offer of the gospel to the generality of mankind….Therefore, also through common grace the natural man is enabled to do good works….” (217).

That’s five pages of detailed, minute, specific essential theological alignment between Van Til and Kuyper/Bavinck, that Van Til penned specifically to disprove that he was out of alignment with Kuyper and Bavinck.

Speaking further of his alignment with Kuyper and Bavinck, Van Til explains,

“It is therefore the essence of Protestantism, and in particular of the Reformed theology to reject the ‘natural theology’ of Rome. Kuyper and Bavinck have done so in no uncertain terms” (220).

Speaking of his views of the theistic proofs, Van Til notes, “my close adherence to the Old Princeton and the Amsterdam [Kuyper/Bavinck] theology…. “Happily I do so in view of the theology that I have learned from Old Princeton and Amsterdam [Kuyper/Bavinck]” (223).

Van Til’s Indebtedness to Kuyper and Bavinck for His Presuppositional Apologetics

In his book, A Christian Theory of Knowledge, Van Til notes that in developing his presuppositional Reformed apologetics he is “greatly indebted to the great Reformed dogmaticians of modern times, such as Charles Hodge, Thornwell, Dabney, Shedd, Kuyper, and especially Herman Bavinck” (5).

Mentioning Kuyper and Bavinck, Van Til shares, “The greater part of what is presented here is due to the fact that the writer stands on the shoulders of the great Reformed thinkers mentioned above”—Kuyper and Bavinck (23).

In speaking again of the foundation of his presuppositional apologetics, Van Til writes, “And have I, following such a method, departed radically from the tradition of Kuyper and Bavinck? On the contrary, I have learned all this primarily from them. It is Kyper’s Encyclopedie that has more than any other work in modern times, brought out the fact of the difference between the approach of the believer and of the unbeliever. It is Bavinck’s monumental work which set a ‘natural theology’ frankly oriented to Scripture squarely over against that of Romanis which is based on neutral reason” (301).

Van Til on Bavinck: An Assessment by Brian G. Mattson

In the Spring 2008 issue of the Westminster Theological Journal, Brian G. Mattson wrote, “Van Til on Bavinck: An Assessment” (WTJ 70:1 (Spring 2008)). While indicating areas of distinction, Mattson also noted areas of admiration.

“Cornelius Van Til wrote that ‘Herman Bavinck has given to us the greatest and most comprehensive statement of Reformed systematic theology in modern times,’ an indication of his great admiration for the Dutch theologian. References to Bavinck abound in Van Til’s works, and even where absent, the deep impressions made by Bavinck’s four-volume Gereformeerde Dogmatiek are evident in Van Til’s theological writings. He appreciated Bavinck’s commitment to truth and his ability to learn from others. [Quoting Van Til]: ‘[Bavinck] was deeply concerned to make the Christ of the Scripture speak to his age. In this sense he was a truly modern theologian. He studied the development of modern philosophy and science with great care. He knew that true unity of thought and harmony of life could come to man only if he made every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. But he also knew that those who did not center their life and thought in Christ had, in spite of this, much to teach him. As a true Protestant he learned much from Romanism and as truly Reformed he honored Luther. Bavinck’s magnum opus shows true catholicity of spirit as well as unswerving loyalty to the truth as he saw it.’”

Mattson continues,

“Van Til admired Bavinck not only for his erudition and catholicity, but also for his character: ‘Humble before God and courteous to his fellow-man, Bavinck always refused to compromise his Saviour whose voice he heard in the Scriptures’ [quoting Van Til).

Mattson summarizes:

“One other feature of this article is noteworthy, and that is, in spite of Van Til’s personal reservations he defends Bavinck against attacks by those whom he deems of a less-than-Reformed persuasion. This recurring motif provides a glimpse into something of Van Til’s ‘relationship’ to Bavinck, though there is no indication the two ever met: a younger brother may criticize the older, but is quick to defend when a perceived interloper does the same. This explains why he often seems comparatively reluctant to criticize Bavinck… Might one suspect that Van Til at bottom realized that Herman Bavinck was, in fact, the one theologian closest to his own views?”

“Bavinck is the one Reformed theologian intellectually closest to Van Til.”

Mattson writes in his conclusion:

“If this article establishes anything it is the deep affinity in their theological instincts. Van Til never had an intellectual ‘friend’ like Herman Bavinck. The fact that he sometimes failed to realize it is no reason for contemporary readers of Bavinck to do likewise. One hopes that those whose apologetic sympathies lie with Van Til, yet have new opportunity to study Herman Bavinck in English, might do so without Van Til’s often needless and excessive reservations; instead, may they eagerly and expectantly mine what truly is ‘the greatest and most comprehensive statement of Reformed systematic theology in modern times.’”

WWCT? (What Would Cornelius Think?): Van Til, Kuyper, Bavinck, and Biblical Counselors

So, yes, Van Til’s approach to presuppositional apologetics and to common grace was not 100% identical to the approaches taken by Kuyper and Bavinck.

So, no, Van Til would not tell biblical counselors that they were not “real” biblical counselors if they studied and derived application from Kuyper and Bavinck.

No, Van Til would not call you a “so-called biblical counselor” or a “neo-integrationist biblical counselor” for studying and deriving application from Kuyper and Bavinck.

No, Van Til would not judge or mischaracterize your motives as “an instinct to integrate because of your fascination with psychology and your frustration with Scripture” for studying and deriving application from Kuyper and Bavinck.

So, yes, you can be a member of the modern biblical counseling movement and study and derive application about presuppositional apologetics and common grace from Cornelius Van Til, and/or Abraham Kuyper, and/or Herman Bavinck.

Cornelius Van Til on Common Grace: In His Own Words

This is Part 2 of a three-part blog mini-series on Cornelius Van Til and common grace. Here in Part 2, I’m focusing on Van Til’s belief’s about common grace, especially related to the use or non-use of findings from non-Christians. I’ve taken these quotes from Van Til’s book, Common Grace and the Gospel.

Van Til on the Source of the Unbeliever’s Knowledge

Van Til wrote frequently about the book of nature (general revelation) and the book of conscience as the twin foundations of the unbeliever’s knowledge.

