Common Grace and the Noetic Effect of Sin
In Reformed Christian theology, unregenerate persons are totally depraved and all of their thinking is under the noetic (mind) impact of sin.
Yet, also in Reformed thinking, unregenerate/unsaved persons can make valid contributions to society, culture, the arts, research, science, and more.
How can these two truths be simultaneously true?
The Reformed doctrine of common grace answers this question.
The Presbyterian theologian John Murray defined common grace as “every favor of whatever kind or degree, falling short of salvation, which this undeserving and sin-cursed world enjoys at the hand of God.” Murray teaches that:
- Common grace involves God’s restraint of sin, divine wrath, and evil.
- Connon grace functions to bestow God’s goodness on men and to excite goodness from men.
- Common grace bestows goodness and beauty in the bounty of creation.
- In common grace, God bestows goodness to the unregenerate, enables them to want to do acts of common goodness, and produces non-saving influences of biblical truth on the minds of the unregenerate.
Common Grace and the Goodness of God
I’ve studied the biblical teaching about common grace for decades. This past week, I’ve been reading Herman Bavinck’s Biblical and Religious Psychology.
According to Bavinck:
- When we minimize God’s common grace, we minimize God’s sovereignty and goodness.
- If we allow the noetic effect of sin to be more influential than God’s common grace, then we are doubting God’s affectionate sovereignty.
- When we minimize God’s common grace, we doubt God’s kingdom rule over His creation.
According to Bavinck, when we allow the noetic effect of sin to be more impactful than God’s common grace, then we are giving more power to sin than to grace. “Where sin abounds, grace superabounds.”
Believing in common grace is not believing in the goodness of humanity; it is believing in the goodness of God.
When fallen humanity produces good, it is a reflection of God’s goodness, His common goodness.
Herman Bavinck on Common Grace and the Glory of God
“In the world God continually introduces, in opposition to the destructive and devastating forces, other conserving and renewing forces that ensure its continuation and development and that are referred to as regenerative forces in modern natural science. In essence and in substance, it refers to the same concept that in our circles in recent years has been referred to as common grace or general grace. Scripture and nature remarkably agree in this respect; they are both revelations of the one word of God” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 188).
“Common grace is rightly called common. It is absolutely universal. It spreads out not only to humanity, but to every living soul, and to the ordinances of heaven and earth. And it may be called grace because the existence and continuation of the world, after the transgression of God’s law, is no longer automatic and natural but is established and assured by a special promise of God. The order of creation has come to rest on a deliberatively unshakable covenant of through that promise” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 188).
“This covenant is thus one great preserving and restoring power that God sets against the dominion of unrighteousness in the world. And from that one covenant promise flow all the particular preserving and regenerating powers… And still, despite the curse, the world remains an adornment and a work of art in which God’s glory shines. The earth is still full of the lovingkindness of the Lord” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 188-189).
God Has Not Abandoned His World, But Rules Over It
“God did not abandon the world. He did not leave it to total decay. He preserved it as his creation and prepared it for his re-creation. Therefore, he preserves and confirms these small remnants; he confronts the destructive forces of sin with the preserving power of his grace. However, these are powers of grace that are owed not to fallen nature or the powerlessness of sin but to God’s patience, forbearance, and kindness (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 189).
“The Reformed doctrine of common grace remains of exceptional value. On the one hand, it enables us to maintain undiminished the guilt and corrupting character of sin, while also preventing us from attributing to the abilities and powers of the natural human what is solely due to God’s mercy and kindness” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 191).
Our Duty to Appreciate Common Grace Gifts
“On the other hand, it grants us complete freedom and even imposes upon us the duty to impartially and open-mindedly appreciate all the good gifts and perfect blessings that descend into natural life from the Father of lights (James 1:17)” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 191).
“Such gifts are not lacking, even in the dispensation that commenced after the fall of humanity. The earth is cursed because of sin and brings forth thorns and thistles, yet it remains the storehouse for humanity, providing what is necessary for the preservation of life. Labor becomes burdensome and is accompanied by toil, but it remains the means by which humans sustain themselves and extend their dominion over the world. Even soon after, agriculture and animal husbandry, sciences and arts begin to develop; culture emerges, and cities and states become its breeding grounds. An orderly society is established, which although disrupted by the unrighteousness of humanity through the flood and the confusion of languages, is subsequently restored and rebuilt in different forms” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 191).
