Common Grace, 2.16

Last updated on: December 29, 2020 at 8:00 am by Coyle Neal

Common Grace, 2.16 2020-12-17T14:47:56-07:00 Coyle Neal

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This post is part of a series walking through the second volume of Abraham Kuyper’s Common Grace.

Where does common grace fall relative to the ‘the confession concerning Christ’? (140) Obviously we must not elevate the Incarnate God-man above God the Father (‘Christo-centrism’) as the pantheists do. Instead, Christ must be the center which sheds light on a sinful world–but we must not reverse those. That is, Christ must be our focus and the way in which we understand the ‘essence of things.’ We must not reverse that and say that we only understand Christ because the world is so ‘sunken into sin.’ (141)

The Incarnation itself was a miracle of the Holy Spirit. And though the way was prepared through her, Mary herself was not the cause of Christ’s holiness. He stands apart from us in being without original sin. This raises the question of the role of heredity relative to sin. Certainly it plays a function in the sins we struggle with as individuals. An alcoholic parent is likely to have a child who struggles with the same thing–even if the child is given up for adoption. Yet even with that fact, original sin is equal in all of us.

Christ, however, was conceived apart from original sin. Mary’s relative holiness is irrelevant and historical/theological attempts to purify her miss this point and fall into the question of why God didn’t just let us all be born like Mary. Ultimately, the idea that Mary was without original sin renders “the entire Incarnation superfluous.” (144)

Even Aquinas admits that this is all by the wayside in any case, given that Scripture itself never says that Mary was sinless…

What’s more, Jesus lived in a tent just as we do. That is, he lived in a temporary body looking forward to a permanent one. Jesus as he lived in his community was both a real human being and an incomplete human being (albeit a perfect one). But what was the nature of this community? It was not just the spiritual life of the elect. It was rather the whole of human life. This is how God’s glory was seen in Christ.

Nor was this community merely external or only superficial. Jesus lived the fully bound and organic life that all human beings live. He had the full web of relationships that all of us have. It is in this web that we see another place where common grace was at work in Christ’s life, and had been at work preparing the way for His coming. This must be a part of what we confess when we confess the Incarnate Savior.

More on this community preparation by common grace in the next chapter.

Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO

Previous Post

December 28, 2020

Best Books of 2020

Next Post

January 5, 2021 Common Grace, 2.17

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Action AFI Top 100 Animation Best Picture Winner BFI Top 250 Biography Biopic Books Childrens Christian Classics Classics Comedy Crime Documentary Drama Editor's Choice Family Fantasy Fantasy Films Foreign Historical Historical Fiction History Horror Horror IMDB Top 250 Indie Memoir Modern Novel Musical Mystery Non-Fiction Oscars Philosophy Poetry Popular Literature Reading and Writing Reality Romance Science Fiction Science Fiction Silent Sports Thriller TV Show Uncategorized Western Westerns Young Adult

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 June 2017 January 2017 December 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Abraham's brother?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jacob Lot Isaac Nahor