“As made in the image of God no man can escape becoming the interpretive medium of God’s general revelation both in his intellectual (Rom 1:20) and in his moral consciousness (Rom 2:14-15). No matter which button of the radio he presses, he always hears the voice of God” (67).

“God is, and has been from the beginning, revealed in nature and in man’s own consciousness. We cannot say that the heavens probably declare the glory of God” (76).

“Both parties to the debate on common grace should be willing to agree that Adam and Eve had the requirements of God’s law written on their hearts… We should be equally anxious to maintain that God originally spoke plainly to man, both in ‘the book of nature’ and in the ‘book of conscience.’ Wherever man would turn he saw the living God and His requirements. Whether he reasoned about nature or whether he looked within, whether it was the starry heavens above or the moral law within, both were equally insistent and plain that God, the true God, stood before him. It should also be recognized that man was, from the outset, confronted with positive, as well as with natural, revelation. Dr. Vos speaks of this as pre-redemptive special revelation. God walked and talked with man. Natural revelation must not be separated from this supernatural revelation. To separate the two is to deal with two abstractions instead of with one concrete situation” (84-85).

“By virtue of their creation in God’s image, by virtue of the ineradicable sense of deity within them, and by virtue of God’s restraining general grace, those who hated God, yet in a restricted sense, know God and do good” (198).

Common Grace and the Use or Non-Use of Information from Non-Christians

Having established the theological foundation for common grace knowledge, now the two-fold question is:

“What do fallen people do with this revelatory knowledge, and what should believers do with information from non-Christians?”

Van Til consistently taught that unbelievers will distort the truth. No one could dispute that from Van Til’s writings.

However, Van Til went further, exploring whether that distortion meant that there was no value for believers from the findings of unbelievers, because, “Man can never completely suppress the truth” (187).

In Chapter 6 of Common Grace and the Gospel, Van Til wrote to dispute the contention by Dr. William Masselink’s that Van Til’s teaching meant that Christians could learn nothing from non-Christians. Notice in the quotes below that Van Til writes specifically to prove that he does believe that Christians can use the results of the scientific work of non-Christians:

“My main purpose in this letter is to seek to remove some misunderstandings that have developed with respect to my views” (171).

What did Van Til believe about the relationship between the noetic effect of sin and common grace?

“The case is similar with respect to the knowledge of unbelievers and their ability to do that which is relatively good. The fact that they are in principle opposed to God and would destroy the very foundation of knowledge and ethics, yet, in spite of this, because of God’s common grace, they can discover much truth and do much good” (190).

“Gifts of God to unbelievers help to make the life of believers possible, and in a measure, pleasant” (192).

“We are well aware of the fact that non-Christians have a great deal of knowledge about this world which is true as far as it goes. That is, there is a sense in which we can and must allow for the value of knowledge of non-Christians. We do not make this point as a concession but rather as a fact taught directly by Scripture itself and as such observed in daily experience” (195).

“God releases the natural man’s creatural powers so that he can make positive contributions to the field of knowledge and art” (200).

Van Til on Cultural Mandate/Creation Mandate, Common Grace, and Believers Using the Knowledge of Unbelievers

Van Til also explored common grace in the context of the Cultural/Creation Mandate.

“This sovereign God gave man a task to perform. It was to till the ground, to bring out its powers, to act as prophet, priest, and king in the midst of the world that God had made. He was to engage in scientific, artistic, and philosophical enterprises of every conceivable sort. Such was man’s cultural mandate. It was given to mankind as a whole. It was therefore a task that all men would have in common” (117-118).

“The covenant keepers will make use of the works of the covenant breakers which these have been able and compelled to perform in spite of themselves. As Solomon used the cedars of Lebanon (1 Kings 5:8-10), the products of the rain and the sunshine that had come to the covenant breakers, and as he used the skill of these very covenant breakers for the building of the temple of God, so also those who through the Spirit of God have believed in Christ may and must use all the gifts of all men everywhere in order by means of them to perform the cultural task of mankind” (138).

“So even after the fall God gives His good gifts to men everywhere, thereby calling them to repentance and to performance of their task…. And then in amazement we note that even after the fall, when mankind as a whole has become the object of His wrath, God still continues to give good gifts unto men” (153-154).

“The gift of logical reason was originally given to man in order that he might order the revelation of God in nature for himself” (230).

Van Til: In His Own Words

Toward the end of Common Grace and the Gospel, Van Til provides his summary theological conclusion about common grace and the unbeliever.

Common grace “enables man to do many positive things which he would otherwise not be able to do. And the principle of continuity presupposed in all this is the idea of the image of God as itself revelational of God. The Holy Spirit testifies to man through his own constitution as well as through the facts of the universe around him, that he is God’s offspring and should act as such (see Acts 17:28). The sinner seeks to suppress this revelation within himself and around him. He cannot do so fully. He continues to be an image bearer of God; even the lost hereafter will be image bearers of God. They will continue to receive the revelation of God within their own constitution; they cannot be devoid of ethical reaction…. Common grace is therefore a favor to sinners by which they are kept from working out to the full the principle of sin within them and thereby are enabled to show some measure of involuntary respect and appreciation for the law of God that speaks to them even through their own constitution as well as through the facts of the world outside” (238).

Cornelius Van Til: “Zombie-Infected”???

This is Part 3 of a three-part blog mini-series on Cornelius Van Til and common grace.

Of Zombies and the Trojan Horse of Common Grace

In May of 2024, Heath Lambert began a series of podcasts on zombie-infected biblical counselors. You can find one of my responses to Heath’s posts here: Engaging Publicly with Heath Lambert’s Public Writings: Part 2: Hearing Heath.

It is Heath’s contention that many in the modern biblical counseling movement have been “infected” by the “zombie virus” of secular psychology. In a later podcast, Heath sought to connect his “zombie” imagery to the language of Ephesians 2, where the unsaved are pictured as dead in sin, and the language of Ephesians 4, where unsaved thinking is pictured as darkened understanding. Throughout his series of podcasts, Heath and his colleagues at First Baptist Church Jacksonville claimed that some biblical counselors were smuggling secular psychology into the church through the Trojan Horse of a false application of the doctrine of common grace.

Heath Lambert: A Catalyst for Further Study

Both Jay Adams and David Powlison often spoke of using writings, even of unbelievers, as a catalyst for challenging the biblical counselor to return to Scripture to answer questions raised by secular thinking. Heath Lambert’s podcasts and writings have been a catalyst for me to delve more deeply into Scripture and church history regarding common grace.

