Common Grace (Volume 3) E-Book

Abraham Kuyper

• Herausgeber: Lexham Press
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1425

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

God's Gifts for a Fallen WorldCommon Grace is often considered Abraham Kuyper's crowning work, an exploration of how God expresses grace even to the unsaved. Kuyper firmly believed that though many people in the world will remain unconverted, God's grace is still shown to the world as a whole.In this third and final volume of Common Grace, Kuyper brings his argument to its logical completion by turning to practical implications. With detailed explorations on matters of church and state, family, upbringing, and society, Kuyper provides practical guidance for all who desire to flourish within the created order, a world in which God's grace is generously given to all.

Leseprobe

COMMON GRACE

GOD’S GIFTS FOR A FALLEN WORLD

Volume 3: The Practical Section

ABRAHAM

KUYPER

Edited by Jordan J. Ballor and J. Daryl Charles

Translated by Nelson D. Kloosterman and Ed M. van der Maas

Introduction by Vincent E. Bacote

Common Grace: God’s Gifts for a Fallen World

Volume 3: The Practical Section

Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology

Copyright 2020 Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225

LexhamPress.com

You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at [email protected].

Originally published as De Gemeene Gratie. Derde Deel. Het Leerstellig Gedeelte. © Boekhandel voorheen Höveker & Wormser, 1904.

Portions of this translation previously published by Christian’s Library Press, an imprint of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty, 98 E. Fulton Street, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are from the King James Version. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (SV) are from the Statenvertaling (“States Translation” of the Dutch Bible, 1637). Public domain.

Print ISBN 9781577996699

Digital ISBN 9781577996958

Translators: Nelson D. Kloosterman, Ed M. van der Maas

Acton Editorial: Jordan J. Ballor, Stephen J. Grabill, Timothy J. Beals, Paul J. Brinkerhoff, Eduardo J. Echeverria, Andrew M. McGinnis, Dylan Pahman

Lexham Editorial: Brannon Ellis, Justin Marr, Stephen Kline

Cover Design: Christine Gerhart

Back Cover Design: Brittany Schrock

ABRAHAM

KUYPER

Collected Works in Public Theology

GENERAL EDITORS

JORDAN J. BALLOR

MELVIN FLIKKEMA

ABRAHAMKUYPER.COM

CONTENTS

General Editors’ Introduction

Editors’ Introduction

Volume Introduction

Abbreviations

Chapter One: Too Long Forgotten

Chapter Two: Preserved in the World

Chapter Three: Civil Society

Chapter Four: Government Exists Because of Sin

Chapter Five: The Institutional Church Exists Because of Sin

Chapter Six: Government Also Exists among the Heathen

Chapter Seven: Government Stands outside Special Revelation

Chapter Eight: Government Is the Servant of God

Chapter Nine: The Institution of Government

Chapter Ten: Government outside Revelation

Chapter Eleven: Government and the People

Chapter Twelve: The Rights of the People

Chapter Thirteen: Church and State (1)

Chapter Fourteen: Church and State (2)

Chapter Fifteen: Church and State (3)

Chapter Sixteen: Church and State (4)

Chapter Seventeen: Church and State (5)

Chapter Eighteen: Church and State (6)

Chapter Nineteen: Church and State (7)

Chapter Twenty: Church and State (8)

Chapter Twenty-One: Church and State (9)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Church and State (10)

Chapter Twenty-Three: Church and State (11)

Chapter Twenty-Four: Church and State (12)

Chapter Twenty-Five: Church and State (13)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Church and State (14)

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Church and State (15)

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Church and State (16)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Church and State (17)

Chapter Thirty: Church and State (18)

Chapter Thirty-One: Church and State (19)

Chapter Thirty-Two: Church and State (20)

Chapter Thirty-Three: Church and State (21)

Chapter Thirty-Four: Church and State (22)

Chapter Thirty-Five: Church and State (23)

Chapter Thirty-Six: Church and State (24)

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Church and State (25)

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Church and State (26)

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Church and State (27)

Chapter Forty: Church and State (28)

Chapter Forty-One: The Family (1)

Chapter Forty-Two: The Family (2)

Chapter Forty-Three: The Family (3)

Chapter Forty-Four: The Family (4)

Chapter Forty-Five: The Family (5)

Chapter Forty-Six: The Family (6)

Chapter Forty-Seven: The Family (7)

Chapter Forty-Eight: The Family (8)

Chapter Forty-Nine: The Family (9)

Chapter Fifty: The Family (10)

Chapter Fifty-One: The Family (11)

Chapter Fifty-Two: Upbringing (1)

Chapter Fifty-Three: Upbringing (2)

Chapter Fifty-Four: Upbringing (3)

Chapter Fifty-Five: Upbringing (4)

Chapter Fifty-Six: Upbringing (5)

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Society (1)

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Society (2)

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Society (3)

Chapter Sixty: Society (4)

Chapter Sixty-One: Society (5)

Chapter Sixty-Two: Science (1)

Chapter Sixty-Three: Science (2)

Chapter Sixty-Four: Science (3)

Chapter Sixty-Five: Science (4)

Chapter Sixty-Six: Science (5)

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Art (1)

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Art (2)

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Art (3)

Chapter Seventy: Art (4)

Chapter Seventy-One: Art (5)

Bibliography

About The Contributors

Subject/Author Index

Scripture Index

GENERAL EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION

In times of great upheaval and uncertainty, it is necessary to look to the past for resources to help us recognize and address our own contemporary challenges. While Scripture is foremost among these foundations, the thoughts and reflections of Christians throughout history also provide us with important guidance. Because of his unique gifts, experiences, and writings, Abraham Kuyper is an exemplary guide in these endeavors.

Kuyper (1837–1920) is a significant figure both in the history of the Netherlands and modern Protestant theology. A prolific intellectual, Kuyper founded a political party and a university, led the formation of a Reformed denomination and the movement to create Reformed elementary schools, and served as the prime minister of the Netherlands from 1901 to 1905. In connection with his work as a builder of institutions, Kuyper was also a prolific author. He wrote theological treatises, biblical and confessional studies, historical works, social and political commentary, and devotional materials.

