============================
Argument:
(a)
“What explanation can be given of the special gifts and talents with which the
natural man is endowed, and of the development of science and art by those who
are entirely devoid of the new life that is in Christ Jesus, apart from a ‘common
grace’ of God?”
(b)
“What about the gifts of knowledge and understanding and skills and creativity
and technology in this world? (e.g. reading, writing, cooking, farming,
construction, medicine etc)?”
============================
Response:
(I)
Prof. David J. Engelsma
Regarding these questions, I urge you and your
associates to read Article 14 of the Belgic
Confession1 and Article 4 of the 3rd and 4th heads of the Canons
of Dordt.2
The Belgic
Confession describes the special gifts and talents of fallen man as a “few
remains” of the excellent gifts which God bestowed on Adam at creation. The
Canons call them the “glimmerings of
natural light” remaining in fallen man, and identifies these gifts and
talents. All these gifts and abilities that so impress us are only a few,
pitiful remnants of what man possessed before the fall. They are wreckage
left over.
They are aspects of man’s humanity. Good in
themselves, as aspects of creation, they are not spiritually good, nor do they
enable man to do good. Both Reformed creeds are at pains to deny this
error, the error of “common grace.” The Belgic goes on to say about these remnants of man’s original
excellent gifts that they serve only to
leave fallen man without excuse. With these gifts, fallen man is
spiritual darkness, as John charges in John 1. The remains are not
spiritual “light.” They are not some remains of the image of God in fallen
man. Man lost the image entirely.
The Canons
also are quick to guard against a judgment of the glimmerings of natural light
as though they were some good in
fallen man after the fall. First, the glimmerings are mere glimmerings of
what man once was and possessed. Second, they are natural light, not spiritual light. Third, fallen man cannot
use even the glimmerings aright in things natural and civil: for example,
politics, science, and all the rest. Rather, fallen man renders the natural
light wholly polluted. Thus, the glimmerings, rather than being grace to
fallen man, render him inexcusable
before God. They do not enable him to do some good that pleases God.
God, of course, can use the natural light of
totally depraved sinners to serve His church and His cause in the world, as,
for example, the Internet, which I am using at present.
Blessings.
Cordially in
Christ,
Prof. Engelsma
-----------------
FOOTNOTES:
FOOTNOTES:
1. Belgic Confession, article 14: “The Creation and Fall of Man, and His
Incapacity to Perform What is Truly Good”
We
believe that God created man out of the dust of the earth, and made and formed
him after His own image and likeness, good, righteous, and holy, capable in all
things to will agreeably to the will of God. But being in honor, he understood it
not, neither knew his excellency, but willfully subjected himself to sin, and
consequently to death and the curse, giving ear to the words of the devil. For the
commandment of life which he had received he transgressed; and by sin separated
himself from God, who was his true life; having corrupted his whole nature;
whereby he made himself liable to corporal and spiritual death. And being thus
become wicked, perverse, and corrupt in all his ways, he hath lost all his
excellent gifts which he had received from God, and retained only a few remains
thereof, which, however, are sufficient to leave man without excuse; for all
the light which is in us is changed into darkness, as the Scriptures teach us, saying:
The light shineth in darkness, and the
darkness comprehendeth it not, where St. John calleth men darkness. Therefore we reject all that
is taught repugnant to this concerning the free will of man, since man is but a
slave to sin, and has nothing of himself,
unless it is given from heaven. For who may presume to boast that he of
himself can do any good, since Christ saith, No man can come to Me except the Father, which hath sent Me, draw him?
Who will glory in his own will, who understands that to be carnally minded is enmity against God? Who can speak of his
knowledge, since the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God? In short, who dare suggest
any thought, since he knows that we are
not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but that our
sufficiency is of God? And therefore what the apostle saith ought justly to
be held sure and firm, that God worketh
in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. For there is no will nor
understanding conformable to the divine will and understanding but what Christ
hath wrought in man, which He teaches us when He saith, Without Me ye can do nothing.
2. Canons of
Dordt, III/IV:4:
There
remain, however, in man since the fall the glimmerings of natural light, whereby
he retains some knowledge of God, of natural things, and of the differences
between good and evil, and discovers some regard for virtue, good order in
society, and for maintaining an orderly external deportment. But so far is this
light of nature from being sufficient to bring him to a saving knowledge of God
and to true conversion, that he is incapable of using it aright even in things
natural and civil. Nay further, this light, such as it is, man in various ways
renders wholly polluted, and holds it in unrighteousness, by doing which he
becomes inexcusable before God.
------------------------------------------------
(II)
“Common Operations of the Spirit”
Rev. Angus Stewart
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
------------------------------------------------
(III)
More to come! (DV)
No comments:
Post a Comment