Because Heath is raising vital questions for those of us in the modern biblical counseling movement, I have spent a good deal of time re-studying the doctrine of common grace. As part of that study, I’ve collated 17,000 words of quotes from leading Reformed theologians on common grace, which you can find here.

The Valid Question

I’ve been seeking to answer the question:

How have Reformed theologians applied the doctrine of common grace in relationship to the use of extra-biblical resources from non-Christians?

That’s the specific question we need to be asking. No one in the biblical counseling movement is denying the existence of the doctrine of common grace. Though some are, quite remarkably, suggesting that modern biblical counselors should redefine the historic doctrine of common grace! Francine Tan, writing for ACBC’s Journal of Biblical Soul Care, shockingly writes,

“Thus, I propose that biblical counselors ought to revisit how we define CG and make a few qualifications to the traditional Reformed view of CG” (JBSC, 8, no. 1, Spring 2024, 84).

Rather than redefine historic common grace, I want to know if we modern biblical counselors are applying the doctrine of common grace the way the Reformers like Calvin, Bavinck, Kuyper, Van Til, and Powlison applied it.

Did Reformed theologians so emphasize the antithesis of the noetic effect of sin that they refused to use common grace insights from non-Christians in their ministries?

Or,

Did Reformed theologians minister at the intersection of the noetic effect of sin and common grace, and, therefore, use common grace insights from non-Christians in their ministries?

John Calvin: “Integrationist”???

In John Calvin: “Integrationist”???, I was amazed to see how frequently Calvin affirmed specific examples of the philosophical psychology of non-Christians like Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics, among others. Was Calvin, therefore, an integrationist? Was he zombie-infected?

No, Calvin was not a zombie-infected integrationist. Instead, Calvin believed that because of common grace, non-Christians could make contributions to fields like philosophy and psychology, and Christians could use the spectacles of Scripture to assess those potential contributions.

Calvin’s approach is similar to David Powlison’s view of using the “lens of Scripture” to assess potential common grace findings. See, David Powlison on Common Grace, Biblical Counseling and Secular Psychology.

Worldview Integration

Though I would not chose to use Lambert’s imagery, I could agree with Heath that someone was “zombie-infected” under this condition:

If a person were building their model/theory/theology of biblical counseling on common grace insights from non-Christian thinkers.

However, I do not see biblical counselors doing that. Instead, I see biblical counselors:

Building theologically-saturated models of biblical counseling and then using God’s Word to assess whether there are any common grace findings that might make any contribution to our ministries to embodied-souls. (For my thinking on this approach, see: 6 Biblical Counseling Convictions.)

It is my conviction that simply using common grace insights—assessed with Scripture—is not integration. If it were, then Van Til would be a zombie-infected integrationist!

CVT: Cornelius Van Til

Recently, I began re-reading Cornelius Van Til. (I started reading Van Til in 1978—before many current biblical counselors were even born.) Van Til is “the poster child” for many biblical counselors who claim that other biblical counselors are misusing common grace. Because it has been awhile since I had read Van Til, I didn’t know what I would find. Honestly, here’s what I thought I’d find:

Van Til never affirmed that non-Christians could make valid contributions to fields like psychology!

To my shock, I began finding Van Til making numerous statements about contributions that non-Christians can make to every field of study, including psychology.

Cornelius Van Til on Contributions from Zombie Psychologists

Cornelius Van Til is one of the most conservative Reformed theologians on the noetic effect of sin, total depravity, common grace, presuppositionalism, and apologetics. Yet, speaking of the “natural man” (the non-Christian, the unsaved person), Van Til explains,

“In principle he is hostile to God. But he cannot carry through his principle completely. He is restrained by God from doing so. Being restrained by God from doing so, he is enabled to make contributions to the edifice of human knowledge” (A Christian Theory of Knowledge, 22).

“The forces of creative power implanted in him are to some extent released by God’s common grace. He therefore makes positive contributions in science in spite of his principle and because both he and the universe are the exact opposite of what they, by his principles, thinks they are” (A Christian Theory of Knowledge, 22).

Is this just the hard sciences? No. It is fascinating what Van Til says in A Christian Theory of Knowledge (43-44) about how those who are dead in sin can discover truth about people and problems—the content of psychology.

“Thus the Christian apologist should, to be sure, look sympathetically into the efforts of men in general when they seek to analyze themselves and their problems. There will be no doubt elements of truth in such an analysis….”

“Just now we spoke of elements of truth that may be found in the non-Christian diagnosis of sin and evil…. Reformed theologians speak of this restraint upon mankind in general as due to common grace. The restraint of God upon fallen mankind enables it to help build the culture of the race….”

“In spite of what he does against God, he yet can and must work for God; thus he is able to make a positive contribution to human culture. Thus it comes to pass that they of whom Scripture says that their minds are darkened can yet discover much truth….”

“But in spite of being dead in sins, they can, because of God’s common grace, discover truth…. Fallen man knows truth and does morally good things in spite of the fact that in principle he is set against God.”

Consider what these primary source quotations teach us.

Van Til claims that those who are dead in sin (Ephesians 2) with darkened understanding (Ephesians 4) can discover truth as they analyze people and problems—the content of psychology.
Van Til claims that Christians “should look sympathetically” upon spiritually dead people who analyze people and their problems—zombie psychologists!

So how should we view Van Til?

Should we label Van Til “zombie-infected”?

Or,

Should we label Van Til a “Conservative Reformed Theologian” who understands the intersection of the noetic effect of sin and God’s common grace and who assesses common grace findings with scriptural spectacles?

Covenant Keepers and Covenant Breakers

Van Til labels Christians “covenant keepers” and non-Christians “covenant breakers.” What use can Christians make of non-Christian resources?

“The covenant keepers will make use of the works of the covenant breakers which these have been able and compelled to perform in spite of themselves. As Solomon used the cedars of Lebanon (1 Kings 5:8-10), the products of the rain and the sunshine that had come to the covenant breakers, and as he used the skill of these very covenant breakers for the building of the temple of God, so also those who through the Spirit of God have believed in Christ may and must use all the gifts of all men everywhere in order by means of them to perform the cultural task of mankind” (Common Grace and the Gospel, 138).

