Common Grace

"By common grace, I understand, basically, that all people, by virtue of having been created in the image of God and living in God's reality, are capable of thinking, behaving, and speaking beautifully, rightly, and truthfully outside of a salvific context...While no, non-Christians don't live under the saving love of Jesus Christ crucified, resurrected, and ascended, they do live under the general, or common, love of God for his creatures. We are not, pervasive depravity granted, as bad as we could be, and even to imply that non-Christians aren't capable of speaking or behaving truly is a slap in the face of both non-Christians and their creator. As Calvin writes in his Institutes (2.2.15): 'If we regard the Spirit of God as the sole fountain of truty, we shall neither reject the truth itself, nor despise it wherever it shall appear, unless we wish to dishonor the Spirit of God. For by holding the gifts of the Spirit in slight esteem, we contemn and reproach the Spirit himself.'"

Jeremy Huggins in Critique issue #2 2006.