Summing up the argument on the provenance of the doctrine of Common Grace (see part 3 and part 4), historical theologian Richard Muller comments that there is “good ground for concluding that the modern conception of ‘common grace’ finds its root more in the period of Reformed orthodoxy [the 1600’s] than in the era of Calvin and his contemporaries, given that many of the orthodox theologians were willing to define the gratia Dei [grace of God] as a bounty or graciousness extending to all creation.” (Muller : 2003, 572)
These sources are helpful in generally corroborating Kuyper’s thesis that common grace was not a novel theological doctrine so much as one underserved in its development. It fell to a later descendant of Kuyper – the similarly-named Herman Kuiper – to provide in his work Calvin on Common Grace (Kuiper : 1928) a commentary on the definitive collection of data from Calvin’s corpus in support of the theory that Calvin teaches that
- There is a common grace of God given to all humankind
- In God’s covenant, common grace extends to the reprobate
In the appendix, Kuiper offers a summary of other treatments of the doctrine of common grace, many of which remain in either Dutch or Latin. It is noteworthy that it is only at our contemporary point in history that the Dutch works of such a luminary as Kuyper are coming into English and this might be attributed to the dying out of the last generation of Dutch speakers in the American-Dutch diaspora. In his book Dutch Calvinism in Modern America: A History of a Conservative Subculture, James D. Bratt offers many insights into the subsequent effects that the doctrine of Common Grace had in shaping the Dutch communities in the USA. Chief amongst these are the rift in the Christian Reformed Church in North America which actually split over the issue in 1924. This was elicited by their formulation of the succinct doctrinal statement known as ‘The Three Points of Common Grace’ which is as follows:
- In addition to the saving grace of God, shown only to those who are elected to eternal life, there is also a certain favor, or grace, of God shown to his creatures in general.
- Since the fall, human life in society remains possible because God, through his Spirit, restrains the power of sin.
- God, without renewing the heart, so influences human beings that, though incapable of doing any saving good, they are able to do civil good.
There is a more detailed version which makes reference to the confessional documents of Reformed believers known as the Three Forms of Unity (Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, and the Heidelberg Catechism). These proved unconvincing to a faction led by clergyman Herman Hoeksema who founded the Protestant Reformed Churches. A press release from the PRC outlines their genesis and some of the doctrinal issues which prompted it: “Founded in 1925 following the deposition of Rev. Herman Hoeksema and two other ministers from the Christian Reformed denomination, the primary distinctives of the Protestant Reformed Churches are denial of common grace and denial that synods and classes have the right to depose ministers and elders of local churches… Hoeksema had been a key leader in the termination of Dr. Ralph Janssen from Calvin Seminary in 1922 for teaching higher critical views of Scripture. Supporters of Janssen then accused Hoeksema of denying common grace. Synod 1924 received a number of protests against Hoeksema and in response drew up the so-called ‘Three Points of Common Grace,’ setting forth the view that although special grace is necessary for salvation, God has a favorable attitude toward reprobate people as well as the elect in that God offers salvation to all men, that he prevents the world from becoming as wicked as it could be, and that he enables all men to do certain civil good. Hoeksema refused to accept the ‘Three Points of Common Grace’ and as a result both he and the consistory of his church were deposed by Classis Grand Rapids East.” (Maurina : 1994) As of 2017 in the USA, the PRC is a significantly smaller denomination than the CRC with 8,055 and 235,921 members respectively.
REFERENCES
Kuiper, Herman. 1928. Calvin on common grace Oosterbaan & Le Cointre.
Maurina, Darrell Todd. 1994. Protestant reformed reach highest membership in history Reformed Believers Press Service (Press Release) 1994.
Muller, Richard A. 2017. Dictionary of latin and greek theological terms: Drawn principally from protestant scholastic theology Baker Academic.