“The case is similar with respect to the knowledge of unbelievers and their ability to do that which is relatively good. The fact that they are in principle opposed to God and would destroy the very foundation of knowledge and ethics, yet, in spite of this, because of God’s common grace, they can discover much truth and do much good” (Common Grace and the Gospel, 190).

“Since sinners are not consistent, and have what is from their point of view an old man within them they can engage in science and in the general interpretation of the created universe and bring to light much truth. He can discover that which is true and usable for the Christian” (A Christian Theory of Knowledge, 294).

Like Calvin before him, Van Til goes far beyond an abstract doctrine of common grace. He moves to specific application—covenant keepers/Christians make use of truth brought to light by covenant breakers/non-Christians—in science, in psychology, in culture…

Dr. Jared Poulton on Dr. Cornelius Van Til

Biblical counselor, Jared Poulton, who wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on Van Til, notes several specific psychology-related contributions that Van Til commended. I’m sharing these, with Jared’s permission, from a larger section of material that Jared recently posted on Twitter/X.

“One of the most fascinating developments in the history of biblical counseling is the fact that very little attention has been given to Van Til’s own engagements with psychology. In my doctoral research here is what I found.”

“In Christian Theistic Evidences (200), Van Til ‘rejoices’ that non-Christians have ‘finally come to the study of the abnormal.’”“Biblical counselors overlook the semi-positive recommendation of Freudian psychology in Van Til, since Van Til sees the ‘unconscious’ in Freud as consistent with the Calvinistic position that people are driven by forces that occur in the unconscious (Rom 1:18) (Christian Theistic Evidences, 197-98).”

“Since Christians and non-Christians share the same intellect, ‘there may be territories in the field of science where the unregenerate and the regenerate consciousness may cooperate’ (Unpublished Manuscripts, Logos).”

“As one example where the unregenerate and regenerate consciences may cooperate, Van Til lists, ‘in the collection of sense material, also in the somatic aspects of psychological science, and thirdly in logic, for the laws of reason have not been abrogated.’ Clearly Christians and non-Christians can cooperate in some of the bodily/somatic aspects of the psychological sciences.”

“In Van Til’s lectures on the Psychology of Religion (1-3), he provides the following charge to pastors: ‘Ministers of the gospel should have a knowledge of a sound psychological approach to men. . . . We see then that as Christian ministers we can no doubt learn something from the technique of the modern school of psychology of religion. We should always be thankful for any improvement in the technique of handling men that any one offers us.’”

Dr. Poulton ends his thread with these words:

“Biblical counselors may disagree with Van Til, but we should at least read Van Til correctly.”

Van Tillian Biblical Counselors

I would add to what Jared says. If we read our fellow biblical counselors correctly—in light of Van Til—then:

We should not call them “zombie-infected neo-integrationists.”

Instead, we should call them “Van Tillian biblical counselors.”

The Intersection of Grace and Sin

In our modern biblical counseling world, at times we oversimplify theology. This is true with our discussions of common grace. We simplistically pit two concepts against each other: the noetic effect of sin and common grace.

However, Van Til (and Calvin, Bavinck, and Kuyper) interacted about the intersection of several interrelated concepts:

On the one hand, they considered multiple overlapping theological concepts such as sin, the spiritual antithesis, the noetic effect of sin, total depravity, the darkened minds of those who are dead in sin, etc.

On the other hand, they considered multiple overlapping theological concepts such as grace, common grace, the imago Dei, the Creation Mandate, creation, nature, general revelation (the book of nature), the book of conscience (Romans 2), God’s providence, God’s affectionate sovereignty in providentially maintaining human society, etc.

Van Til frequently addresses this complexity. For example:

“In practice, therefore, the man of the street is a complex individual. He is first the creature made in the image of God. He is now in principle opposed to God. He is dead in trespasses and sins…. But he does not live fully from his principle. Therefore he does not react in the exclusively negative way that we would expect him to, if we look at the principle that ultimately controls him. Like the prodigal of the scriptural parable he cannot forget the father’s voice and the father’s house…. On the one hand he will do the good, in the sense of that which externally at least is in accord with the will of God. He will live a good moral life. He will be anxious to promote the welfare of his fellow men” (A Christian Theory of Knowledge, 225).

“It is therefore of the utmost importance to distinguish between what the natural man is by virtue of his adopted principle and what he still is because of the knowledge of God as his creator that he has within him and because of the non-saving grace by which he is kept from working out his principle to the full and by which he is therefore also able to do the morally good” (A Christian Theory of Knowledge, 225-226).

Just as Christians never live in perfect consistency with the new person we are in Christ, so the non-Christian never lives in perfect consistency with the old person they are without Christ. The natural man is always also the man created in the image of God and the man influenced by the common grace of God. The natural man can never fully suppress the consciousness of God and can never fully resist the common grace of God. Therefore:

The non-Christian—under the control of God’s sovereign common grace—can discover truth.
The Christian—under the control of God’s sovereign saving grace—assesses common grace findings under the control of God’s all-sufficient Word.

Oh the Riches of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God!

In saving grace, we know that where sin abounds, grace superabounds (Romans 5:20). In common grace, where sin abounds, common grace superabounds. God’s sovereign plans will never be thwarted. God’s common grace will never be thwarted.

Saving grace glorifies God, rather than glorifying the Christian. So also, common grace glorifies God, rather than glorifying the non-Christian.

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” (Romans 11:33).

Reformed Theologian #4: Abraham Kuyper

Unless otherwise noted, the quotes in this section are from Kuyper’s work, Wisdom and Wonder: Common Grace in Science and Art.

Defining Common Grace

Abraham Kuyper defined common grace as:

“That act of God by which negatively He curbs the operations of Satan, death, and sin, and by which positively He creates an intermediate state for this cosmos, as well as for our human race, which is and continues to be deeply and radically sinful, but in which sin cannot work out its end” (see Principles of Sacred Theology, 279).

Kuyper added:

“God is glorified in the total development toward which human life and power over nature gradually march on under the guardianship of ‘common grace.’ It is His created order, His work, that unfold here. It was He who seeded the field of humanity with all these powers. Without a ‘Common Grace’ the seed which lay hidden in that field would never have come up and blossomed. Thanks to ‘Common Grace,’ it germinated, burgeoned, shot up high and will one day be in full flower, to reward not man but the heavenly Farmer. . . . A finished world will glorify God as builder and supreme Craftsman. What paradise was in bud will appear in full bloom.”

