Herman-Bavinck-Common-Grace

COMMON GRACE 49
Both of these character traits of Catholicism are quite evident. On the
one hand there is the renunciation of the earthly and a total dedication
to the heavenly that fill us with respect and admiration. Rome can justly
lay claim to saints of the highest order. But on the other hand, there is an
indulgence of the weaknesses of human nature that constitutes a slap in
the face of Christian morality. Rome's hegemony was never so absolute
and uncontested as in the Middle Ages. Rome had spread her wings over
all. Yet it was not all gold that glittered. Underneath the form of Christianity
there lay hidden a powerful natural life which was certainly no
stranger to the world and the lust thereof [cf. 1 John 2:17 AV]. The natural
had indeed been driven underground, but it was not renewed and
sanctified. It was only a matter of time before it began powerfully to
assert itself over against the Roman hierarchy. That time gradually came
toward the end of the Middle Ages. Everywhere a state of spiritual
agitation, a movement in quest of freedom, asserted itself. It expressed
itself in unbelief and mockery of every sort, in worldliness and licentiousness,
in renaissance and humanism. Rome had not solved its basic
problem. Faith and reason, church and state, nature and grace stood in
unreconciled opposition to one another. And the natural man threw the
yoke of Rome from his neck.
Ill
In the long run, it became apparent that even the religious man, the
Christian, could not come to peace in Roman Catholicism. The Reformation
experienced Rome's supernaturalism not merely as a burden upon
thinking but as a burden upon the conscience, as a hindrance to salvation.
The Reformation was not a political, social, or scientific movement.
It was a religious-ethical movement, an action on the part of Christian
faith itself. It was not Luther's intention to grasp assurance of salvation
with one hand while continuing to cling to sin with the other. The
Reformation was rather born of the conviction that good works could
never provide the comfort of forgiveness, the experience and joy of being
children of God, or the assurance of salvation and blessing. The doing
of good works to merit blessing was quite appropriate for man created
after the image of God in the foedus operum; but with the advent of sin,
such merit became quite impossible. Now forgiveness, sonship, righteousness,
and blessing are ours only if God grants them in his grace.
Indeed, good works are possible only when we have been previously
assured of our sonship by the gift of God's grace in Christ. A servant
works for his reward; a child's life is based on thankfulness. Good works