Herman-Bavinck-Common-Grace

COMMON GRACE 63
to remain in the vocation to which he had been called (1 Cor. 7:17-23). It
is simply not the case that someone who becomes a Christian must drop
his natural vocation and dedicate himself to the work of the kingdom in
the narrower sense. This can indeed happen, but it is the exception rather
than the rule. Contrary to the Methodist view, it is not true that such a
change of calling is the inevitable fruit of genuine conversion. What we
need in these momentous times is not in the first place something
extraordinary but the faithful fulfilling of the various earthly vocations
to which the Lord calls his people. No self-imposed worship, no changing
the gospel into a new law, no "handle not, taste not, touch not," which
are the commandments of men [cf. Col. 2:21-23]. What is needed, rather,
is the practice of Christian virtues, which are the cement of society.
Household sense, moderation, frugality, diligence, troth-keeping, honesty,
orderliness, benevolence, and the like—these are the virtues that seem
to decline day by day and that can in no way be replaced by extraordinary
measures of state, church, or social organizations. These traits were
especially stimulated by Calvinism, and by them it became great. By
them, Calvinism caused people to flourish and nations to be born.
Calvinism has been, in spite of and partly because of its rigorousness,
the Reformation of the natural.
In this we see how Christianity is to relate itself to home and society
and how the church is to relate to the state. All these organic spheres of
human life arise out of creation; they exist by the gratia communis; they
derive their authority and power not from the mercy of Christ but from
the grace of God. Christ has been anointed, and he is the head of the
church; indeed, all power has been given him in heaven and on earth,
and all has been cast under his feet. But sovereignty in home, state, and
society descend directly from God upon the creation. According to the
strictest Roman Catholic theory, all sovereignty has been placed directly
by God upon Christ, and thus upon the pope; the potestas politica [political
power] is subject to the potestas ecclesiae [authority of the church].
According to the Remonstrants, God has given all power to the state,
which thus stands over the church. But according to Reformed principles,
God has accorded to state, home, and society the peculiar power
and authority proper to each; beside them stands the church with its own
government granted to it by Christ. Subjugation of the church by the
state or of the state by the church are thus both condemned. They both
need to respect one another and also to support and aid one another.
Pressure from either one is excluded. The church may indeed desire that
the government of the land be directed by Christian principles and profit
from the revelation of God's grace, for state and society have also been