Some Thoughts
on the Reformed Doctrine of
"Common Grace"

Here's what someone posted on an Internet "Theology" Forum

:Yes, God loved the whole world. It was necessary that a measure of love be extended to the whole world in order that some be saved. All of us whether elect or not deserve to destroyed immediately. The death of Christ stayed that hand of a just God who mercifully allows even the reprobate to enjoy the benefits of the atonement, though it was for them only temporary. For the elect that atonement is eternal.

Here's my response to it:

This is a classical statement of COMMON GRACE, the Reformed/Calvinist answer to and interpretation of 1 Tim 4:10. God is the Saviour of all mankind only to the extent that He allows mankind to live, breath, procreate (thus, even begetting the elect), all the while continuing to accrue to themselves His accumulated wrath. God makes the sun shine on the good and evil alike, "preserving" (saving) them for the judgment of hell. But the only ones to actually be saved, to actually be loved by God, and to actually enjoy the fruits of the "atonement," are the elect. For these alone Christ died. The majority of mankind live on "death row," getting the crumbs of "common grace," all for a crime they did not commit. They did not choose to be in Adam. They did not choose him as their representative. They did not participate in his choice. But they were made sinners by what he did. Being born sinners, they did what only sinners could do; they sinned. The majority of those who will ever have lived on earth will live their whole lives oblivious to their peril. But not to worry. Ignorance is bliss. They can't change it. They have no choice in their ultimate fate.

To call this "love," "justice" and "mercy" is, to say the least, an overstatement.

Just my opinion.

Richard C Condon
"Faithful is the saying and worthy of all welcome (for for this are we toiling and being reproached), that we rely on the living God, Who is the Saviour of all mankind, especially of believers. These things be charging and teaching." (1 Tim 4:9-11)