Nathan E. Lewis

Common Grace Sermon Series

Sermon #1 = “Common Ground: The Image of God”
Genesis 1:26-27

Several years ago I preached a four sermon series titled, “The Image of God in Humanity.” The doctrine of the image of God in humanity is foundational to the doctrine of common grace, the topic of this ten sermon series designed to increase our marveling at the manifold grace of God. Just as God is the fountain of all truth so he is full of grace and his grace is lavished upon all his creation to his glory. In 1928 Herman Kuiper published Calvin on Common Grace, in which he defines the doctrine of common grace in these words: “Common grace is an omnipresent operation of divine mercy, which reveals itself everywhere where human hearts are found to beat and which spreads its blessing upon these human hearts.” He develops a two-fold divine purpose for common grace: God’s restraint of sin and his promotion of good, both to make human life possible. Kuiper, a careful student of John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, discovered the foundations of the doctrine of common grace complete with thoughtful biblical support, as Calvin was known to do – littering his every paragraph with biblical citations. Calvin wrote that God keeps the depraved strivings of unredeemed human beings in check “by throwing a bridle over them… that they may not break loose in order to preserve all that is.” Such statements emphasize the depraved nature of humanity but Calvin continues to describe humanity in more positive terms. Sin does not destroy humanity’s shared social nature, for “there exists in all men’s minds universal impressions of a certain civic fair dealing and order. Hence no man is to be found who does not understand that every sort of human organization must be regulated by laws, and who does not comprehend the principles of those laws.” It may surprise some critics of Calvin that he wrote in his Institutes these words: “Let that admirable light of truth shining in humanity teach us that the mind of man, though fallen and perverted from its wholeness, is nevertheless clothed and ornamented with God’s excellent gifts. If we regard the Spirit of God as the sole fountain of truth, we shall neither reject the truth itself, nor despise it where it shall appear, unless we wish to dishonor the Spirit of God…. Those men whom Scripture calls ‘natural men’ were, indeed, sharp and penetrating in their investigation of inferior things. Le us, accordingly, learn by their example how many gifts the Lord left to human nature even after it was despoiled of its true good.”
As Cornelius Van Til assures us, “the doctrine of common grace, like special grace, presupposes the doctrine of the sinner’s total depravity.” He also writes in his pamphlet titled, “Common Grace,” “Calvin, called the originator, and Kuiper, the great modern exponent, of the doctrine of common grace, were primarily concerned, in the whole thrust of their endeavor, to bring men face to face with the sovereign God.” Now it is virtually impossible to introduce all of the points and doctrinal connections on the topic of common grace in one sermon and so I have prepared ten sermons to scratch the surface, to orient you to this doctrine and to apply it to our understanding of God and his lavishing of grace upon all humanity. My sermon titles should help you to patiently wait for particular questions to be answered. Here is the list of my sermon titles:
“Common Ground: The Image of God in Humanity”
“Common Ground: Original Sin”
“Common Ground: Total Depravity”
“Common Grace: Restraining Evil”
“Common Grace: Promoting Good”
“Us and Them: The Covenant”
“Us and Them: The Gospel of the One Man”
“Grace is Everywhere: Common and Special Grace”
“Common Grace and Paganism”
“Common Grace and Christian Civility”

