Common Grace Controversy

The Common Grace Controversy, generally, refers to a conversation revolving around the meeting of the 1924 Synod, where the Christian Reformed Church would adopt the three points of common grace. According to this synodical meeting the three points of common grace include: God’s love for that is extended to all of humanity in general and not just those who are considered elect, God’s restraint of sinful desires that allows people to exist in the world, and people, in general, have the capacity to perform good deeds in their lives regardless of their elected status. Sam Storms of the Gospel Coalition defined common grace like this: “Common grace, as an expression of the goodness of God, is every favor, falling short of salvation, which this undeserving and sin-cursed world enjoys at the hand of God; this includes the delay of wrath, the mitigation of our sin-natures, natural events that lead to prosperity, and all gifts that human use and enjoy naturally.” At the 1924 Synod the CRC adopted the doctrine of common grace as a truth of the Christian faith.

The idea of common grace differs from special, or salvific, grace in the sense that common grace is something that is blanketed over all of creation and special grace refers to the specific revelation from God that is given to those who are part of the elect. Basically, salvific grace is what leads to conversion to Christianity and salvation through Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross, and this is something that is not given to everybody.

The decision to adopt the concept of common grace into the Christian faith was not met with universal praise by all involved, and several pastors at the time either resigned from the church or were deposed from the church as a whole. One of the main opponents of the concept of common grace is Herman Hoeksema who contended that the word grace in scripture was only ever used to apply to those who were considered God’s elect, and that any idea of a “general offer” of grace is dangerously close to Arminianism.

The history of the concept of common grace goes back decades prior to the 1924 synod with one of the first people to bring up the idea of common grace being Abraham Kuyper. Kuyper was an early Dutch reformer who, among other things, had a specific focus on the sovereignty of God. Kuyper’s famous quote reads like this: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'" This famous quote from Abraham Kuyper explains that God’s sovereignty over creation extends over all of creation, not just the part of creation that has been deemed elect. This general idea from Kuyper is the very essence of his belief in common grace.

The idea of common grace often comes into contention with the idea of total depravity. The theological concept of total depravity tells us that without the grace of God our sinful desire will always win out because we are incapable of righteousness. Romans 3: 10-12 says: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” The thing is that the very concept of total depravity must lead to a concept of common grace. John Murray raises some questions about common grace in his collected works when he asks: “How is it that men who still lie under the wrath and curse of God and are heirs of hell enjoy so many good gifts at the hand of God? How is it that men who are not savingly renewed by the Spirit of God nevertheless exhibit so many qualities, gifts and accomplishments that promote the preservation, temporal happiness, cultural progress, social and economic improvement of themselves and of others?” John Murray’s questions here lead to a thought process that inevitably leads down a path to common grace because it shows that even people who are not under God’s salvation are capable of living and thriving in the world.

There are plenty of Biblical scriptures that back up the idea of common grace and some of these more than likely fueled Kuyper to come up with the idea in the first place. For example, Matthew 5:44-45 says this: “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” In this passage Jesus tells his disciples to love their enemies and pray those who persecute them and this is evidence of the Lord’s common grace because it shows that Jesus has compassion on all of the people who do not follow him and even those who actively go against him and his people. The passage also mentions that the Father causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous, and this shows us that the Lord has grace for all of creation because he sustains every living creature no matter where they morally stand.

Genesis 20 shows us an example of God restraining someone from sinning when it says this: “Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her.” This passage refers to a situation where God restrains Abimelek from raising a hand against his sister because to do so would be a sin against God. This shows to us that the Lord is willing to restrain sin for the purpose of people being able to live in a society with rules and laws.

Exodus 31: 2-5 says this about people being gifted to contribute good things: “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.” This passage demonstrates God’s willingness to give people skills and artistry so that they are able to do good things with gifts that God has given them. This shows us a God who uses all aspects of His creation to help the earth flourish even those that aren’t considered as good.

