In previous chapters we have spoken of "common grace" and the "means of grace." We have also spoken of what is called "common operations of the Spirit" and of "special grace." We have spoken of how grace is often resisted by sinners, and how at times grace has been specially given that overcame all resistance and brought the sinner to receive "saving grace." Far from supporting some version of Arminian theology or Wesleyan ideas about prevenient grace, the doctrine of preparatory grace is a leading tenet in Puritan Calvinism, and the citations from such Calvinists in preceding chapters show this to be so.
Those Calvinists who reject any version of "prevenient grace" will however often avow a belief in "common grace." This is inconsistent for several reasons. First, because, as we will see, common grace has as one of its ends the saving of sinners, a fact which must be denied by those Calvinists who deny any kind of prevenient grace. Second, those Calvinists who insist that regeneration or rebirth precedes faith and repentance generally deny that there are any preparatory works of the Spirit or of divine grace, and so they are forced to say that conviction of sin by the law is an evidence of regeneration. Third, such a Hyper Calvinistic view does not allow that hearing the gospel or having the bible are gracious gifts of God.
Common Grace
By "common grace" it is not intended to say that all men equally enjoy God's good things but that they all, in one degree or another, receive good things from God, unmerited favors, bestowed upon all, wicked and righteous. Some of those favors are enjoyed by all unconditionally and some are available conditionally. Examples of common grace in the scriptures are seen in Jesus sying that the Father "makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matt. 5: 45 nkjv) Another example is where the Psalmist said: “The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made” (Psalm 145:9). The Lord Jesus said that God "is kind to the unthankful and evil." (Luke 6: 35 nkjv)
Donald Grey Barnhouse (1895-1960) wrote the following on common grace (emphasis mine):
"You are not a believer in Christ and yet you are still out of hell. That is the grace of God. You are not in hell, but you are on earth in good health and prosperity. That is the common grace of God...The fact that you have enough is common grace. You do not deserve it. And if you think that you do deserve anything at all from God beyond the wrath which you have so richly earned, you merely show your ignorance of spiritual principles."
"Romans 2:4 puts the matter of God's common grace to you and others as a question: "Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience?" The answer is, of course, you do--unless you have repented of your sin and turned back toward God through faith in Jesus Christ. By nature human beings are ungrateful. By nature you show "contempt" for God's kindness. Yet it is precisely this kindness that God is using to bring you to repentance."
Barnhouse again says:
"Why is God so good toward the lost? He declares that the purpose of the riches of his goodness, forbearance and longsuffering is to lead man to repentance; and he further declares that man does not know the object of God's goodness. Is this not a further picture of the state of man by nature? Can it not be seen that the dark ignorance of unbelief has brought a further fruit of ignorance of the grace of God? You are in good health? Why does God permit it? The answer is that he wants you to turn to him and acknowledge his goodness and accept the riches that he has for you. You have other blessings that come from the common grace of God. The purpose of such riches is to cause you to turn about-face and come to Him for further blessing." (Donald Grey Barnhouse, "God's Wrath," The Book of the Revelation, vol. 2 Eerdmans, Grand Rapids 1953)
Barnhouse is correct to see common grace as a means of grace, or an instance of prevenient grace. But, more on that thesis and Romans 2: 4 shortly. First, let us notice these words of the apostle Peter:
"Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered." (I Peter 3: 7 nkjv)
This text speaks of life, natural life, as a grace, a gift of God. Some commentators, however, rather think that the "grace of life" in the passage alludes to spiritual or eternal life, and this being the case, the exhortation of the apostle is to those married couples who are both believers. I rather believe, however, that the grace of life is a reference to natural life that a married couple enjoys whether they be Christians or not. After all, in the first verse of this chapter Peter speaks of some marriages where one of the spouses is a believer and the other not. That being so the "grace of life" is an example of common grace.
Divine common grace and goodness is seen in several ways. Luke the historian and author of the Book of Acts records an incident wherein the Pagans sought to worship the apostles Barnabas and Paul as gods due to the miracles they had wrought. Wrote Luke:
"14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out 15 and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, 16 who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." (Acts 14: 14-17 nkjv)
A similar passage in Acts is this:
“24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17: 24-31 nkjv)
These passages speak of God's gracious and kind gifts to fallen men, which is what is meant by "common grace." Those good things are sunshine and rain, fruitful seasons, food and gladness, "life, breath, and all things." They are instances of grace too because no fallen sinner deserves any good thing. But, what is their purpose? Is one of those purposes the leading of men to repentance unto salvation? Many Calvinists would say no because they embrace the proposition that says "common grace has nothing to do with salvation." I am a Calvinist but I do not say that common grace has nothing to do with salvation, nor do I reject prevenient grace, though I reject the Wesleyan idea of it. As we saw in previous chapters, many other Calvinists share my views.
Purpose of Common Grace
Those texts above also tell us that one of the purposes of God in showing such kindness to lost sinners is so that they "should seek the Lord" and might "find him," and might come to repentance and be saved. The text says that "God gives to all life, breath, and all things so that they should seek the Lord and find him." This is also explicitly stated by the apostle Paul when he wrote:
"Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" (Rom. 2: 4 nkjv)
Those Calvinists who deny that common grace is intended by God to be a means to lead lost sinners to God and to Christ, and salvation thereby, must explain how they can affirm such a thing in light of what is stated in the above texts. In the Rom. 2: 4 text Paul identifies several things that are examples of God's common grace, they being God's goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering; And he also states what was the chief purpose for God graciously gifting those good things. To show how Calvinists sometimes have trouble with the idea of common grace and its relation to salvation, and it being also a kind of prevenient grace, consider what John Gill, who many think helped to promote Hyper Calvinism, wrote concerning Acts 14: 17. Gill (1697-1771) wrote the following about that text:
"...the goodness of God should have led them to repentance, and not have been abused to so many wicked purposes as it had been..."