Believing that Kuyper’s work is a significant and underappreciated resource for Christian public witness, in 2011 a group of scholars interested in Kuyper’s life and work formed the Abraham Kuyper Translation Society. The shared conviction of the society, along with the Acton Institute, Kuyper College, and other Abraham Kuyper scholars, is that Kuyper’s works hold great potential to build intellectual capacity within the church in North America, Europe, and around the world. It is our hope that translation of his works into English will make his insights accessible to those seeking to grow and revitalize communities in the developed world as well as to those in the global south and east who are facing unique challenges and opportunities.

The church today—both locally and globally—needs the tools to construct a compelling and responsible public theology. The aim of this translation project is to provide those tools—we believe that Kuyper’s unique insights can catalyze the development of a winsome and constructive Christian social witness and cultural engagement the world over.

In consultation and collaboration with these institutions and individual scholars, the Abraham Kuyper Translation Society developed this 12-volume translation project, the Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology. This multivolume series collects in English translation Kuyper’s writings and speeches from a variety of genres and contexts in his work as a theologian and statesman. In almost all cases, this set contains original works that have never before been translated into English. The series contains multivolume works as well as other volumes, including thematic anthologies.

The series includes a translation of Kuyper’s Our Program (Ons Program), which sets forth Kuyper’s attempt to frame a Christian political vision distinguished from the programs of the nineteenth-century Modernists who took their cues from the French Revolution. It was this document that launched Kuyper’s career as a pastor, theologian, and educator. As James Bratt writes, “This comprehensive Program, which Kuyper crafted in the process of forming the Netherlands’ first mass political party, brought the theology, the political theory, and the organization vision together brilliantly in a coherent set of policies that spoke directly to the needs of his day. For us it sets out the challenge of envisioning what might be an equivalent witness in our own day.”

Also included is Kuyper’s seminal three-volume work De Gemeene Gratie, or Common Grace, which presents a constructive public theology of cultural engagement rooted in the humanity Christians share with the rest of the world. Kuyper’s presentation of common grace addresses a gap he recognized in the development of Reformed teaching on divine grace. After addressing particular grace and covenant grace in other writings, Kuyper here develops his articulation of a Reformed understanding of God’s gifts that are common to all people after the fall into sin.

The series also contains Kuyper’s three-volume work on the lordship of Christ, Pro Rege. These three volumes apply Kuyper’s principles in Common Grace, providing guidance for how to live in a fallen world under Christ the King. Here the focus is on developing cultural institutions in a way that is consistent with the ordinances of creation that have been maintained and preserved, even if imperfectly so, through common grace.

The remaining volumes are thematic anthologies of Kuyper’s writings and speeches gathered from the course of his long career.

The anthology On Charity and Justice includes a fresh and complete translation of Kuyper’s “The Problem of Poverty,” the landmark speech Kuyper gave at the opening of the First Christian Social Congress in Amsterdam in 1891. This important work was first translated into English in 1950 by Dirk Jellema; in 1991, a new edition by James Skillen was issued. This volume also contains other writings and speeches on subjects including charity, justice, wealth, and poverty.

The anthology On Islam contains English translations of significant pieces that Abraham Kuyper wrote about Islam, gathered from his reflections on a lengthy tour of the Mediterranean world. Kuyper’s insights illustrate an instructive model for observing another faith and its cultural ramifications from an informed Christian perspective.

The anthology On the Church includes selections from Kuyper’s doctrinal dissertation on the theologies of Reformation theologians John Calvin and John à Lasco. It also includes various treatises and sermons, such as “Rooted and Grounded,” “Twofold Fatherland,” and “Address on Missions.”

The anthology On Business and Economics contains various meditations Kuyper wrote about the evils of the love of money as well as pieces that provide Kuyper’s thoughts on stewardship, human trafficking, free trade, tariffs, child labor, work on the Sabbath, and business.

Finally, the anthology On Education includes Kuyper’s important essay “Bound to the Word,” which discusses what it means to be ruled by the Word of God in the entire world of human thought. Numerous other pieces are also included, resulting in a substantial English volume of Kuyper’s thoughts on Christian education.

Collectively, this 12-volume series will, as Richard Mouw puts it, “give us a much-needed opportunity to absorb the insights of Abraham Kuyper about God’s marvelous designs for human cultural life.”

The Abraham Kuyper Translation Society along with the Acton Institute and Kuyper College gratefully acknowledge the Andreas Center for Reformed Scholarship and Service at Dordt College; Calvin College; Calvin Theological Seminary; Fuller Theological Seminary; Mid-America Reformed Seminary; Redeemer University College; Princeton Theological Seminary; and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Their financial support and partnership made these translations possible. The society is also grateful for the generous financial support of Dr. Rimmer and Ruth DeVries and the J. C. Huizenga family, which has enabled the translation and publication of these volumes.

This series is dedicated to Dr. Rimmer DeVries in recognition of his life’s pursuits and enduring legacy as a cultural leader, economist, visionary, and faithful follower of Christ who reflects well the Kuyperian vision of Christ’s lordship over all spheres of society.

Jordan J. Ballor

Melvin Flikkema

Grand Rapids, MI

August 2015

EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION

Abraham Kuyper’s doctrine of common grace is one of the most significant, and controversial, aspects of the great theologian’s legacy. This multi-volume translation of his exhaustive treatment of the doctrine is intended to provide deeper insights into the motivations for, reasoning in, and implications for Kuyper’s understanding of this crucial, and oft-misunderstood, element of divine action.1 For Kuyper, common grace was clearly grounded in Scripture and was taught but not fully developed in the historic Reformed faith. In addition to these biblical and historical reasons for articulating his teaching on common grace, there were doctrinal and apologetic reasons as well. In doctrinal terms, common grace was necessary for a full understanding both of special, saving grace as well as for the underlying continuity of God’s faithfulness to his creation. At the same time, common grace also served an explanatory function, helping us to understand how there can so often be such genius and goodness in the world of unbelievers. These diverse foundations of common grace lead to an understanding of the moral significance of common grace as well, which involves the natural law, civic righteousness, and social order.

