A Response to Myself (Pt.3)

Please read Pt. 1 & Pt. 2 of this article before this portion.

Yet there still remains the issues of the unregenerate (unsaved, nonbelievers, non elect whatever you want to term it) in the areas of doing good, knowing truth and experiencing blessings, the passages for these are: 2 Kings 10:30; 12:2; Luke 6:33; Rom 1:18-21; Matt. 23:2-3; Num. 22:1-24:5; 2 Peter 2:15; Rev. 2:14; 1 Sam. 10:9-11; Matt. 10:5-8 [in terms of Judas]; 11:21-23; 13:1-9; 18:15-20; Luke 10:13-15; 1 Cor. 5:1-12; 11:17-34; Heb. 6:4-6; 10:26-29; 2 Peter 2:20-22; 1 John 2:19.

If these are read then it is apparent these are graces, though the term grace is never used to describe them within the passages themselves. But it is evident these are graces, for they are unmerited underserved gifts. For the ability to do good, i.e. good not in terms of good works done solely for the glory of God but rather carrying out the commandments of God (an unnatural thing which man does, Romans 3:9-18, and thus must be a grace) is a gift.

Frame continued on in our e-mail to say,

“On the other hand, other terms like ‘goodness,’ ‘love,’ and ‘mercy’ have some of the same ambiguity [as grace], so I can’t really forbid people to use the terminology of common grace. I use it myself, because of the precedent in theological tradition.”

Thus the precedent for common grace is set with these passages and themes. Because the ambiguity for either word (mercy or grace) is self-evident and therefore to strive against either (as I did) is wrong for 1 Timothy 6:4-5 holds much weight in saying, “… He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and depraved of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.”