Acts 17:28—“For in him we live, and move, and have our being …”

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring (Acts 17:28).

COMMON GRACE ARGUMENT:

What about life itself and our very existence? Is not the Spirit the source of all life? 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.” This is often said to be proof of a “common grace” of God.

(I)

Rev. Angus Stewart

[Source: “Common Operations of the Spirit,” in Covenant Reformed News, vol. XIV, issue 14 (June 2013)]

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.

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(II)

More to come! (DV)