FOUNDATIONS OF COMMON GRACE

First and foremost, for Kuyper, the doctrine of common grace was biblical, and like Reformed theologians before him, Kuyper was determined not to be silent where Scripture provided positive witness.2 Calvin, when discussing the grace that characterized God’s general relationship to his fallen creatures, refers to Matthew 5:45, which says God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”3 This verse is significant as well for Kuyper, but the main biblical foundation for Kuyper’s exposition of common grace is the Noahic covenant, which Kuyper describes as the doctrine’s “fixed historical starting point.”4 The fact that Kuyper’s biblical exposition of common grace begins with Noah rather than Adam underscores his understanding that common grace is a postfall necessity, and thus a kind of divine action that is only possible in light of sin.

As the first volume of this trilogy focuses on the biblical foundations of the doctrine, the second takes its point of departure in the historical grounding of the doctrine. That is, Kuyper defends his attention to common grace, which passes three quarters of a million words over the three volumes, by pointing out that the Reformers recognized and affirmed the reality of common grace, but given their context did not develop and fully explicate it. An important element of the second volume is thus Kuyper’s articulation of a precedent for his understanding in the writings of the Reformers and Reformed confessional standards, particularly the Canons of Dort.5 Even though he thought the treatment of common grace in the era of the Reformation was underdeveloped, Kuyper understood that it was this way for a legitimate reason. As he put it, the controversy at the time had more to do specifically with the doctrines of salvation and special grace, and so it was natural for the Reformers to spend much of their energy developing and debating the topics that were of the most salience at the time. “Every period cannot do everything at once,” contends Kuyper, “and it was entirely correct that in the days of the Reformation, theologians saved their time and strength for elucidating those contrasts that were of primary importance in that period. Had they acted differently, they might have misjudged their calling for the time in which they lived.”6

In his own time, however, Kuyper judges that it is past time for more attention to be paid to common grace. This should be, in part, the natural outworking of focus on special grace, which can only be fully and rightly understood within the context of common grace. Because of the relationship between the work of God in creation, the age of human fallenness, redemption and restoration of the world, and the consummation of God’s providential purposes, the work of special grace, which involves regeneration and reconciliation, must be connected to God’s original purposes in creation. These purposes have been maintained and preserved, even in the midst of corruption and sin, through common grace. Thus, observes Kuyper, speaking of this gift of preservation, “It also appears that the grace extended to our race that had fallen into sin consists not in the gift of something new, nor in the re-giving of something we had lost, but exclusively in the continuation of something that lay at the foundation of our creation.”7 Special grace has a specifically remedial purpose, as the prophet Isaiah puts it, in the day of redemption: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy” (Isa 35:5–6). So while the restorative and reconciling work of special grace and the preservative and sustaining work of common grace need to be properly distinguished, they are best understood as complementary. Special grace depends on common grace, for if humankind were no longer existing after the fall into sin, there would be no one to save.

There is also a critical explanatory function that common grace serves, specifically, to help us understand how what is good or true or beautiful in some sense can be said to exist in the non-Christian, fallen, and sinful world. There is, in fact, some virtue that can be found among the unregenerate, even if it is not goodness in its fullest sense, or entirely free from impurities, or soteriologically significant. On one level all that fallen human beings do falls short of the glory of God and merits punishment. But on another level, everything is not as bad as it could be, and there are degrees of corruption, impurity, and evil that allow for some relative and comparative discernment. So among sinners, it is not the case that everything is as evil as it could possibly be. And among Christians, because sanctification is a temporal and progressive reality, what is done continues to be marred by imperfection, vice, and sin to a greater or lesser degree. In this way, it would be natural for someone to conclude, when comparing the confession of the church against the reality of the lives of its members, “the world turns out to be better than expected and the church worse than expected.”8

This point about the virtues of unbelievers, often described in terms of civil or moral good as opposed to Christian or salvific good, underscores a salient aspect of Kuyper’s treatment of common grace as it relates to the moral order and civil society. That is, Kuyper connects the doctrine of common grace to the broader natural-law tradition, with implications for a proper understanding of civil virtue and the functioning of the social order.

COMMON GRACE AND THE MORAL ORDER

Common grace is a multifaceted concept for Kuyper. Indeed, it reflects the diversity and scope of all of God’s creation itself. A critical aspect of that creation for our theological understanding, however, is the moral order. God has created human beings in his image, and this means in part that human beings are moral agents. In its essence, moral agency entails instructions and responsibilities. Humans have been placed as stewards over creation, and their responsibility includes adherence to the moral order that God has instituted.

A classic way of articulating this dynamic in Christianity is the rich and diverse tradition of natural law. God has created human beings in a certain way, with a particular set of powers, talents, skills, and habits, aimed at corresponding goods and ends. There is a law that governs the nature that God has created, a law that is fitted to and appropriate for all these different creatures, from stocks and stones to human beings and angels. A good way of understanding the natural law is as “the moral aspect of the penetrating arrow of general revelation.”9

All of this holds true for the state of humanity in its integrity, before the fall into sin and corruption. The fissure that sin creates affects every aspect of human existence, but it does not impact the moral demands that are placed upon humans by their nature and by God. That anything continues to exist of humanity after the fall is an act of grace, and that the moral obligations that govern human nature are not completely lost or eradicated is likewise evidence of God’s ongoing gracious activity. In this way, Kuyper writes that “thanks to common grace, the spiritual light has not totally departed from the soul’s eye of the sinner. And also, notwithstanding the curse that spread throughout creation, a speaking of God has survived within that creation, thanks to common grace.”10 Here Kuyper stands in line with Calvin, who, notwithstanding a strong accent on human depravity, can nevertheless insist that recognition of moral reality is “implanted in all men.”11 Moreover, the seeds of moral discernment in the human heart remain in effect even in the midst of the vicissitudes of life; neither war nor catastrophe nor theft nor human disagreement can alter these moral intuitions. Even those who “fight against manifest reason” in their unjust actions “do not nullify the original conception of equity” that is implanted within.12

We may therefore understand the existence and acknowledgement of natural law after the fall as an aspect of God’s broader sustaining and preserving grace.

