From Calvin's Sermons on Deuteronomy:
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| Sermon 132, pg. 809 |
Now we are here to call to mind, that when God made his promise, it was unto the whole stock of Abraham; not that all were partakers of the promise of salvation, but that God had certain regard and bare a special favor unto all that house, and unto them which were to issue from it, accordingly also as we see how he says: As concerning Ismael, I have heard thee. And in very deed, it was not for naught that God commanded that Ismael should be circumcised. We know that circumcision imports: it is a sign of the favor of God. Now seeing it was given unto Ismael, it is great reason that he should approach more near unto God than the Painims which were altogether defiled, and which had no sign that God loved them, I say no particular sign. For in as much as he makes his sun to shine upon the good and upon the wicked, and in that he nourishes the whole world; thereby he proves himself a father towards all.
In this sermon Calvin references Matthew 5:45 and calls God a father towards all. It is his providential goodness in causing the sun to shine upon the wicked which proves his fatherliness towards all men and not just the elect. When Calvin says that the pagans had no particular sign that God loved them and then refers to his nourishment of the world as proof that he is a father to all the inference is that this nourishment of the world, the sunshine and the rain, indicates a general sign of God's love even to them.
Matthew 5:45: That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Here is Calvin's commentary on Matthew 5:45 in full:
45.That ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven. When he expressly declares, that no man will be a child of God, unless he loves those who hate him, who shall dare to say, that we are not bound to observe this doctrine? The statement amounts to this, “Whoever shall wish to be accounted a Christian, let him love his enemies.” It is truly horrible and monstrous, that the world should have been covered with such thick darkness, for three or four centuries, as not to see that it is an express command, and that every one who neglects it is struck out of the number of the children of God.
It ought to be observed that, when the example of God is held out for our imitation, this does not imply, that it would be becoming in us to do whatever God does. He frequently punishes the wicked, and drives the wicked out of the world. In this respect, he does not desire us to imitate him: for the judgment of the world, which is his prerogative, does not belong to us. But it is his will, that we should imitate his fatherly goodness and liberality. This was perceived, not only by heathen philosophers, but by some wicked despisers of godliness, who have made this open confession, that in nothing do men resemble God more than in doing good. In short, Christ assures us, that this will be a mark of our adoption, if we are kind to the unthankful and evil. And yet you are not to understand, that our liberality makes us the children of God: but the same Spirit, who is the witness, (Romans 8:16,) earnest, (Ephesians 1:14,) and seal, (Ephesians 4:30,) of our free adoption, corrects the wicked affections of the flesh, which are opposed to charity. Christ therefore proves from the effect, that none are the children of God, but those who resemble him in gentleness and kindness.
Luke says, and you shall be the children of the Highest. Not that any man acquires this honor for himself, or begins to be a child of God, when he loves his enemies; but because, when it is intended to excite us to do what is right, Scripture frequently employs this manner of speaking, and represents as a reward the free gifts of God. The reason is, he looks at the design of our calling, which is, that, in consequence of the likeness of God having been formed anew in us, we may live a devout and holy life. He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. He quotes two instances of the divine kindness toward us, which are not only well known to us, but common to all: and this very participation excites us the more powerfully to act in a similar manner towards each other, though, by a synecdoche, he includes a vast number of other favors.
https://www.studylight.org/commentary/matthew/5-45.html
Calvin here refers to the rising of the sun and the sending of the rain as divine kindness common to all. Compare Calvin's gloss on Mathew 5:45 with that of Protestant Reformed Minister and Seminary Professor David J. Engelsma's gloss on the sister verse Luke 6:35 which verse Calvin references in his commentary.
Luke 6:35: But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
From "Common Grace Revisited."
In loving our enemies, we reflect the character of our Father. Like Father, like children. For God is kind to unthankful and evil people. He is not kind to all unthankful and evil people. Nor does Luke 6:35 say this. But He is kind to people who are unthankful and evil. These are the elect in Christ, “the children of the Highest,” who now are called and privileged to show the marvelous goodness of their heavenly Father in their own attitude and behavior toward their enemies.
We were the unthankful and evil when in kindness He set His love upon us in the eternal decree of election.
We were the unthankful and evil when in kindness He gave up His own Son for us in the redeeming death of the cross. We were the unthankful and evil when in kindness He translated us by the regenerating Spirit into the kingdom of His dear Son.
And still we are the unthankful and evil when daily, in kindness, He brings us to repentance, forgives our sins, preserves us in the faith, and shows us a fatherly face in Jesus Christ. For, although by His grace we are also thankful and holy, we have only a very small beginning of this thankfulness and holiness. How unthankful we are for the love of God to us in Jesus Christ! And this is evil! This is a great evil!
Pages 22-23
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0148/7987/files/Common_Grace_Revisited.pdfWhat a difference in interpretation. Calvin calls God a father to all and declares his acts of sending the rain and causing the sun to rise are divine kindnesses towards all while Engelsma writes that these kindnesses are only towards the elect. Engelsma gives the words of Christ in this passage a slant which better fits the PRCA's sectarian presupposition that God has absolutely no dealings with the reprobate of any kind except wrath to the uttermost. For Calvin the just and unjust is a metonymy for all men. For Engelsma the unthankful and evil, which would correspond to the unjust of Matthew 5:45, are only the elect. Even after conversion, salvation, being grafted into Christ, regeneration, and being made a new creature in Christ the elect remain unthankful and evil. For Calvin this sending of sunshine and rain indicates a general love of God to even the pagans. For Engelsma such a general love is impossible since God only loves the elect.
This is just one more place where it is more than obvious that Calvin does not agree with the Protestant Reformed Church's rejection of common grace and that they do not stand in his shoes.
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