However, in his commentary on Romans 2: 4 he wrote:
"...not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. This is to be understood not of a spiritual and evangelical repentance, which is a free grace gift, and which none but the Spirit of God can lead, or bring persons to; but of a natural and legal repentance, which lies in an external sorrow for sin, and in an outward cessation from it, and reformation of life and manners, which the goodness of God to the Jews should have led them to..."
I find it bewildering how such a learned theologian could so contradict himself. I also find it astounding how he can say that the repentance of Romans 2: 4 is not a saving or evangelical repentance. I also find his reasoning for so interpreting the text and saying it is dealing with a "natural and legal repentance" to be absurd and what would never enter the mind of a bible student who reads the text and takes it at face value. It is amazing that he could say that God's grace, goodness, kindness, etc. is only intended by him to bring men to sorrow over their sins but not to find salvation from them.
Charles Spurgeon, who decades later became pastor of the church that Gill served, did not take Gill's Hyper Calvinistic view of the text. In preaching upon the above text (See here) Spurgeon said (emphasis mine):
"The goodness of God to a man of evil life is not intended to encourage him to continue in his sin, but it is meant to woo and win him away from it. God manifests his infinite gentleness and love that he may thereby kill man’s sin; and that, by his tender mercy, he may win man’s hard heart unto himself; and that, by his abundant lovingkindness, he may awaken man’s conscience to a sense of his true position in his Maker’s sight, that he may turn away from the sin which he now loves, and may seek his God, whom he has despised and neglected."
Several times Spurgeon affirms that God's common grace and goodness shown towards sinful men is for the purpose of salvation. That being true, common grace falls within the category of prevenient grace.
On this text Dr. Albert Barnes wrote the following in his commentary:
"...the design of the goodness of God is to induce people to repent of their sins, and not to lead them to deeper and more aggravated iniquity. The same sentiment is expressed in 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." See also Isaiah 30:18, "And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you;" Hosea 5:15; Ezekiel 18:23, Ezekiel 18:32."
The Greek word for "goodness" is sometimes translated as "kindness," and of that divine kindness we read the following:
"For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared." (Titus 3: 3-4 kjv)
This "kindness" is a grace or unmerited favor. It is associated with the "love" of God. It is "toward man," which must mean all men, men who are described as depraved, being foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and carnal pleasures, living in malice, envy, and hate. That includes every sinner. In Ephesians 2: 7 the apostle speaks of "his grace in his kindness." How did this kindness "appear"? It appeared in the coming of the Son of God from heaven and becoming a man so he could die as a sacrificial substitute for the salvation of sinners. It further appears in the heralds who were sent out into the world to bring the good news of this salvation to sinners and tell them how they might obtain forgiveness, justification, and become free from sin and its consequences and thereby to enjoy God and heaven forever. This is explicitly stated by the apostle Paul in these words:
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age." (Titus 2: 11-12 nkjv)
By "the grace of God" in this text is meant the gospel. So we read of the "gospel of the grace of God," which is a genitive and may well mean "the gospel which is the grace of God." (Acts 20:24) In Acts 14: 3 and 20: 32 we have other genitives in the words "word of his grace" which could mean "the message concerning his grace" or "word which is his grace." To be "called by grace" (Gal. 1: 15) is to be "called by the gospel" (II Thess. 2: 14). When Paul speaks of "the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you" (Eph. 3: 2) he clearly has reference to the gospel he was entrusted with. (See also Phil. 1: 7) "Knew the grace of God in truth" (Col. 1: 6) is knowing the true gospel. When Peter speaks of the Lord's ministers being "stewards of the manifold grace of God" (I Peter 4: 10) he means stewards of the gospel. Those apostates who "turn the grace of God into lasciviousness" (Jude 1: 4) are corrupting the message of the gospel, and in doing this they are "falling from grace." (Gal. 5: 4)
So, what grace has appeared to all men? Well, all men are recipients of common grace as we have seen. All men also experience some convictions in the conscience when they do immoral things and this is due to the law of God being written in their minds by creation and by nature. (Rom. 2: 15) All men have some strivings of the Spirit, some common operations of the Spirit, causing them to feel guilt for their sins in the conscience. (Gen. 6: 3) To those styled "stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears" (a description of unregenerate sinners) Stephen said "you do always resist the Holy Spirit." (Acts 7: 51)
Doubtless it is not saving grace that has appeared to all men. Nor has the grace of the gospel appeared to every single human being. However, I do believe that the grace of God that Paul says has appeared to all men is indeed the gospel. So, by "all men" he means that the gospel has been sent to all men and not to Jews only.
What are the intended designs of God in this gospel grace being sent to all men? It is to teach them. Teach them what? Is it not to teach them that they are condemned sinners and in need of saving grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus? Yes, it is to teach men to live godly and righteous lives, but teaching this necessarily involves telling sinners that "whatever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14: 23) and "without faith it is impossible to please God." (Heb. 11: 6) It necessarily involves teaching men how to be saved from their sins, which is "by grace through faith" (Eph. 2: 8) and that "by Him (Jesus) everyone who believes is justified from all things" (Acts 13: 39 nkjv), and saying to them - "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." (Acts 16: 31) This appearance of the grace of the Gospel is then an example of prevenient grace.
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