This is a significant, and often controversial, teaching.13 And although Kuyper and the later neocalvinist tradition has often been described, and understood by its own devotees, as in opposition to natural law, Kuyper himself is quite clear: natural law is a manifestation of God’s common grace.14

As Kuyper well understood, moral law is the gracious means by which God governs the universe. Kuyper frequently speaks of moral law by using the grammar of “divine ordinance.” Expressing itself through various divine ordinances, the moral law is woven into the fabric of creation. In Our Program, Kuyper speaks of the “natural knowledge of God” accessible to all human beings and “universal moral law” that “was ingrained in man before his fall” and which, “however weakened after the fall, still speaks so sharply, so strongly, so clearly among even the most brutalized peoples and the most degenerate persons that Paul could write: ‘For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.’ ”15

This, of course, is none other than the language of natural law. Thus it is that Kuyper can speak of “the ordinances of God,” which direct and preserve all of human life and form the underpinnings of common grace. These laws or ordinances, in turn, facilitate what Kuyper referred to as soevereiniteit in eigen kring, what we call “sphere sovereignty” or “structural pluralism,”16 developed at some length in his third Princeton lecture, “Calvinism and Politics.” Common grace, supported by divine ordinances, makes civil life possible, based on moral principle and shared morality. At bottom, justice is impossible without the moral law; in Kuyper’s thinking, justice derives from divine ordinances.

Lest he be misunderstood, Kuyper puts the matter of the natural moral law in perspective by understanding it in relation to human sinfulness:

Therefore the situation after the fall, also according to the testimony of the apostle, is not that this darkening changed all at once into pitch-black night, and all religious and moral awareness was totally deadened in sin, but to the contrary, that this otherwise necessary final impact of sin has been restrained, and thanks to that restraining there remains in people a consciousness of good and evil, an awareness of justice and injustice, a certain knowledge of what God wants and does not want. However dense and heavy the mists may be in which people are enveloped as sinners, the light did not abandon the struggle but continued to penetrate those mists.17

In discussing the connection between common grace and the moral order, Kuyper often relies on the traditional language of “light” and “darkness,” which connects both with scriptural witness as well as classical natural-law thinking.

Kuyper is not, however, averse to explicit invocation of the language of natural law, which is characteristic of so many later Protestant figures. Part of the reason that the specific language of natural law in its moral sense fell into disuse among Protestants in this and following eras has to do with the rise of naturalism and rationalism. Nature came to be identified with that which was other than human, and even taken in materialistic or naturalistic dimensions. Thus, when Kuyper sometimes distinguishes between “natural laws” and “moral and spiritual law,” he can be understood to be referring to the “laws of nature” in their natural, scientific sense rather than their moral and theological sense.18 In this way, Kuyper notes in his Stone lectures that “as a Calvinist looks upon God’s decree as the foundation and origin of the natural laws, in the same manner also he finds in it the firm foundation and the origin of every moral and spiritual law.” He distinguishes here between natural laws referring to the laws that govern non-human existence, and the moral and spiritual laws that govern humans as moral and spiritual beings. Such distinctions are not to be radically opposed, however, as he continues to describe them as “both these, the natural as well as the spiritual laws, forming together one high order, which exists according to God’s command, and wherein God’s counsel will be accomplished in the consummation of His eternal, all-embracing plan.”19 When we understand that it is part of human nature to be a moral and spiritual being, we might likewise recognize how speaking of laws of nature with respect to humanity is also legitimate.

Because there is such a close connection between the natural, moral law and common grace, Kuyper often catachrestically uses the terms interchangeably. But more technically, in Kuyper’s understanding we should recognize that the ongoing preservation of human beings as morally responsible agents is a manifestation of his larger conception of common grace and not simply identifiable with it. Apart from the terminology, however, the substance of the connection between common grace and the moral order is explicit, as Kuyper affirms “a knowledge of God and of his justice that persisted in spite of our sin, and that was and is still maintained, due not to our efforts but despite our unrighteousness, by the common grace of God.”20

COMMON GRACE AND CIVIC RIGHTEOUSNESS

The knowledge of God and his justice, even as it is incomplete, fragmentary, and error-prone, preserves the existence and enables the flourishing of unregenerate humanity. There exists among unbelievers incredible genius, awe-inspiring artistry, and striking virtue. The truth of this “is immediately evident from the undeniable fact that in people like Plato and Aristotle, Kant and Darwin, stars of the first order have shined, geniuses of the highest caliber, people who expressed very profound ideas, even though they were not professing Christians. They did not have this genius from themselves, but received their talent from God who created them and equipped them for their intellectual labor.”21

As we have seen, whatever goodness there is among non-Christians exists because “the sinner still knows the justice of God, and the revelation of God in the human heart and in creation still continues to function even after the fall.”22 From this reality it follows that there is some level of goodness or righteousness that is possible for sinners to achieve on the basis of common grace. By definition this righteousness is not salvific. Common grace refers to that which is preserved and sustained in the face of sin, but not to that action of God that redeems, renews, and reconciles. That is the realm of special grace. Kuyper is at pains to show that whatever goodness perdures in the sinful world, it does not reach to what is truly good; hence, the identification of good works in the Heidelberg Catechism of those “which proceed from true faith, and are done according to the Law of God, unto His glory, and not such as rest on our own opinion or the commandments of men.”23

And yet there is some virtue or righteousness that is realized in the life of fallen humanity. Thus Kuyper affirms that “in the unconverted, all kinds of powers certainly function, albeit only partially in the direction ordained by God.”24 In part this aspect of the doctrine of common grace refers back to that explanatory function of the doctrine in Kuyper’s thought. It helps Christians to understand that when they look out into the world and examine history, they find examples of what appears to be morally virtuous activity among sinners. The connection between common grace and civil righteousness enables Christians to affirm that there is good in some sense that is manifest in the life of the nations without confusing or conflating this with good in its fullest, most robust, or ultimate sense.

