Common Grace - brainstorming

Of course, anything in my brain is a storm. . .

I've been thinking a lot lately about God's Common Grace. It started back when I began learning more about the Christian's role in relation to the government and politics, which (my thinking about it) started when Lance was preaching through 1 Peter. Then, from that, I started thinking about how the government is one of the means that God uses to bestow His "common grace." So, for what it's worth, here's my preliminary thoughts on the subject.

Some Preliminary Thoughts on Common Grace and Special Grace

0. All grace is "special," i.e. undeserved. The distinction is
between salvific grace and non-salvific grace.

0.a Common grace is shown by allowing even unbelievers to do things
that are in harmony with God's revealed will (Romans 2 - law of God
written on their heart)

1. Common Grace does NOT imply that God is rewarding good behaviour.
Many people believe that the USA is a wealthy and prosperous nation
because of the presence of Christantiy. Universaltiy of sin; Can God
Bless America by John MacArthur; morality does not a Christian make;
education does not a Christian make; we get more emotional about
people living in financial poverty than about those living in
spiritual poverty - there are many believers living in financial
poverty who are perfectly happy.

1.a We get all emotional about a fictional movie or book about someone
who learns a lesson (Rain Man; Uncle Buck etc) when the more important
issue of their spiritual depravity is not addressed.

1.b we congratulate and feel genuinely happy for unbelievers who have
made it well in this world - is this wrong?

2. One of God's chosen instuments of His bestoal of Common Grace is
the government. "it doesn't bear the sword for nothing"; rom 13:1-7;
1 Pet 2:13-17

3. God can use Common Grace to accomplish His Uncommon (i.e.
salvific) purposes. - sovereignty of God; decreed will vs. revealed
will - God's decreed will can include sinful acts yet He judges those
sinful acts that bring about His decreed will

4. Common Grace extends to ALL - the fact that all humanity was not
immediatly wiped out in the Garden was an act of Common Grace (and
special?)

4a. Special Grace extends only to the elect.

5. Every breath, every heartbeat, every meal is from the bounty of
God's Common Grace.

6. Common Grace in creation, beauty, art, music, food and drink etc.
- we should give glory to God for his bestoal of common grace upon
believers thru these. - prayers of thanksgiving; need to read stuff
from Francis Schaeffer

6a. Can and should believers seek to find beauty in art that is
composed by unbelievers? Is it wrong for a believer to enjoy Elton
John's music?

7. Are we called to actively seek to be instruments of common grace?
We know that we should try to be instruments of God's Special grace
(great commission). Political activism; Time Changer Movie; morality
without the gospel

8. Is special grace ONLY bestoed at justification? Does it continue
thru sanctification?

9. "Moral" unbelievers and total depravity - even "moral" actions are
stripped of their significance if the person doesn't acknowledge God.

10. The opposite of Common Grace is not "Common Wrath", but God's
withdrawl of Common Grace from someone's life. God can, although,
actively harden - e.g. pharoah (but is this simply God allowing
Pharoah to do what his depraved heart wanted?) - double
predestination; retribution - 1 Peter something-"to this (doom) they
were appointed"

11. advances in science are (always?) a direct result of God's common
grace; but what about Darwinism?

12. Are scientific and cultural changes always Common grace or are
they results of God accomplishing His will in the world? E.g. the
industrial revoltuion?

13. God can bestow common grace without endorsing the action - e.g.
the american revolution

14. are ALL successes in this world examples of common grace?
probably not - financial success is usually a hinderance to
recognizing one's depravity - but in another sense, it might be an
example of common grace because the person it getting along relatively
well while here on earth

http://www.mbrem.com/calvinism/commongrace.htm

http://www.ldolphin.org/common.html

http://www.commongrace.net/index.html - can't quite figure them out

http://www.prca.org/articles/article_4.html

http://www.prca.org/articles/article_7.html

http://www.sounddoctrine.net/LIBRARY/Modern%20Day%20Reform%20Teaching/John%20Murray/Common_Grace.htm

http://www.graceonlinelibrary.org/full.asp?ID=118

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/008/5.50.html

http://www.abideinchrist.com/selah/aug17.html

http://www.planetkc.com/puritan/Articles/CommonGrace_f.htm

http://www.rfpa.org/Scripts/prodView.asp?idProduct=69

http://www.gracegems.org/13/saving.htm

http://www.cprf.co.uk/articles/commongrace.htm - a contra view

http://www.hudsonvilleprc.org/ram-2/debate.html

http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0802821111/qid=1102707163/ -
Mouw's book

Why you should read John Piper's writings. . .

. . . because of quotes like this:

"The essence of Christianity is that God is the supreme value in the universe, that we do not honor him as supremely valuable, that we are therefore guilty of sin and under his omnipotent wrath, and he alone can rescue us from his own condemnation, which he has done through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ, for everyone who is in Christ."

- from "No Condemnation in Christ Jesus"


More resources available at desiringgod.org.