Reflecting on Truth #27
Q: Are all people, just as they were lost through Adam, saved through Christ?
A: No, only those who are elected by God and united to Christ by faith. Nevertheless God in his mercy demonstrates common grace even to those who are not elect, by restraining the effects of sin and enabling works of culture for human well-being.
For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17)
Why does this matter?
Most of us come from different families, but all of us are the descendants of one forefather. His name is Adam, whose meaning is simply “man”, rightly representing all of us. By this physical generation, we all inherit Adam’s nature. But it is not so with Christ. For Christ’s benefits to be considered to be ours, it should come by spiritual generation. This spiritual generation starts from God’s choosing us to be His people before the foundation of the world, manifests through the miracle of being born again, and links us to Christ through our response of faith. This is the saving grace of God.
Being merciful, God does not leave unbelievers without grace. “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Mt 5:45) Common grace, as theologians call it, is the grace extended to all. It is meant for the good of all His creation. For unbelievers, it is a sign of God's patience for them amid their rebellion and consequently a call for them to repent while the sun and rain still nourish them. For us, it makes our life in and engagement with this broken world more bearable. More optimistically, it also allows us to do some good in whatever sphere God has given us while looking forward to the ultimate good when Christ returns.
What does this mean for us?
The fact that our being a Christian is not up or thanks to us should keep us humble. There is no reason for us to believe that by nature we are better than the unbelievers. If we do, we have misunderstood the most basic Christian belief: salvation by grace alone. If even our response of faith is a consequence of God’s choosing us before the foundation of the world, what we can do is simply to be grateful for this salvation by grace alone.
More than being humble and grateful, we ought to be concerned about the unbelievers. The sun and rain cannot provide the eternal good, only Christ does. Therefore, we shouldn’t be content with sun and rain for them. Charles Spurgeon is famously attributed with a quote about God’s elect not being marked with yellow stripes to identify them. While it adds more reason for us to be humble and to persevere, it should motivate us to share the good news of salvation by grace alone with all people, for who knows? The next person we speak to may be part of God’s elect.
What a great Christ we have, who has rescued us from the depth of our sinfulness! Let us glorify Him by stewarding whatever He has entrusted us with, living continuously by faith in Him, and heralding His good news to this broken world.