At the same time, the moral significance of this civic righteousness is ambiguous. The moral aspect of common grace is sufficient to allow there to be some expressions of civil good and social life, but its soteriological significance ends with human beings left “without excuse” (Rom 1:20). As with all good things, whatever good is in such civic righteousness is in the final analysis to be attributed to God rather than to human initiative. And because of the pervasiveness of fallen humanity’s sinfulness, Kuyper holds to the fundamental Reformed conviction that of its own accord humanity would increase in sin rather than in virtue. “Common grace is still continually at work to partially redirect into the right direction all kinds of powers and activities within him,” writes Kuyper of unregenerate man, “that left alone would head entirely into sin.”25

So while Kuyper is sure to recognize and celebrate that there are some vestiges and elements of goodness or righteousness that persist among sinful humans, he is likewise keen to properly categorize and relativize such goodness. Civic righteousness truly exists, but it is not salvific; it is a result of God’s divine graciousness rather than innate human goodness; it falls short of true virtue and Christian righteousness; and it is rather less common than we might wish. There is this consistent dynamic: God continues to graciously offer and give good gifts to his creatures, even while those creatures persist in making ill use of those gifts and turning those gifts to bad ends: “The light of truth has definitely not retreated altogether but has continued to shine. It is strictly due to us that the light does not penetrate to our soul’s eye.”26 Or as Kuyper concludes: “Common grace is present, but we have rejected it.”27 It is true that not all those uses and ends are as bad as they could possibly be; they may even be considered relatively good in some sense. And yet we must ultimately recognize that this situation cannot continue forever.

COMMON GRACE AND SOCIAL ORDER

One of Kuyper’s great insights in his treatment of common grace is that even in the midst of such ambivalence, amidst the good and the evil that exist in this life, some degree of not only individual virtue but also social development is realized. God’s preserving work of common grace helps us explain both civic righteousness and the ongoing realities of social life. Common grace makes individual life as well as social flourishing possible, even if these are constrained by sin and cannot reach their eschatological fullness.

The final volume of his trilogy on common grace focuses specifically on working out the implications of these realities for social life. For Kuyper, the realities of family and work are embedded in the creation order. As such, they are preserved in the context of sinfulness, but are not brought into existence anew. Likewise, the church could in some sense be said to be present wherever there are children of God, whether in the state of integrity or after corruption. But the church as an institution specifically formed around special grace is a feature of the postfall situation. Similarly, for Kuyper, there may be a sense in which political life could be said to exist in the primal condition, but it is only after the fall to sin that government takes on its distinctive character as a coercive power for the administration of civil justice.28 The state is, in this sense, the institution of common grace par excellence. It provides a curb on social evil and a check on sinful ambition.

This role is essential for all of human society, whether characterized as Christian or not. This is why the state is an institution of common grace: “The essential character of government as such does not lie in the fact that canals are dug, railways built, and so forth, but in the sovereign right to compel subversives by force and if necessary subdue them with the sword.”29 For Kuyper, the state is a necessary institution for the preservation of social life in the fallen world. But as his distinction between sphere sovereignty and state sovereignty indicates, even if the government is a particularly salient example of a common-grace institution, it is not itself identical with all of social life and is in fact sharply limited by the legitimate and warranted functions and roles of other institutions.30 Two examples of special notice are the family and work, realities that are embedded in the nature of creation and reaffirmed in the curse and promise.

In a remarkable treatment of Adam and Eve’s fall into sin and the divine discourse in Genesis 3, Kuyper underscores the fundamental functions of procreation in marriage and co-creation in work. When God demurs from striking down Adam and Eve immediately, he preserves them in life in the face of death. As Kuyper observes, “Over against death stands life; and for life two things are necessary, namely, the emergence of life and the maintenance of life.”31 Family and procreation represent the basis for the emergence of human life, while work and co-creation represent the basis for the maintenance of life.

In an incisive treatment of the curse and promise to Eve and Adam, Kuyper highlights the foundation of grace that provides for the ongoing existence of and care for human life. To the woman God says, “in pain you shall bring forth children” (Gen 3:16). The element of the curse is present with the imposition of painfulness; but the element of grace is present in the promise: “you shall bring forth children.” Despite their sinfulness and the threat of death that they deserve, Adam and Eve will have children, and humanity will continue to exist. The woman becomes Eve, mother of all the living, a promise of life in the face of sin, death, and damnation. “Had absolute death set in,” writes Kuyper, “then the mother in Eve, from which our entire human race had to come, would be closed forever. And behold, the opposite happens: the womb of all human life is opened up. The Lord says, ‘You shall bring forth children.’ This, if you will, is the word of creation to which we and everyone called human owe our being. Here, therefore, life instead of death is at work.”32

The same is true for Adam and the productive labor that is necessary for the maintenance of human society. God says to Adam, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread” (Gen 3:19). The element of the curse is present in that work now has become toilsome and troublesome, painful and difficult. But the element of grace shines through in the promise: “You shall eat bread.” So just as God works through procreation to guarantee that human beings will continue to exist, God promises that through work human beings will get their daily bread. As Kuyper observes, “Hunger brings death, but bread maintains life. To him who is about to die, it should be said, ‘Bread will be taken away from you and hunger shall become your death.’ But now the opposite is said: ‘You shall eat bread.’ And what does this say other than that life will not immediately drain away into death, but that it will be nourished and maintained.”33

Through spheres like the state, family, and work, God’s common grace is present to preserve, protect, and promote social life.

CONCLUSION

The continued existence and provision for humanity after the fall into sin is a critical argument in favor of Kuyper’s doctrine of common grace. We might explore this as a basic, and from Kuyper’s perspective undeniable, point of departure for the validity of the doctrine.