In Wisdom and Wonder, Kuyper further develops the doctrine of common grace.

“Common grace is God’s restraint of the full effect of sin after the Fall, preservation and maintenance of the created order, and distribution of talents to human beings. As a result of this merciful activity of God through the Holy Spirit’s work in creation, it remains possible for humans to obey God’s first commandment for stewardly dominion over the creation (see Gen. 1:28)” (26).

Common Grace and Creation

Kuyper derived the doctrine of common grace from creation.

“There can be nothing in the universe that fails to express, to incarnate, the revelation of the thought of God” (39).

“The whole creation is nothing but the visible curtain behind which radiates the exalted working of this divine thinking” (39).

“So we can and must confess unconditionally that all of creation in its origin, existence, and progress constitutes one rich, integrated revelation of what God in eternity thought and established in his decree” (40).

Kuyper then asks the question that we all must ask:

“Now the only question is whether we human beings are gifted with a capacity to reflect that thinking of God” (40).

Common Grace and the Imago Dei

In part, Kuyper answers that question by tracing the doctrine of common grace to God having created us in His image—the imago Dei.

“Every human being is created according to the image of God. On this basis the Reformed churches confess that the original man in his nature, that is, by virtue of his creation, not through supernatural grace but according to the creation order, had received holiness, righteousness, and wisdom. Here, then attention is drawn to a capacity bestowed upon human beings enabling them to pry loose from its shell, as it were, the thought of God that lies embedded and embodied in the creation, and to grasp it in such a way that from creation they could reflect the thought which God has embodied in that creation when he created it. This capacity of human nature was not added as something extra, but belongs to the foundation of human nature itself” (41).

“In the creation, God has revealed, embedded, and embodied a rich fullness of his thoughts. And, God created in human beings, as his image-bearers, the capacity to understand, to grasp, to reflect, and to arrange within a totality these thoughts expressed in the creation” (41-42).

Common Grace and Science

Recall the subtitle of Kuyper’s book Wisdom and Wonder: Common Grace in Science and Art. “For Kuyper, science was not limited to ‘hard’ sciences like chemistry and biology but also extended to the humanities and social sciences” (26).

“Science belongs to the creation. Just think: if our human life had developed in its paradise situation, apart from sin, then science would have existed there just as it exists now, even though its development would obviously have been entirely different” (35).

“Science arises from creation, and as such has received from the Creator a calling independent of the state and the church” (36).

“The moment human beings employ this capacity for reflecting the thoughts of God from creation, science arises” (42).

“Science arises from the fruit of the thinking, imagining, and reflecting of successive generations in the course of centuries, and by means of the cooperation of everyone” (43).

“Science is not the personally acquired possession of each person, but gradually increased in significance and stability only as the fruit of the work of many people, among many nations, in the course of centuries” (45).

Science, Sin, and Common Grace

Track what Kuyper has said so far.

God created a universe that reveals the Creator.
God created image bearers who can study that natural revelation.
But how do sin and common grace impact our study of the cosmos?

“Sin is what lures people to place science outside of a relationship with God, thereby stealing science from God, and ultimately turning science against God” (51).

So, what does that mean for science practiced by non-Christians?

“Apart from common grace, the decline of science would have become absolute without that illumination by the Holy Spirit” (52).

“Anyone who ignores common grace can come to no other conclusion than that all science done outside the arena of the holy, lives off appearance and delusion, and necessarily results in misleading anyone listening to its voice. Yet the outcome shows that this is not the case. Among the Greeks, who were completely deprived of the light of Scripture, a science arose that continues to amaze us with the many beautiful and true things it offers. The names of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle have always been esteemed among Christian thinkers. It is no exaggeration to insist that the thinking of Aristotle has been one of the most powerful instruments leading themselves to still deeper reflection. In modern times as well, no one can deny that in the disciplines of astronomy, botany, zoology, physics, and so on, a rich science is blossoming. Although being conducted almost exclusively by people who are stranger to the fear of the Lord, this science has nevertheless produced a treasury of knowledge that we as Christians admire and gratefully use” (52-53).

“We are really confronting a science that has arisen from the world, a science that lies very definitely under the dominion of sin and that nevertheless on the other hand, may boast of results from which sin’s darkening is virtually absent. We can explain this only by saying that although sin does indeed spread its corruption, nevertheless common grace has intervened in order to temper and restrain this operation of sin” (53).

“Also as far as science is concerned, the situation we find is explicable only if we give both of these their due, on the one hand, the darkening of our understanding by sin, and on the other hand, God’s common grace that has placed a limitation on this darkening. That we very definitely may and must speak in this regard of God’s activity is immediately evident from the undeniable fact that in people like Plato and Aristotle, Kant and Darwin, stars of the first order have shined, geniuses of the highest caliber, people who expressed very profound ideas, even though they were not professing Christians. They did not have this genius from themselves, but received their talent from God who created them and equipped them for their intellectual labor” (53-54).

Note, that these previous quotes include not only the “hard sciences,” but also the “soft sciences” of philosophy (including the philosophical psychology of Plato and Aristotle).

Kuyper continues, asking whether the noetic effect of sin means that non-Christians can no longer reason.

“In order to see this, we must not suffice with the general slogan, ‘darkening by sin,’ but must account for how this darkening works. Has it resulted in our inability any longer to think logically? Has sin induced in us an inability to perceive what exists and occurs around us? Does sin place a blindfold over our eyes so that we no longer see or observe? Absolutely not…. We have not ceased on account of sin to be rational creatures” (54).

Still, sin’s darkening has its impact.

“Sin’s darkening lies in this, that we lost the gift of grasping the true context, the proper coherence, the systematic integration of all things. Now we view everything only externally, not in its core and essence, each thing individually but not in their mutual connection and in their origin from God. That connection, that coherence of things in their original connection with God, can be sense only in our spirit” (55).

However, even here, common grace enters to allow fallen humanity to gain some semblance of coherent insight.

