[Source: Common Grace Considered]
This passage in Luke is nearly parallel with the
passage in Matthew 5 that we considered [elsewhere]. The context
also is very much the same. The Sermon on the Mount is recorded in Matthew 5-7,
but here, though spoken on a different occasion, the subject is the same. The
text is also very close to being the same, the only difference being that Jesus
here speaks of God’s kindness to the unthankful and evil, while in Matthew 5,
Jesus speaks of the rain and sunshine God sends to the just and the unjust.
Luke 6 therefore makes explicit what is implicit in Matthew 5: the reference to
the unthankful and evil is, therefore, a reference to the unthankful and evil elect. Election is not based on works,
but on the free and sovereign choice of God. Those who are eternally chosen are
not chosen because of any good they did, nor because something was found in
them that made them suitable to be counted among the elect. They were as evil
as any in the world. They were as ungrateful for God’s good gifts as anyone elsewhere.
They were as deserving of everlasting condemnation as those who were not
chosen. But they are in any case, citizens of the kingdom of heaven, and Jesus
is giving them the principles by which the citizens of the kingdom live here in
the world.
The elect who are the objects of God’s mercy know
with total certainty that they were not chosen because they were in any way
better than those not chosen. The awesome character of election and its
sovereign work of God is the reason for the humility of God’s people. How can
it be any different? It is not at all strange, therefore, that these people are
admonished to be merciful to others. They are eager to love their enemies, do
good, and lend, hoping for nothing again. They cannot help but be themselves kind
unto the unthankful and evil, for this is the way God dealt with them.
There is no reason at all in the text to argue, as
those who teach common grace argue, that God is merciful to all men. After all,
Jesus is speaking here to His own disciples (v. 20) and is describing the
characteristics and calling of those who belong to the kingdom of heaven.
Citizens of the kingdom of heaven are saved by grace; they are now to be
gracious to those with whom they come into contact. In this way they manifest
to others the grace God has shown to them. What could be more obvious?
To argue that because within the sphere of the
kingdom of heaven, God is kind to unthankful and evil people can never be
reason why we conclude that God is gracious to all men. One ought to re-read
Psalm 73 and Proverbs 3:33 if he has any problem with this explanation.
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