Common grace has been provided to all, and those who are of God co-operate with it, endeavouring to live uprightly and in accordance with sound reason, taking heed to conscience and producing the saving fruit of compassion. The “exceedingly abundant grace which is in Christ Jesus” is a gift freely provided for the last two thousand years to those whom God has called to form the sacred assembly of the firstborn ones (the Church) as part of His adapted strategic plan to reconcile the scattered seed of God. Coming to share His nature and being called to suffer with Him in the present so that they may reign with Him in the future417, the elect are meant to be a blessing for the whole human family, for that is the privilege and responsibility of the firstborn, just as their Master and Saviour is in turn the Firstborn amongst them:
“For whom He did foreknow, He did predestine to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren”418
God is fair to all
The Creator’s methodology has undoubtedly been inscrutable, but in terms of His nature, God is good, desires the long-term wellbeing of humanity and acts with fairness
and generosity towards everyone. So, in the religious sphere, individuals who are being prepared for a glorious future inheritance with Christ by being associated with Him in the present, are called in the meantime to self-sacrifice and divine chastening 419. They are to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice with all the discipline and self-restraint that requires.
Others order their lives as they see fit: disciples of Christ will not have had that luxury, having travelled the way of the cross420. Not many wise, not many mighty or noble are called, for God has chosen the foolish of the world to confound the wise so that no flesh should glory in His presence421.
Christians are drawn by the Father to Jesus Christ; go on to love Him; wishing to serve Him and enjoy close communion with Him for ever. To that end they are willing to forsake everything that detracts from that goal for they have discovered the pearl of greatest price, have sold all to buy it and will go on to demonstrate their love for Him by keeping His commandments. They are “justified”, that is marked out in the present as accepted members of the redeemed community of Christ by exercising faith in Him and staying faithful to Him; there was no need, as some of Paul’s detractors in the Galatian churches were insisting, for fulfilling the works (deeds) of the Jewish Law such as circumcision and fasting.
416 Cf. Mt25:40
417 2Tim2:12
418 Rom8:29
419 Heb12:6
420 Rom8:17
421 Cf. 1Cor1:26-29
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Special Covenants in the context of universal enlightenment
Abraham is rightly regarded as the father of faith. But Isaac is the progenitor of those participating within the covenants of promise [cf. Gal4:28] - for Abraham’s son Ishmael, though blessed by God and circumcised by Abraham had been excluded. Likewise, Abel, Enoch and others were evidently justified, effectively within a Universal Covenant for there was no other in operation at the time. For given that Abel was “reckoned to be righteous” there must have been a covenant in operation, for justification is always in the
context of a covenant. God had spoken to Abraham directly; he believed God concerning His promise of a son in old age, and this was credited to him as righteousness. But as is made clearer in Hebrews 11422 it was Abraham’s earlier obedience to God’s call to leave his home country that first evinced his faith. This undeniably virtuous quality is also described in Scripture as “godly fear”. Peter concluded on the matter once he had grasped that Gentiles were eligible for gospel salvation:
“I now fully understand that God has no favourites but that anybody of any nationality who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him”423
In the language of a second century spiritual master, “faith is that which of itself and
from its own resources chooses at once what is best”424. As I have expressed the matter, faith is “a divinely provided virtue that furnishes worthy endeavour”. It is a positive response to God’s will for humane living, truthfulness and integrity as it is perceived through a religious creed if one has one or the dictates of one’s conscience. Through such common yet effectual grace, many will instinctively go on to perform acts of charitable love ( agape) towards their fellow man. In so doing they confirm they are of God, since:
“Love (agape) is from God and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God”425
Referring back to Abraham, it was not how positively he responded to God, it was
that he responded positively that led to him being counted as righteous. Faith is a quality
which is either present or absent whereas works pertain to achieving a standard or complying with statutes. Unlike “digital” faith, works are “analogue”, so worryingly uncertain. Faith is a virtue for sure, but it has not been worked for or earned but simply
possessed and utilized. Justifying faith always pertains to evincing the continued presence of a divinely provided quality by producing fruit. One who is of God evinces the fruit of love to some measure; he can be justified, i.e., marked out in the present as a valid member of the human race, one who has retained his Creator’s image, for God is love and man reflects His image and a measure of His glory426. The children of the devil on the other hand are
“trees whose fruit had withered, now devoid of fruit, twice dead and plucked up at the
422 Verse 8
423 Acts10:34-35
424 Clement of Alexandria (2nd century) https://www.earlychristianlife.com/2015/09/quotes-
from-titus-flavius-clemens.html
425 1Jn4:7
426 1Cor11:7
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roots”427. Such may give a fortune to charity and the like, but it will be for the praise of their fellows, never genuine philanthropy, divine duty, or faithful reparation428.