“Wisdom is useful for the moment or for practical living, but it does not construct knowledge of the whole. For that reason, common grace supplies a second element. Once bereft of immediate insight into the essence of things, the pathway was opened so that through the indefatigable labor of further research, observation, analysis, imagination, and reflection, a person can acquire at least some knowledge of the external side of things and can learn to understand the appearance of things together, even if not the law of their motion” (61).

Sin Is a Cracked Mirror

Kuyper used the imagery of a cracked mirror to suggest how even fallen people can at least in part reflect creational truths.

“It is true that a mirror without a crack is preferable. Nevertheless a cracked mirror can assist if necessary. Therefore, we can postulate that the mirror of our consciousness became cracked by sin, and the reflection of the world on that cracked surface would provide us with a knowledge of the world that is not altogether incorrect” (63).

Then he provided specific examples of “cracked science.”

“It is undeniable that throughout the ages, common grace has been operative among numerous more developed peoples, in order to advance to a high degree the spiritual development in our human race by creating intellectual geniuses and bestowing brilliant talents” (82). [Note: Kuyper’s view of the nations and of race are often opposed to Christian thinking on such matters today.]

“Medical science may have gone awry in many ways, but to it still belongs the honor that in God’s hands it has been the instrument for relieving much suffering, for curbing many diseases, and for disarming much latent evil before its outbreak. Natural science has armed us in extraordinary ways against the destructive power of nature, and has subjected that nature to our dominion. The science of the humanities has affected our human thinking in a way that is wonderfully illuminating and influential” (97).

Now, does Kuyper’s positive understanding of unbelieving science mean that he has surrendered the idea of the noetic effect of sin? Certainly not. The next example is as relevant today as it was in Kuyper’s day:

“No further argument is required to see that the discipline of medicine yields profound danger if it proceeds in the direction that increasingly ignores the soul, the spiritual dimensions of people, and views a person as nothing more than a body whose expressions of vitality come forth from matter” (99).

In Summary: The Antithesis at the Intersection of Faith and Unbelief

In his 1898 Stone Lectures, Kuyper traced the sharp antithesis between faith and unbelief, yet he also gushed in eloquent praise for the achievement of unbelievers who hated his God:

“Sin places before us a riddle, which in itself is insoluble. If you view sin as a deadly poison, as enmity against God, as leading to everlasting condemnation, and if you represent a sinner as being “wholly incapable of doing any good, and prone to all evil,” and on this account salvable only if God by regeneration changes his heart, then it seems as if of necessity all unbelievers and unregenerate persons ought to be wicked and repulsive men. But this is far from being our experience in actual life. On the contrary the unbelieving world excels in many things. Precious treasures have come down to us from the old heathen civilization. In Plato you find pages which you devour. Cicero fascinates you and bears you along by his noble tone and stirs up in you holy sentiments. And if you consider . . . that which you derive from the studies and literary productions of professed infidels, how much there is which attracts you, with which you sympathize and which you admire. It is not exclusively the spark of genius or the splendor of talent, which excites your pleasure in the words and actions of unbelievers, but it is often their beauty of character, their zeal, their devotion, their love, their candor, their faithfulness and their sense of honesty. Yea . . . not unfrequently you entertain the desire that certain believers might have more of this attractiveness. . . .”

Reformed Theologian #5: David Powlison

In Powlison’s Affirmations & Denials, he develops the role of common grace in biblical counseling.

“We affirm that God’s providential common grace brings many goods to people, both as individual kindnesses and as social blessings: e.g., medical treatment, economic help, political justice, protection for the weak, educational opportunity. Wise counseling will participate in and encourage mercy ministries as part of the call to love.”

“We affirm that numerous disciplines and professions can contribute to an increase in our knowledge of people and how to help them. Scripture teaches a standpoint and gaze by which believers can learn many things from those who do not believe.”

“We deny that secular disciplines and professions are entirely benighted by the intellectual, moral, and aesthetic effects of sin. The operations of God’s common grace can cause unbelievers to be relatively observant, caring, stimulating, and informative.”

“We deny that the Bible intends to serve as an encyclopedia of proof texts containing all facts about people and the diversity of problems in living.”

In a 2018 article, Powlison had even more to say about the benefits of common grace insights for biblical counseling.

“But it is a true common grace that secular theories and practices always retain an instinct for the first word in that definition of human flourishing: love. Like most thoughtful people and most religions, they value human kindness and certain other aspects of person-to-person goodness. They witness and grieve the pain and misery caused by bad behavior, bad feelings, bad thoughts, and bad experiences. They know that caring for others is better than narcissism, arrogance, manipulation, revenge, and self-righteousness. To be cherished is far better than to be despised. Hope is far better than despair. Safety is far better than danger. Sanity and realism are far better than paranoia and delusion. Treating others well and being treated well is far better than all forms of using, misusing, mistreating, abusing, and betraying. A constructively purposeful life is far better than a pointlessly self-destructive lifestyle. To be part of the solution is far better than being part of the problem. And so forth!”

In 2010, Powlison was a primary developer of the Biblical Counseling Coalition’s Confessional Statement. On common grace and biblical counseling, Powlison and other biblical counseling leaders wrote:

“When we say that Scripture is comprehensive in wisdom, we mean that the Bible makes sense of all things, not that it contains all the information people could ever know about all topics. God’s common grace brings many good things to human life…. We affirm that numerous sources (such as scientific research, organized observations about human behavior, those we counsel, reflection on our own life experience, literature, film, and history) can contribute to our knowledge of people, and many sources can contribute some relief for the troubles of life.”

As part of this common grace approach to biblical counseling, David Powlison affirmed the importance of a variety of areas and avenues that biblical counselors follow.

“We recognize the complexity of the relationship between the body and soul (Genesis 2:7). Because of this, we seek to remain sensitive to physical factors and organic issues that affect people’s lives. In our desire to help people comprehensively, we seek to apply God’s Word to people’s lives amid bodily strengths and weaknesses. We encourage a thorough assessment and sound treatment for any suspected physical problems.

“We recognize the complexity of the connection between people and their social environment. Thus we seek to remain sensitive to the impact of suffering and of the great variety of significant social-cultural factors (1 Peter 3:8-22). In our desire to help people comprehensively, we seek to apply God’s Word to people’s lives amid both positive and negative social experiences. We encourage people to seek appropriate practical aid when their problems have a component that involves education, work life, finances, legal matters, criminality (either as a victim or a perpetrator), and other social matters.”

