In this sense, it is distinguished from the Calvinistic understanding of special or saving grace, which extends only to the elect,[note 1] those whom God has chosen to redeem.
Sam Storms writes that common grace isevery favor, falling short of salvation, which this undeserving and sin-cursed world enjoys at the hand of God; this includes the delay of wrath, the mitigation of our sin-natures, natural events that lead to prosperity, and all gifts that human use and enjoy naturally.
[1]In the words of Reformed scholar Louis Berkhof, “[Common grace] curbs the destructive power of sin, maintains in a measure the moral order of the universe, thus making an orderly life possible, distributes in varying degrees gifts and talents among men, promotes the development of science and art, and showers untold blessings upon the children of men,” (Berkhof, p. 434, summarizing Calvin’s position on common grace).
It is of this providential common grace that Jesus reminds his hearers when he said God "makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt.
Providential restraint of sin – In the Bible, Paul teaches that civil authorities have been "instituted by God" (Rom.
By God's common grace fallen mankind retains a conscience discerning the moral value of doing good over evil.
Providential blessings to mankind – Human advancements that come through the unredeemed are seen as outcomes of God's common grace.
In summary, common grace is seen in God's continuing care for his creation, his restraining human society from becoming altogether intolerable and ungovernable, his making it possible for mankind to live together in a generally orderly and cooperative manner, and maintaining man's conscious sense of basic right and wrong behavior.
The position of Herman Hoeksema and all leaders of the Protestant Reformed Churches is unique to the denomination, and is based on a high view of the word "grace" as a Biblical concept of favor applied only to the elect.
Both Calvinists and Arminians generally accept the concept of common grace in that there are undeserved blessings which God extends to all humankind.