After the fall into sin, it is on the one hand clear that humanity continues to exist, but that it does so not on the basis of any inherent merit or desert. God deigns to forbear, and his patience is an unmerited gift. It seems entirely appropriate to describe this divine preservation as grace. “In the day when Adam and his wife ate of the forbidden tree, they did not die, which would have happened if no grace had been granted them,” concludes Kuyper.34 Likewise, this grace is not limited to a chosen few. It applies to everyone who lives, whether or not they will ultimately be saved or damned. It again seems entirely appropriate to identify the extension of such graciousness to everyone as common.

Acknowledgment of the cogency of such reasoning does not entail that one accedes to every aspect of Kuyper’s own exposition of the doctrine of common grace, however. And, in fact, Kuyper’s treatment, both in general and in its specifics, has engendered a significant amount of controversy, even becoming the occasion for ecclesiastical split. Along with the transmission of Kuyper’s extensive work on the doctrine, a number of other important materials—critical, constructive, as well as corrective—are coming into availability in English as well.35

The goal of this current translation project is to expose new audiences to Kuyper’s many-faceted thought. Kuyper’s broader project with respect to common grace may not demand assent; it does demand attention. Much of his treatment is constructive, speculative, and in some cases idiosyncratic. Some of the ways he explicates his understanding of common grace are particularly marked by his own context, biases, and presuppositions. Indeed, affirmation of the general thrust of Kuyper’s purposes in his treatment of common grace does not mean that there must be adherence to every jot and tittle of his thought. Regardless of what we find today to be valuable, debatable, or detestable about Kuyper’s thought, his work in these volumes demonstrates his genius and why it has been found to be so inspirational for more than a century. Kuyper’s vision is comprehensive and compelling, and one that has deep lessons for us today. Common grace works as far as the curse is found:

Common grace extends over our entire human life, in all its manifestations. There is a common grace that manifests itself in order and law; there is a common grace that manifests itself in prosperity and affluence; there is a common grace that becomes visible in the healthy development of strength and heroic courage of a nation; there is a common grace that shines in the development of science and art; there is a common grace that enriches a nation through inventiveness in enterprise and commerce; there is a common grace that strengthens the domestic and moral life; and finally there is a common grace that protects the religious life against an excessive degeneration.36

This is a refreshing and bracing perspective, especially in a world where the disagreements between different confessions and creeds are increasingly pronounced. Common grace can help us remember that amidst all of the dynamic and sometimes dizzying diversity in human existence, there exists a deep unity and solidarity that defines us as human beings created in the image of God. This vision offers a corrective to idols and ideologies of our day that threaten to overwhelm or enslave us, and it provides a constructive way forward as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.

Jordan J. Ballor

J. Daryl Charles

VOLUME INTRODUCTION

Abraham Kuyper’s life and work remain relevant, perhaps due to the seemingly perpetual ferment regarding the proper role of Christians in public life. The child of a Dutch minister and himself a clergyman who rose to the office of prime minister 1901–5, Kuyper is an example of a “walking public theology.” “Public” theology can be difficult to define because of the many questions that arise when we examine how theology informs the various dimensions of life external to church (that is, the “public”). For some, questions of “public theology” can mean considering whether there is a legitimate reason and possibility for Christian engagement in matters such as politics, business, and culture. For others, it is the inquiry concerning whether Christian concepts are understandable by or accessible to those outside the church (especially if one would like Christian perspectives to inform matters such as public policy), while for yet others it is the exercise of proposing ways Christian faith is expressed in politics and culture. For still others, it is an exercise in providing an account of the public realm through a theological lens. As it concerns Kuyper, it would be fair to say that he addresses all of these concerns at various points in his career, and certainly in his writing on the doctrine of common grace. While he mentions the doctrine in other writings, Kuyper produced his volumes on common grace in the form of contributions that previously appeared in the neocalvinist weekly De Heraut from 1895 until 1901.

Kuyper’s life trajectory reveals a man of great intellect, capacity, and scope. Kuyper was a modernist Christian minister in a rural parish who became a theologically orthodox Christian pastor and went on to be a vital Christian leader in the domains of politics, journalism, and academic life. For most of his career he was a leader in the antirevolutionary (that is, in opposition to the ideals of the French Revolution) movement, which became a political party by 1879, and was editor of the movement’s daily (De Standaard) and weekly (De Heraut) newspapers. Kuyper directed his attention toward issues related to the internal politics of the national church of the Netherlands (Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk, or NHK), beginning his involvement in national politics in 1874. He saw himself as an advocate for orthodox Christians who were marginalized from public influence, and he sought to make a case for Christian influence in the public square, as exemplified by his support of expanding voting privileges to all households and advocating the public support of Christian schools.

He helped to found the Free University of Amsterdam in 1880, where he also taught theology. After a notable ecclesiastical crisis in his own denomination, he led the 1886 separation from the NHK (the Doleantie, or “aggrieved ones”). In 1892 this group united with those churches that had seceded from the NHK in 1934 (the Afscheiding). The 1890s saw Kuyper increasing in influence. For example, he was invited to give the Stone Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1898, and, in part due to a coalition with Roman Catholic members of Parliament, he became prime minister in 1901. Wearing the hats of pastor, theologian, professor, journalist, and politician at various times in his life, Kuyper embodied a commitment to “public” Christianity while maintaining a fervent personal piety (as revealed by his devotional writing).

This background is important because it helps us to see a person who could not avoid addressing what it meant to be a person who loved God and served him in the fullness of life as God’s creation. Many Christians past and present have struggled to understand how to think well about a “public faith” and how to practice that faith with winsomeness. There is a great temptation either to camp out in a spiritual enclave or to overinvest one’s efforts in politics, business, medicine, or other areas of the life Christians live after they hear the benediction at the close of Sunday worship each week. The doctrine of common grace is a notable contribution from the Reformed tradition that helps illuminate the path of Christian discipleship with fidelity to God and thoughtful discernment.