Powlison encouraged biblical counselors to learn from secular psychology and from Christian integrative counselors.

“We seek to engage the broad spectrum of counseling models and approaches. We want to affirm what is biblical and wise. We want to listen well to those who disagree with us, and learn from their critiques.”

In a 2012 article, Powlison had much to say about the value of secular psychology. Biblical counselors, according to Powlison, must start by looking for the good in secular psychology. To do otherwise equals “sectarian contentiousness.” Here’s Powlison in his own words:

“Look for the good. To make true sense of the psychologies, our critical thinking must intentionally look for the good. This has to be underlined.

Sectarian contentiousness only sees the bad, and does not produce redemption. But as in all the other mixed cases needing redemption, there is good in Psychology:

Secular researchers and clinicians know reams of significant facts about people and problems, about strengths and weaknesses. (We may not have noticed or known some or many of those facts. In encountering psychological information, I’m listening, so tell me anything and everything you know about everybody and anybody.)
Secular theories seek to answer crucial questions and address hard problems. (We may not have thought to ask those questions or address those problems. I want to take to heart hard questions that need answering.)
Secular therapies often embody helpful skills in knowing, in loving, and in speaking so as to catch the ear of strugglers. (We may be relatively clumsy. O skillful God, make me more probing. Make me more patient and kind. Make me more able to speak constructive words, according to the need of the moment, that I might give grace to those who hear.)” (18)

“We gain much and lose nothing by being appropriately attentive to and appreciative of their strengths.” (19)

“Secular therapists describe troubled people so vividly! Their desire to help is so palpable!” (19)

“We gain a point of contact with non-Christian psychologists when we wed something true and clear to the very things they know, care about, pursue, and do.” (20)

Powlison on the Usefulness of Secular Psychology

In a 1993 article, Powlison noted how Jay Adams saw the value of secular psychology.

“This is not to say that biblical counselors should ignore or dismiss the various secular psychologies. For example, see Jay Adams’s What About Nouthetic Counseling? (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976), page 31: Question: ‘Don’t you think that we can learn something from psychologists?’ Answer: ‘Yes, we can learn a lot; I certainly have. That answer surprised you, didn’t it? If it did, you have been led to believe, no doubt, that nouthetic counselors are obscurantists who see no good in psychology.’” (24)

“Every wise biblical counselor engages in lifelong empirical researches, informally if not formally. In this process psychologists, sociologists, historians, counselees, the non-Christians who live next door, USA Today and Agatha Christie may contribute to our grasp of the styles and how they develop. Often in counseling or reading—and even in our own repentance!” (21).

“Biblical counselors who fail to think through carefully the nature of biblical epistemology run the danger of acting as if Scripture were exhaustive, rather than comprehensive; as if Scripture were an encyclopedic catalogue of all significant facts, rather than God’s revelation of the crucial facts, richly illustrated, that yield a world view sufficient to interpret whatever other facts we encounter; as if Scripture were the whole bag of marbles rather than the eyeglasses through which we interpret all marbles; as if our current grasp of Scripture and people were triumphant and final.” (32)

Powlison (and Adams and Bettler) on the Use of Secular Psychology

In a 1993 article, 25 Years of Biblical Counseling: An Interview with Jay Adams and John Bettler Conducted by David Powlison, Powlison outlines 6 words descripting what modern nouthetic biblical counseling does with secular psychology (you can read my summary here). According to Adams, the goal of the discussion was:

“To produce a word that adequately and accurately expresses what a biblical Christian does with secular knowledge.”

They use six “R” words. Note that none of these “R” words are “Reject.” Instead, Adams, Bettler, and Powlison explain that biblical counselors should recycle secular knowledge, reinterpret secular knowledge, reshape secular knowledge, reconcile secular knowledge, redeem secular knowledge, and recast secular knowledge.

Bettler suggests that biblical counselors recycle error (in light of the truth). Sounds a bit like “integrating.”

In a 1996 article, Powlison illustrates recycling secular psychological theory using Adler as a specific example.

“Take as an example Alfred Adler’s Understanding Human Nature. He has a seventy-page section that is one of the finest descriptions of total depravity I’ve ever read. What’s interesting is that Alfred Adler doesn’t believe in total depravity; he doesn’t believe in sin. But he dissects things right down to why people pick their noses. He gets into the dirt of life and looks at the tricks and the chaos and the self-centeredness. He cares to help.” (38)

In a 1988 article, Powlison further develops the crucial need for contemporary biblical counselors to appreciate secular psychology.

“Perhaps it seems a paradox, but the final crucial issue for contemporary biblical counseling is the need to define more clearly the nuances in our relationship to secular thinking. The relationship of presuppositional consistent Christianity to secular culture is not simply one of rejection. Half of what biblical presuppositions give us is a way to discern the lie that tries to make people think about themselves as autonomous from God. But the other half of what biblical categories do is give us a way of appreciating, redeeming, and reframing the culture of even the most godless men and women.” (5)

Reformed Theologian #6: John Murray

John Murray provided this succinct definition of common grace:

Common grace “is every favour of whatever kind or degree, falling short of salvation, which this undeserving and sin-cursed world enjoys at the hand of God” (“Common Grace,” in the Collected Writings of John Murray, II:96).

Murray then developed common grace further, noting that through it, God endows men and women with gifts, talents, and opportunities they don’t deserve. God grants them:

“Gifts, talents, and aptitudes; he stimulates them with interest and purpose to the practice of virtues, the pursuance of worthy tasks, and the cultivation of arts and sciences that occupy the time, activity and energy of men and that make for the benefit and civilization of the human race. He ordains institutions for the protection and promotion of right, the preservation of liberty, the advance of knowledge and the improvement of physical and moral conditions. We may regard these interests, pursuits and institutions as exercising both an expulsive and impulsive influence. Occupying the energy, activity and time of men they prevent the indulgence of less noble and Ignoble pursuits and they exercise an ameliorating, moralizing, stabilizing and civilizing influence upon the social organism (“Common Grace,” in the Collected Writings of John Murray, II:102–03).

