Abraham Kuyper and Common Grace

 By Uri Brito - Posted at Kuyperian Commentary:

During the COVID era, I had the opportunity to deliver a few talks via zoom to men’s groups around the country on the legacy of Abraham Kuyper. One of the prevailing themes of these talks was a hearty focus on Kuyper’s doctrine of common grace.

Kuyper made a distinction between special grace and common grace. “Special grace” had to do with church life (ecclesiastical matters) and “common grace” focused on things pertaining to culture and society. Kuyper believed that post-reformational theology focused almost exclusively on “special grace.” The basic features of their controversies dealt with the sacraments, church architecture, church polity, and issues regarding the clergy. Now, to be clear, the Reformers did deal with issues outside the church, but because they were fighting and continued to fight church/liturgical abuses in the 16th century, those topics carried the day.

When Kuyper comes on the scene in the 19th century, he’s living in a day of cultural confusion. He doesn’t think the church is preparing men and women to do their jobs well in the culture. Thus, Kuyper develops this robust view of grace that focuses on the Christian’s contributions to society as image-bearers. If you are a painter, how do your painting skills reflect God’s grace? If you are a politician, how are you applying your Christian faith to particular agendas? You may say it was the outworking of the cobbler’s paradigm in Luther’s reformation.

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