Common Grace and the Natural Creation

Common Grace and the Natural Creation

In goodness and as an expression of his kindness toward the material creation, God also holds in check the destructive tendencies that are part of the curse of sin upon nature.

John Murray elaborates:Sin introduces disintegration and disorganization in every realm. While it is true that only in the sphere of rationality does sin have meaning – it originates in mind, it develops in mind, it resides in mind – yet sin works out disastrous effects outside the sphere of the rational and moral as well as within it. God places restraint upon these effects, he prevents the full development of this disintegration. He brings to bear upon this world in all its spheres correcting and preserving influences so that the ravages of sin might not be allowed to work out the full measure of their destructive power (“Common Grace,” II:101).

Paul speaks of this in Romans 8 where he describes the creation waiting “with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19). The material creation, what we refer to as nature, “was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:20–21).

Peter describes the day when “the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 Pet. 3:11). This judgment is temporarily suspended until such time as God will create a “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13). One explanation for why this sin-cursed earth is not instantly destroyed is God’s common grace in restraining, until the appointed time, his final and inevitable judgment.