Murray elegantly describes the paradox of common grace in his 1942 essay:

“If we appreciate the implications of total depravity, then we are faced with a series of very insistent questions. How is it that men who still lie under the wrath and curse of God and are heirs of hell enjoy so many good gifts at the hand of God? How is it that men who are not savingly renewed by the Spirit of God nevertheless exhibit so many qualities, gifts, and accomplishments that promote the preservation, temporal happiness, cultural progress, social and economic improvement of themselves and of others? How is it that races and peoples that have been apparently untouched by the redemptive and regenerative influences of the gospel contribute so much to what we call human civilization?”

Reformed Theologian #7: Charles Hodge

Charles Hodge, 19^th century Reformed theologian, described common grace as:

“The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth, of holiness, and of life in all its forms, is present with every human mind, enforcing truth, restraining from evil, exciting to good, and imparting wisdom or strength, when, where, and in what measure seemeth to Him good … This is what in theology is called common grace” (see Systematic Theology, II:667).

Reformed Theologian #8: John Frame

John Frame, in his book The Doctrine of the Christian Life, writes that:

“…unbelievers are able to do things that look good to us. They don’t look good to God, for God knows the heart. But they look good to us, and they often bring benefits to society. So non-Christians often improve society through their skills and ideas. They make scientific discoveries, produce labor-saving inventions, develop businesses that supply jobs, produce works of art and entertainment.

Reformed Theologian #9: Tim Keller

The Apostle James wrote, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17).

Referring to this passage, Tim Keller writes in his book The Reason for God:

“This means that no matter who performs it, every act of goodness, wisdom, justice, and beauty is empowered by God. God gives out good gifts of wisdom, talent, beauty, and skill “graciously”— that is, in a completely unmerited way. He casts them across all humanity, regardless of religious conviction, race, gender, or any other attribute to enrich, brighten, and preserve the world” (Keller, The Reason for God, 53).

Reformed Theologian #10: R .C. Sproul

After stating that the church’s understanding of special revelation had been corrected by students of natural revelation, R. C. Sproul illustrated his point with a reference to the introduction of new astronomical ideas in the sixteenth century.

“Both Calvin and Luther rejected Copernicus as a heretic in the 16th century. I don’t know anybody in orthodox Christianity today who’s pleading for geocentricity. Do you? Do you know anybody? In that case the church has said, ‘Look, we misinterpreted the teaching of the Bible with respect to the solar system, and thank you scientists for correcting our misunderstanding.’ And so I think that we can learn from nonbelieving scientists who are studying natural revelation. They may get a better sense of the truth from their study of natural revelation than I get from ignoring natural revelation. So I have a high view of natural revelation is what I’m saying” (Luther, Calvin, and Copernicus: A Reformed Approach to Science and Scripture). (Note: This quote is technically less specifically related to “common grace” and more specifically related to “natural revelation”—which is able to be studied because of common grace.)

10 Reformed Theologians on Common Grace

A Word from Bob

Introducing “Common Grace”

Reformed Theologian #1: John Calvin

Calvin on the Unbelieving Mind

Calvin on the Knowledge of Earthly Things

Calvin on “The Ministry of the Ungodly”

Calvin on Understanding

John Calvin: “Integrationist”???

A Calvin Sampler: Affirming Plato and Aristotle

A Calvin Sampler: Heavily Influenced by Secular Philosophical Psychology

A Calvin Sampler: Influenced by Debunked (and Junk) Science

A Calvin Sampler: A Platonic Dualist

A Calvin Sampler: Calvin, Stoicism, and Emotions

What Explains Calvin’s Thinking and Practice?

The Moral of the Story: “Calvin-Like Biblical Counselors”

Amazing Grace! Amazing Common Grace!

Doxology: Romans 11:33-36

Reformed Theologian #2: Herman Bavinck

The Good Gift of Common Grace

Bavinck on Calvin and Engagement with the World

Bavinck on the Role of the Arts and Science

Calvin and Bavinck on God’s Gifts to All People

Calvin and Bavinck on Honoring and Making the Most of Art and Science

Bavinck on the Reformed Appreciation for the Good and Beautiful Given by God to the Unsaved

Reformed Theologian #3—Cornelius Van Til

Van Til, Kuyper, Bavinck, and Biblical Counselors: An Assessment

The Importance of Cornelius Van Til for Biblical Counselors

Cornelius Van Til on Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck

A Letter on Common Grace

Van Til on His View of Kuyper and Bavinck

Van Til’s Indebtedness to Kuyper and Bavinck for His Presuppositional Apologetics

Van Til on Bavinck: An Assessment by Brian G. Mattson

WWCT? (What Would Cornelius Think?): Van Til, Kuyper, Bavinck, and Biblical Counselors

Cornelius Van Til on Common Grace: In His Own Words

Van Til on the Source of the Unbeliever’s Knowledge

Common Grace and the Use or Non-Use of Information from Non-Christians

Van Til on Cultural Mandate/Creation Mandate, Common Grace, and Believers Using the Knowledge of Unbelievers

Van Til: In His Own Words

Cornelius Van Til: “Zombie-Infected”???

Of Zombies and the Trojan Horse of Common Grace

Heath Lambert: A Catalyst for Further Study

The Valid Question

John Calvin: “Integrationist”???

Worldview Integration

CVT: Cornelius Van Til

Cornelius Van Til on Contributions from Zombie Psychologists

Covenant Keepers and Covenant Breakers

Dr. Jared Poulton on Dr. Cornelius Van Til

Van Tillian Biblical Counselors

The Intersection of Grace and Sin

Oh the Riches of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God!

Reformed Theologian #4: Abraham Kuyper

Defining Common Grace

Common Grace and Creation

Common Grace and the Imago Dei

Common Grace and Science

Science, Sin, and Common Grace

Sin Is a Cracked Mirror

In Summary: The Antithesis at the Intersection of Faith and Unbelief

Reformed Theologian #5: David Powlison

Powlison on the Usefulness of Secular Psychology

Powlison (and Adams and Bettler) on the Use of Secular Psychology

Reformed Theologian #6: John Murray

Reformed Theologian #7: Charles Hodge

Reformed Theologian #8: John Frame

Reformed Theologian #9: Tim Keller

Reformed Theologian #10: R .C. Sproul

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Cart

Get Updates By Email

Thank you so much! You have been successfully subscribed to our newsletter. Check your inbox!