Others, not elected, although they may be called by the
ministry of the Word, and may have some common
operations of the Spirit, yet they never truly come unto Christ, and
therefore cannot be saved: much less can men, not professing the Christian
religion, be saved in any other way whatsoever, be they never so diligent to
frame their lives according to the light of nature, and the laws of that religion
they do profess. And to assert and maintain that they may, is very pernicious,
and to be detested (Westminster
Confession of Faith, X: 4).
(I)
Rev. Angus Stewart
Sometimes
people appeal to the “common operations of the Spirit” in Westminster
Confession 10:4 (and Westminster Larger Catechism, Q.
& A. 68) as if this phrase in the Westminster Standards taught
common grace. The erroneous notion of common grace is variously understood. For
most who hold this view, it means that Jehovah loves the reprobate (those whom
He has eternally ordained to destruction in the way of their sins) and that by
His love He makes them something less than totally depraved, thus enabling them
to do things ethically good in God’s sight in this world.
Aside
from the polemical aspect of the issue, it is worthwhile to underscore that the
Holy Spirit certainly does work upon unbelievers, not just externally but also
internally. This necessarily flows from the universal scope of God’s providence
and the truth of the Holy Trinity, that the Father works all things through the
Son and by the Holy Spirit.
We
can distinguish three ways in which the Spirit works upon and in all men,
including the reprobate. First, the Spirit (being equal with the Father and the
Son) gives all men (including reprobate unbelievers) physical life
and strength, for it is only in God—the Triune God—that we, both elect and
non-elect, “live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Second, God by
His Spirit gives the reprobate intellectual understanding of
natural things, for the good gift of knowledge in all spheres (reading,
writing, cooking, farming, construction, medicine, etc.) comes from the God of
all wisdom through His Son, the Word or Logos, and by the all-knowing Spirit.
Third, the Spirit even gives the reprobate a natural understanding
of spiritual things (though not a spiritual understanding of
spiritual things). Those not elected who are brought up in covenant homes or
attend church services or read Christian literature may have some intellectual
understanding of biblical truths. This cannot be apart from the Holy Spirit,
for all knowledge comes by Him.
In
the sphere of the visible church, the understanding of some reprobate can even
be said to be “enlightened” by the Spirit, so that they have a clear natural
understanding of spiritual things (Heb. 6:4) and a sense or “taste” of the
beauty of the Scriptures, the glory of heaven and the power of God (vv. 4-5).
The ungodly prophet Balaam (II Pet. 2:15-16) certainly experienced this, as one
can see from his four prophecies concerning Israel (Num. 23:7-10, 18-24;
24:3-9, 15-24) and especially certain parts of them (e.g., 23:10, 23; 24:5, 9,
17, 23), for he “knew the knowledge of the most High” (24:16) and spoke by “the
spirit of God” (v. 2). Through the preaching, the Spirit even gives some
non-elect “joy” in their natural understanding of spiritual things, before they
fall away from their (hypocritical) profession of faith (Matt. 13:20-21). After
all, it is only through the Spirit that unbelievers experience (an earthly) joy
in the pleasant things of God’s creation like a beautiful sunset or a good meal
or finally grasping a difficult concept. Even so, it is the Spirit who gives
some reprobate a natural understanding of spiritual things and a (temporary)
natural joy in spiritual things. Moreover, reprobate unbelievers, such as Judas
Iscariot, were given power to exorcise demons (7:22; 10:1, 4) of the Father,
through the Son and by the Holy Spirit (10:1; 12:28).
In
connection with the three proof texts often listed with Westminster
Confession 10:4, we note, first, that those who merely receive the “common
operations of the Spirit,” such as, a natural illumination in, and a natural
taste of, spiritual things in Hebrews 6:4-5 are subject to God’s “cursing” (v. 8),
which is His powerful, damning wrath (Matt. 25:41). Second, sandwiched between
the parable of the sower (13:3-9) and its explanation (vv. 18-23), including
its word about those who experience natural joy over the mysteries of the
kingdom for a time (vv. 20-21), is Christ’s affirmation of God’s election and
reprobation as determining man’s response to the gospel (vv. 14-15; cf. Isa.
6:9-10; John 12:39-40). Third, to those not elected to salvation who have
uttered prophecies, exorcised demons and performed miracles (Matt. 7:22), the
Lord states that He will say, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work
iniquity” (v. 23). Since Christ, the incarnate Son of God, knows all men head
for head intellectually, and must know everybody in order to proclaim this
judgment upon many at the last day, “I never knew you” refers to His knowledge
of love: “I never loved you, not now, not before the foundation of the world,
not during your life on earth, never!” Thus all these good gifts to the
reprobate come to them not in God’s love and grace (Ps. 73; Prov. 3:33; Rom.
9:13; 11:7-10) but by His sovereign, all-controlling providence, which is of
the Father, through the Son and by the Holy Spirit.
These
“operations of the Spirit” are “common” to the elect and the reprobate in that
some elect and some reprobate have performed miracles (Matt. 7:22) and all
elect and some reprobate have been enlightened and given joy in, and a taste
of, the mysteries of the gospel by the Spirit (13:20; Heb. 6:4-5). There are
especially three differences, however, with regard to the “operations of the
Spirit” in the elect and the non-elect. First, the Spirit gives to some
reprobate a natural understanding, joy and taste of or in
spiritual things, whereas the elect receive a spiritual understanding,
joy and taste of or in spiritual things (John 17:13; I Cor. 2:14). Second, the “operations
of the Spirit” come to the two groups of people with a different divine
motivation and in a different way: the elect receive them in God’s grace but
the reprobate receive them in providence and not grace. Third, both Westminster
Confession 10:4 and Westminster Larger Catechism, Q. &
A. 68, speak of “some common operations of the Spirit,” for there
are operations and gifts of the Spirit—the greatest, permanent and saving
gifts!—which are only for the elect and not the reprobate: the new birth, the
forgiveness of sins, the imputed righteousness of Christ, the love of God shed
abroad in our hearts (Rom. 5:5), the assurance of Jehovah’s invincible love
(8:37-39), etc. Amongst these “operations of the Spirit” which are particular
to the elect alone is the effectual call, the subject of Westminster
Confession 10:4: “Others not elected, although they may be
[externally] called by the ministry of the word, and may have some common
operations of the Spirit, yet they never truly come unto Christ, and therefore
cannot be saved,” for they were not eternally predestinated unto life and so
the Holy Spirit never internally and effectually calls them.
------------------------------------------------
(II)
Prof. Herman C. Hanko
[Source: Protestant Reformed Theological
Journal, vol. 20, no. 1 (Nov. 1986), p. 18]
It is quite clear from the
remainder of this article that the divines had in mind good influences ... The
Westminster divines do not give any further explanation for this statement, and
we are left to speculate what they may have meant by it. It is possible that
they referred to the fact, common in later Puritan teaching, that the preaching
of the law can and usually does have some kind of influence upon the
unregenerated hearer so that he is able to see his sin, even sorrow to some
extent for it, show an interest in Christ as the One through whom he can escape
from sin, and even have a certain longing for the blessedness of which the
gospel speaks. In its reaction to the cold dead orthodoxy of the Church of
England and the terrible worldliness which characterized so many of her
members, and because the Puritans possessed a defective view of the covenant,
religious experience was to them a crucial aspect of salvation. And their view
of the effect of the gospel, especially the preaching of the law, was
influenced by this. If this is indeed true, this idea is condemned by the Canons in III/IV:B:4. But we can only
speculate.
------------------------------------------------
(III)
More to come! (DV)
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