Romans 2 gives us perhaps the greatest example of common grace in the Bible. Romans 2: 4 says: “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?” This passage shows us that God shows patience and kindness in delaying the day of judgment solely for the purpose of people being able to repent to Him. This ultimately shows us a God who has given grace to His entire creation so that as many people as possible can come to repentance through Him.

One of the major opponents of common grace at the time of the 1924 synod was Herman Hoeksema who, along with his colleagues, could not agree with common grace because he believed that it was contradictory to the biblical doctrine of unconditional election. Hoeksema believed that unconditional election was the very doctrine that interpreted all of God’s actions in scripture. They argued that if God specifically elected some people while subsequently passing over others, then He cannot look at those He passed over with favor. They had an argument against Matthew 5 where they believed that even though God provides sunlight and rain to those who are not elect, He does so, not out of grace, but out of a sense of divine obligation. Ultimately, this view leads to problems with the idea of good because it indicates that a person who isn’t saved can’t do good things, so if someone who is not elect does a good deed it cannot be seen as truly good, or righteous.

Another part of common grace that people like Hoeksema took issue with was that they believed that the idea of common grace was too close to the concept of Arminianism. Arminianism believes in the concept of prevenient grace which is the idea that from creation God offers up grace to all of creation that is meant to prepare the heart for conversion to Christianity. They believe that this kind of grace is universal and the grace that comes from sanctification is entirely resistable.

One concern that led to the conversation in 1924 was that people were under the belief that because those who were not part of the elect were not looked on with favor by God, there was ultimately no reason to interact with the secular world. This conversation was had in 1924 because with the concept of common grace being accepted as true it gave Christians a reason to go out into the world and interact with the unelect, and spread the gospel to them in this way. We know from scripture that the idea of spreading the Gospel was very important to Jesus because they were the last words he spoke in the Gospel of Matthew. Of course, this also led to the belief that common grace was nothing more than a way to compromise, and that by accepting it people would begin to explore more liberal forms of theology that people were not comfortable with.

With the 1924 synod the concept of common grace was adopted into the CRC as a truth of the Christian faith, and naturally this meant that those who strongly opposed it were eventually ousted from the CRC as an agreement could not be met between the parties. However, it was deemed important to establish this belief in common grace as an essential part of the Christian belief.

Personally I think the controversy surrounding common grace was fascinating and I was also a little surprised that it as a concept was introduced to the faith as late as 1924. If you had asked me before this I would’ve thought it was something that was always around. I remember one of the first things we talked about in Bible school were the concepts of general and special revelation. The discussion about common grace reminded me of an issue that I had early on in my Chrsitan faith. I struggled with the concept of election because I couldn’t understand why God would refuse to save some people while choosing others, to me that didn’t sound like a loving God. I have since come to understand the true meaning of this, but I think this discussion of common grace reinforces my belief because it shows us that God has given grace to all people in certain ways, and that very much proves that He is a loving God. Especially when we explore the Romans passage about God prolonging the day of judgment so that as many people as possible can come to repentance through Jesus Christ. Of course I also went to Kuyper College so that Abraham Kuyper quote was drilled into me from day one.

Works Cited

Bratt, James D. Dutch Calvinism in Modern America : A History of a Conservative Subculture. Eugene, Or, Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2002.

Murray, John. Collected Writings of John Murray. Banner of Truth, 1 Jan. 1976.

Storms, Sam. “The Goodness of God and Common Grace.” The Gospel Coalition, 2025, www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/goodness-god-common-grace/.

“The Common Grace Controversy of 1924: Theological Tension and the Birth of a Denomination.” Mid-America Reformed Seminary, 2026, midamerica.edu/articles/48/the-common-grace-controversy-of-1924-theological-tension-and-the-birth-of-a-denomination. Accessed 24 Apr. 2026.

“The Three Points of Common Grace (CRC - 1924).” Prca.org, 2025, www.prca.org/resources/articles/the-three-points-of-common-grace.