Kuyper begins his scriptural survey of the doctrine of Common Grace not with the creation of humankind in God’s image, nor at the Fall, but at the Noahic covenant in Genesis 9. By way of introduction, he notes that Common Grace concerns the blessings of God to all humanity and may be thought of as, in a sense, preceding Covenant Grace and Saving Grace. People have had a tendency to collapse the covenant with Noah into the Abrahamic covenant and therefore addressed to God’s covenant people concerning their salvation. Kuyper argues that this covenant is both broader than that and has a different purpose in view.
The purpose of the Noahic covenant is the stabilising of creation post-Fall to allow for its flourishing. The situation of chaos and increasing human evil which Genesis 6 alludes to elicits God’s judgement in the form of the Flood, which sets the stage for a merciful intervention of God. “The restraining power proceeding from common grace against sin,” says Kuyper, “has become increased from God’s side after the flood. The beast within man remains just as evil and wild, but the bars around its cage were fortified, so that it cannot again escape like it used to.” The ultimate outcome is not a ‘new humanity’ but rather a steadying of the original and Noah is a ‘second-progenitor’, descended from previous generations, as opposed to a ‘new Adam’ (cf. Romans 5).
This covenant is made between God and all of creation as represented by Noah’s family and the creatures they have brought with them. Speaking generically, Kuyper says, “This covenant involves man as man, man in his society on earth with other men, man in his relationship to the animals, and man in his relationship to the destructive elements of nature.”Even though the content of this covenant is general in nature and ‘non-saving’, it is nevertheless Holy as a work of God.