The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and
plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger
for ever. He hath not dealt with us
after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the
heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him
(Ps. 103:8-11).
COMMON
GRACE ARGUMENT:
One of
the primary effects of common grace is said, by proponents, to be that “God
exercises forbearance and longsuffering towards the world. Man collectively
deserves the judicial outpouring of divine wrath, but God suspends it” (Donald
Macleod, Behold Your God [Christian
Focus, 1990], p. 118).
In
connection with Psalm 103:10, it is often asked in sermons: “Is it not true of all men, on this side of the judgment,
that ‘God hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities’?” (ibid, p. 127).
(I)
Prof. David J. Engelsma
In general, the case has been made that longsuffering is
God’s loving attitude towards His elect people in their suffering in the
world. In His fatherly love, He is moved to deliver them at once from
their sufferings at the hands of the wicked but allows them to suffer because He
is working out His plan for their full salvation and His plan for the wicked’s filling
their cup of iniquity. It is comparable to the surgeon’s performance of a
painful surgery upon his own dear child. He is inclined to spare the child,
but in love for the child’s good he performs the surgery.
As for Psalm 103:10, the text itself restricts itself to
the godly, saved children of God: “us” and “our sins.” If anything is
obvious in the Bible, it is that God does
deal with the reprobate ungodly after their sins. He punishes them, and He
punishes them with hell and damnation.
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(II)
More to come! (DV)
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