One reason for noting that common grace is a contribution from the Reformed tradition is that Kuyper presents one account of a theological inquiry that is also addressed by other theological traditions. How do we account for the ways that God is at work in the world outside the church? What language and concepts can we provide for God’s work that is in some manner “common” among human beings? And how do we regard the relationship between the church and other domains of society? In addition to common grace, there is the language of prevenient grace from the Arminian/Wesleyan trajectory, natural law in Roman Catholicism, and, in the Lutheran view, the “restraining” dimension of God’s law at work in the world. Kuyper’s approach does not regard God’s common work in the world as addressing the possibility for response to the gospel, nor does it offer an account for a dimension of epistemological correspondence between Christians and non-Christians. Kuyper typically accounts for restraint of sin by divine action rather than law.1

Regarding the term Reformed itself, it is also worth noting that throughout these volumes Kuyper clearly has in mind the broad tradition stemming from the Swiss wing of the Reformation associated with John Calvin as well as the more narrow Reformed churches in the Netherlands. In addition, specific attention to articles in the Belgic Confession is essential to the case Kuyper makes for the validity of his account of common grace. This particularity is important to recognize, especially because Reformed in the popular imagination is often reduced to soteriology in general and the doctrine of election in particular. There are many today who embrace the label but who would discover that Kuyper disagrees with them on a variety of confessional matters ranging from sacraments to church polity, and, given his strong personality, it would be not be an overstatement to say that Kuyper would regard many contemporary adherents of the label as partially Reformed at best.

Another important observation about Kuyper and the Reformed tradition is that common grace is a contested doctrine.2 Within Kuyper’s own denomination and beyond in the wider Christian tradition, there is concern when grace is not specifically connected to salvation. Some would argue that the language and concept of grace are found in Scripture only in relationship to God’s unmerited favor in making salvation available. The counterargument emphasizes that after the fall and flood, God was under no obligation to preserve the creation and make possible opportunities for the flourishing of all human beings while he blocked the full force of sin in the world; this unmerited generosity befits the term grace.

What exactly is common grace? Kuyper articulated this doctrine as a development of earlier Reformed expressions of God’s preserving work in the created order. This development was quite robust and much more expansive than statements of the doctrine found in theologians such as John Calvin. As suggested above, some of Kuyper’s critics within Reformed circles saw this expansion as more inventive than developmental. While Kuyper was not averse to grand statements and creative expression, common grace is far from a doctrinal innovation that veers off the tracks of faithfulness. Put simply, common grace responds to the question many have about our world: How does the world go on after sin’s entrance, and how is it possible that “good” things emerge from the hands of humans both within and outside a covenant relationship with God? Common grace is God’s restraint of the full effects of sin after the fall, just as it is preservation and maintenance of the created order and distribution of talents to human beings. As a result of this merciful activity of God through the Holy Spirit’s work in creation, it remains possible for humans to obey God’s first commandment for stewardly dominion over the creation (see Gen 1:28). As distinct from the Arminian/Wesleyan doctrine of prevenient grace mentioned above, this is not a saving, regenerating, or electing grace; rather, it is a preserving grace, extended to the world that God has made. Furthermore, it can be seen in the human inclination to serve one’s neighbor through work, pursue shalom in broken social situations, and defend equity in all forms of human interaction.

This third and final volume follows the biblical-historical and doctrinal volumes and turns to practical matters. As Kuyper puts it: “For the Reformed Christian, precisely because he is an ‘earnest worshipper’ (Zeph 3:10 SV), every part of his confession has consequences.”3 Kuyper aims to answer the “So what?” question that demands an answer. Put differently, it would seem quite strange to make the case for a doctrine that makes possible ongoing human pursuit of flourishing in the created order and then to conclude the series without any practical guidance. Moreover, given Kuyper’s weekly audience in De Heraut, it would be quite remarkable if this were an occasion on which he did not offer considerable direction to his constituency.

This final volume originally covered the areas of government, church, family, upbringing, and society. One of the most important points of emphasis concerns the relationship between government and the church. In Kuyper’s day and ours, there was—and is—the challenge to discern the proper role of the church in relationship to the state and the political order. One of the major questions is how we ought to think about the origin of government. In Kuyper’s larger corpus of writings and here, he takes the position that political life itself has existed since the beginning of creation, whereas government emerges as a result of the fall. Government is necessary to provide justice and order; God’s generosity in common grace makes possible the emergence of political systems among all types of peoples, irrespective of their relationship to God. And even when it is the case that Kuyper makes value judgments about greater and lesser achievements among countries and regions, he maintains the larger point nonetheless.

As it applies to Christian believers, while Kuyper encourages Christian participation in government where possible, he also resists the idea that government should be understood as a social extension of the church or that the church should seek to have direct influence on government. For many Christians this latter point may seem confusing because they perceive Christian engagement in culture and society as a public opportunity for Christian political concerns to be implemented; this might express itself specifically through the concept of a “Christian nation” or through a similar view that is strongly desired, albeit less clearly conceived. Kuyper strongly resisted this idea. When he was prime minister, he did not regard himself as a pastor who now had the opportunity to make the nation into the image of the church. Kuyper aimed to avoid opposing errors: the evasion of politics (because it is thought to be essentially “corrupt”) and the overreach of the church in politics (whereby the church seeks to influence the state to the point that government enforces matters of doctrine and polity—the so-called Constantinian temptation).

In addition to common grace, Kuyper is perhaps best known for his accent on the theological issues of sphere sovereignty and antithesis. Sphere sovereignty is Kuyper’s idea that from God’s sovereignty there are derived more discrete sovereign “spheres” such as the state, business, the family, and the church. He also used this idea to help make the case for distinctive Christian public institutions such as schools and hospitals. Sphere sovereignty describes a pluralism of both social structures and worldviews and is a prominent feature in Kuyper’s approach to public life. The emphasis on Christian distinctiveness is also rooted in Kuyper’s view of the antithesis between Christians and those not regenerated by the Holy Spirit. As revealed at certain points, Kuyper believed that regeneration yields a distinct epistemological difference that ultimately leads Christians to interpret reality differently (and with better precision). When emphasizing the antithesis, Kuyper heavily stressed the importance of Christian identity; he did not wish for Christians to sacrifice their faith when they participated in the various areas of the public realm. While neither antithesis nor sphere sovereignty is the main emphasis in this volume, these theological commitments are nevertheless present in subtle and occasionally explicit fashion. At this point it is worth noting that adherents of Kuyper’s work at times place themselves in either “antithesis” or “common grace” camps; however, to take the man and his work seriously, one must either be a member of both camps or migrate regularly between them.

