There is Nothing Common About Grace!

The fact that you can sit upright and are reading this article is proof that you are a recipient of what is called “common grace”. The term “common”, with reference to grace, is somewhat of a misnomer in today’s vernacular.

Traditionally, the term “common” has meant, that which is universally applicable to all people regardless of position or circumstance. For example, if one resides in an apartment building, areas such as the hallway, staircase and elevator are referred to as common areas. Whether one lives in the basement or the penthouse, all have equal shared access to common areas. Today, the term “common” has taken on an additional nuance. It can also be understood to mean, ordinary, base, unremarkable having a lowly status. Theologians have understood “common”, in conjunction with grace, in order to carefully distinguish between “common grace” another term, “special” or “saving grace”.

Grace, by definition, is underserved or unmerited favor. God is not required to dispense grace. He does so as an expression of His mercy, love and patience towards fallen human beings. As early as Genesis 2-3, God demonstrated His grace to Adam and Eve by with holding immediate justice for our parent’s criminal behavior. Adam and Eve were both warned that should they partake of the forbidden fruit, they would certainly die. The Bible goes on to account, that death was not immediate. Adam and Eve did eventually die years later. In the meantime, they experienced love, loss of children, birth, toil and the assorted joys and sorrows that mark human experience ever since the Garden. That humans are allowed to enjoy love and marriage; the change of seasons; triumph and success regardless of religious affiliation is due to God’s common or universal grace.

God does dispense a special or electing grace to others in this fallen world. Again, later in Genesis, and picked up by Paul in Romans 9, is the story of Jacob and Esau. Jacob, the second born, was God’s chosen instrument to perpetuate the Patriarchal lineage, bypassing the first-born Esau. Paul makes the controversial statement in Romans that the reason for this choice was in the sovereign will of God. Jacob I loved and Esau I hated. God has always chosen for Himself a unique people to be His beloved community. Whether it be Israel in the Old Testament or the Church in the New Covenant era, these elect people were to receive not only blessing in this lifetime but assurance of eternal life in the beneficent presence of God.

Grace, whether common or special, ultimately originates in the mind and will of God. There is nothing common or ordinary, or base or lowly in the fact that God withholds his anger the moment we commit our first sin. That He allows us to live at all is a testimony to His grace. That He consciously desires that we become His beloved bride is a mystery beyond comprehension. Praise God, for His infinite grace.