“Therefore, the entire world during this time is marked by irony, by laughter within tears. It is not comprehensible solely as a manifestation of God’s wrath, nor exclusively as a manifestation of his mercy. The earth lies between heaven and hell; it is distinct from both and shares something with both. Prosperity and adversity, light and darkness, life and death, blessings and judgments, constantly alternate with each other, in individuals as well as in families, generations, and nations. Hymns of praise and lamentations continually make way for one another” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 193).
The Unending Rule of God
“The designation of man as the image of God after the fall should not be weakened to the extent that all connection between man and God have been lost through sin. On the contrary, man is and remains God’s offspring even in his sinful state, as Paul echoes the Gentile poet Aratus. Humanity is related to God; it is his family, his household on earth. The preservation of this relationship is due to God’s common goodness” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 201).
“He does not withdraw from creation itself after the fall but continues to dwell and work within it. By his almighty and omnipresent power, he sustains and governs all creatures. And this provision is not only a manifestation of power, nor primarily a demonstration of wrath and punishment, but to a great extent an expression of kindness and favor—not of that particular grace that he grants to the church in Christ, but certainly of that general grace that he bestows on all his creatures day by day” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 201).
Common Grace to Fallen Image Bearers: Rational, Religious, and Moral Implications
“This blessing descends not only upon the earth (Gen. 8:22) but also upon man himself (Gen. 9:1) and upon both in relationship to each other. The blessing bestowed upon man in his own person consists of receiving life and being sustained in that life. However, when we speak of this life, we should not exclusively think of the physical existence that man shares with plants, animals, and all creatures. We should especially consider the life that is uniquely his as a rational, religious, and moral being, distinct from other creatures” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 202).
“Man has remained a rational being. He possesses not only the faculty of sensory perception and sensory desires, but also a higher faculty of knowledge and aspiration: intellect, reason, and will. And through this, he reaches out for goods higher than sensual ones; he is a citizen of another world, one that cannot be seen with the eyes or touched with the hands. He has an awareness of the invisible, spiritual, and eternal things; he forms ideals and ideas, and even creates various illusions, yet these illusions have their indispensable value. They keep man internally connected to his higher destiny; they are an anchor that may not be firmly rooted in the innermost sanctuary where Christ has entered, but still binds the human soul to a higher world and prevents it from sinking into the whirlpool of visible things” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 202).
“Likewise, the religious disposition is preserved in man. This does not imply that the idea of God is innate in man, nor does it mean that this idea remained pure in his soul. However, it does express that man, by nature, is a religious being, that he possesses, not by education or external influenced, but by his own nature, the need, inclination, and urge to acknowledge and worship such a higher unseen power that determines his own destiny and that of the surrounding world. And this disposition of human nature is thanks to the fact that God does not remain silent, that he continually reveals himself to and in man, that he enlightens every man coming into the world through the Word, which is life and light (John 1:9). In him, we move, and have our being (Acts 17:28)” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 202-203).
“Finally, man remains a moral being. Paul testifies of the Gentiles that, although they do not have the Mosaic law, they still do the tings that the law requires, thereby showing that the work of the law is written on their hearts (Rom. 2:15)” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 203).
“That man, even in his sinful state, is upheld as a rational, religious, and moral being by God’s common goodness is clearly testified in the holy Scriptures, finds confirmation in the history of all peoples, and is continually reaffirmed in the experience of every person” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 207).
Common Grace to Fallen Image Bearers: Science and Practical Skills
“Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge are gifts of God’s Spirit (Ex. 31:3), not only in the theoretical sense, as we usually speak of science, but also in the practical and technical sense as these gifts are manifested in the devising of ingenious work and in its execution in all kinds of manual labor (Ex. 35:31-35)” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 45).
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom: of wisdom concerning ourselves, concerning man and society, and concerning the world as a whole; of that practical wisdom that rests on clear insight, knows the value of things, and regulates life accordingly” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 97).
Common Grace and the Affectionate Sovereignty of God
“The Christian church always kept its eyes open to the good that was present in nature and the human world despite sin. However, it did not attribute this good to a separate principle that remained in nature itself, but rather to the power of God, which, despite sin and precisely to restrain its influence, remained active in creation. Calvin in particular gave rich development to this doctrine of common grace” (Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology, 207).
In Summary
We believe in common grace not because of the goodness of humanity, but because of the goodness of God—because of God’s common goodness, God’s common grace.
We believe in common grace because we believe that where sin abounds, grace superabounds.
We believe in common grace because we believe in God’s affectionate sovereignty.