In contrast to antithesis, common grace lays stress upon shared humanity and public responsibility. From 1895 until 1901, Kuyper wrote a series of articles in De Heraut that were later compiled in three volumes that were published in 1902, 1903, and 1904. Ten chapters on common grace in science and art, originally planned as part of that series, appeared as a separately bound volume in 1905. This volume includes these two sections that were later appended to his larger three-volume work on common grace. For Kuyper, science was not limited to “hard” sciences such as chemistry and biology; it also extended to the humanities and social sciences. Kuyper wrote at a time when it was an open question whether philosophy, literature, and theology could be considered properly “scientific.” Here he expresses his view that science is intended to discover the deepest truth of all things, a truth that requires investigations that take us beyond surface level encounters with various phenomena to the understanding of how all reality is an expression of the divine mind. Similarly, when writing about art, Kuyper presents a view that begins with the link between religion and artistic expression and ultimately moves toward a statement on the proper independence of art from the domain of the church. Perhaps one of the most interesting features of Kuyper’s discussion of art is his view that, at its best, art aims to express the final realization of God’s glorious kingdom through media such as architecture, painting, and music. This does not mean that every artist consciously strives to create works approximating the consummated kingdom, only that the desire to express the fullness of beauty tends to orient artists toward such a lofty goal.

Kuyper’s focus on science and art resonates with contemporary discussions about Christian participation in both communities. At least since the time of Darwin (or perhaps since the time of Galileo), many Christians have perceived a (seemingly very real) conflict with the world of science, and for those whose vocation brings them to research, teaching, or other science-related professions, there has been significant tension. Some have responded by abandoning the scientific mainstream in favor of a Christian alternative, while others have kept their faith and the work effectively separated. Still others have embraced an anti-intellectualism shrouded in a faith posture characterized by suspicion of any serious scientific research. Kuyper would encourage us to choose none of these paths; we should participate fully in the scientific domain while being aware of the fact that there will be a genuine antithesis between Christians and non-Christians at the level of ultimate explanation. For certain, Kuyper would encourage the embrace of all that falls under the domain of the sciences.

The domain of art is also an area of great challenge. From film to popular music to painting, Christian artists often occupy a domain that many perceive as draped with cautionary flags. There is a significant chasm between the world of art and the church, and those who regard themselves as dual citizens find themselves exasperated by the misunderstandings of their vocation within the church. As with science, there are many who tend to encourage limited participation in the arts or even withdrawal if the artist is not producing spiritually oriented works. Readers will see that Kuyper is aware of the pitfalls and promise of art while ultimately encouraging the pursuit of artistic expression in keeping with the image-bearing quality that all humans embody as creators of beauty, value, wealth, and knowledge. Christians with artistic vocations are always with us; Kuyper’s work can be part of helping Christian communities to equip and support artists as they continually discern a life of deep faithfulness and fertile creativity.

It is not necessary to have total agreement with a person in order to admire them or find their contributions to be of great value. In fact, this is impossible because, as one gets closer to any figure, one draws nearer to dimensions of the complex reality that is beyond a metaphorical “highlight reel” of great moments and contributions. With Christian artists in particular, the closer we get to a figure, the closer we get to the day of reckoning with the imperfections, weaknesses, or flaws. These imperfections reveal ways in which very gifted persons had (or still have) areas of life and thought that required greater knowledge (at the very least) and greater sanctification (at the very most)—a state of affairs that, according to those in the Reformed tradition, reveals the ongoing truth of “depravity.”

In this final volume of the Common Grace trilogy, readers encounter not only Kuyper’s theological claims but also some of his accounts of historical development, his views of the structure and practice of family life, and various expressions of his own opinion. Some of his specific views on politics, church, science, and art may not be embraced by all. Although he was remarkably prescient regarding some developments in society, Kuyper was not omniscient, and at times he ventured opinions that we might find surprising, even shocking. This may be most apparent in his comments regarding Africans and “primitive peoples” that appear at various places throughout this volume (and elsewhere in Kuyper’s wider writings). Like many of his era, Kuyper regarded Africans as far behind other civilized people-groups. While his theology emphasized the creation of all humans in the divine image, and while his emphasis on cultural diversity (multiformity) encourages humility about the extent of our knowledge, these emphases did not lead him to proper regard for all humans, and on certain occasions he betrays a disposition of racial superiority (readers will observe that while Kuyper reserves his strongest negative statements for Africans, he also speaks with paternalism or condescension about other non-European ethnic groups). One of the challenges to be faced in this regard is the philosophical and theological theory of the development of civilization, so that Kuyper could be read as saying that God’s plan of providential development has been unfolding in a manner that has led to Europeans being the most civilized and some Africans as the least. It is a genuine matter of debate whether or not for Kuyper this meant that he believed non-whites would always be inferior (because God had chosen this)—this in spite of his theological claim, made throughout his career, that all humans are bearers of the divine image and that the sociopolitical implications of Calvinism led to advancements such as the abolition of slavery and caste systems. In any case, one cannot be truthful about Kuyper without reckoning with the various places in his writings where he makes racist statements.

To use the label racist could seem to be one of those moments in which one looks back at a figure in the past and, with contemporary enlightenment, points the finger of accusation; this is not the case here. I am willing to acknowledge that in many cases Kuyper was not making these statements with antagonism but as matters of description that he may have thought were fairly obvious. Nevertheless, it is my own view that even with his best intentions, he presupposes the inferiority of Africans and does not give much consideration to how his theological anthropology could alter the value judgments, both explicit and implicit, about those whom he concludes are “less civilized.”