INTERVIEW: Rev. Dr. Andy Underhile (Reformed) & Rev. Donald Veitch (WCF-BCP-TFU)
COMMON GRACE? OR, PERPETUAL WAR BETWEEN THE SEED OF CHRIST AND THE SEED OF THE SERPENT?
Rev. Dr. Andy Underhile and I discuss “common grace,” a dominant motif in the Confessional Reformed world in all its schools and centers of advertisement. Andy explored 1 Samuel 4-6 on the theme, concluding that the Ark of the Covenant (Law and Gospel) and the Day of Atonement was designed to judge the pagan, unbelieving, idolatrous Philistines. He expanded the discussion to King Saul who repressed his awareness of the God of Israel to “follow too much the devices and desires of his heart,” to use BCP language by Dr. Cranmer. The bounties of divine providence (air, water, sunshine, food, etc.) are used by the unconverted and reprobates in idolatrous, indifferent, self-idolizing and self-serving ways. We commented briefly on Abraham Kuyper and his model of common grace. Both Andy and I lamented and theorized that this doctrine of common grace has been injurious to the proclamation of the Law and Gospel and destructive to the “antithesis” noted above between Christ and His seed and the Devil and his seed, the perpetual war as outlined by Augustine in his Civitates Dei, or, The City of God. We plan to revisit the subject.
COMMON GRACE? OR, PERPETUAL WAR?