I thrive on interactions concerning my sermons, even debate
and disagreement on major points and perspectives. Let me say that I have read extensively on the historic debate within the Reformed world concerning the finer nuances of the doctrine of common grace. The debate has brought to light many a biblical insight. However, I do not find myself siding with one man over another. I have purposely quoted through out my ten sermons the entire spectrum of Reformed thought we label, “the doctrine of common grace.” If you are familiar with the historic debate you may think, “Doesn’t Nathan know that he is quoting two opposing debaters?” In fact I do know and I have found all sides of the debate to be fertile in biblical insight. The Reformed tradition has been known to eat its young and to devour one another like a pack of theological wolves. The doctrine of common grace moves us to find common ground with all humanity and to show charity in all relationships, “to be at peace with all men as far as it depends on you.” It is sadly ironic if not grievous that godly Reformed Ministers and scholars have divided over the doctrine of common grace. I have even quoted a few times from Gary North’s book, Dominion and Common Grace. This brother of Reconstructionist persuasion is both cocky and humorous so that it is difficult at times to take him seriously. Nevertheless, he has some keen insight into the divine revelation and so I quote him. Please don’t assume that I am a Reconstructionist because I quote one. Recon-structionist are Calvinists along with us Vosians, Kuiperians, Clarkians, and Van Tilians.
One more little introductory note: 90% or more of my preaching over 20 years has been expositional sermons plowing our way through a particular book of the Bible. This is not only my preference but it is also my conviction that it is the ideal way to preach the Holy Scriptures. On rare occasions I found it helpful to preach on a certain topic as I am doing in this series. In all of the few topical series I have presented, I consistently have an explicit text of the Bible presented as the foundation of the sermon.
Our text this morning is Genesis 1:26- 31. We must start somewhere and so I have started once again at the beginning, as the special written revelation of God starts with the creation of all things “very good,” the crowning glory of creation, humanity made in the image of God. For us to understand the doctrine of common grace we must remember and embrace the doctrine of the image of God in humanity.
The following is a whirlwind tour of my four sermon series on the Image of God in humanity. First of all, in our text for this morning we discover that God pre-meditated his creation of Humanity in his image. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together willed this creation and then did it. Moses wrote in Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…. And so God created man in his own image.”
Richard Pratt asks the questions: “Are we gods or lucky mud?” What does it mean to be “made in God’s image”? John Frame supplies a three-part answer: 1) Our entire human nature resembles God. John Frame clarifies that while we do not resemble all aspects of God, everything about us in some way resembles God; 2) Our moral excellence resembles God. The Old Testament authors never say that in Humanity’s fall the image of God was lost to the race. And so, Humanity, even at its worst, retains the ability and capacity for moral excellence; 3) Our moral agency resembles God. We are able to apply our moral excellence, our virtuous character, to our work and all of life. We do so through a rational process, through language, through ingenuity. Genesis 1:26-28 seems to highlight this aspect of the image of God in us. Here we begin to move from resemblance of God to representing God. We find no indication in the Bible that we become divine. Our Mormon friends think so, based upon their view of humanity made in the image of God. But think the Bible to mean resemblance and represenation.
We are made in God’s image, resembling God, and so we rule over creation, representing God. God has dominion over all his creation and he has appointed Humanity to have dominion over the animals, over the entire earth. We become the hands and feet to do the work of God upon earth. We are his representatives in the management and care of the environment and the animals that live in it with us.
Anthony Hoekema in his classic book, Created in God’s Image, writes, “Man is not only creature, he is also a person. And to be a person means to have a kind of independence – not absolute but relative. To be a person means to be able to make decisions, to set goals, and to move in the direction of those goals. It means to possess freedom – at least in the sense of being able to make one’s own choices. The human being is not a robot whose course is totally determined by forces outside of him; he has the power of self-determination and self-direction….In sum the human being is both a creature and a person….This is the central mystery of man….To be a creature, as we have see, means absolute dependence upon God; to be a person means relative independence.” As you may know, Hoekema in these quotes is merely parroting the Reformed Creeds.
The Westminster Confession of Faith includes a chapter titled, “Of Free Will.” It is a concise presentation of St. Augustine’s presentation of the human will. Listen to this: “God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that is neither forced, nor by any absolute necessity of nature determined to good or evil. Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that, which is good and well-pleasing to God; but yet mutably, so that he might fall from it. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto. When God converts a sinner and translates him into the state of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin, and, by his grace alone, enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good; yet so as that, by reason of his remaining corruption, he doth not perfectly, nor only, will that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil. The will of man is made perfectly and immutable free to good alone, in the state of glory only.
The gospel is clearly presented in this summary. God frees us from sin to return us more and more to that free condition in which he created us. But nothing in our experience compares to that freedom he has planned for our eternal glory. God has created us in his image and nothing can remove this personhood from us, just as nothing can relieve us of being creatures. Both connect us to God. As creatures, we seek God for we are dependent upon him, under his control and at his mercy. As persons, we reflect God in beauty, goodness, and truth, but especially in the freedom we exercise and enjoy. And so, we have been made for God, to accomplish his purposes and to glorify his Person.
This doctrine of the image of God in humanity is foundational to the doctrine of common grace. This doctrine of common grace founded upon biblical teaching presents a God who shows mercy toward all humanity with the purpose of restraining evil and promoting good so that humanity might live in this world fraught with the common curse. But God’s grace is not merely confined to common grace. It reaches the spectacular heights of special grace through which God shows an even greater display of his mercy in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, reconciling us to God and reconciling God to us, satisfying his just wrath for our sin and ushering us into the eternal favor and love of our heavenly Father forever. All of us who are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, that is, the elect of God, share significant common ground with the unbeliever and reprobate. Every single member of the human race, no matter how vile or twisted, no matter how marred or handicapped, no matter how confused or duplicitous, is nonetheless a human being made in the image of God. Our views, responses and interactions as we seek to live out the gospel, must not only take into account the doctrine of special grace inevitably forming a significant distinction between two groups of humanity, but it must also take into account the doctrine of common grace clearly marking our common ground as image bearers of God.