{"id":10341,"date":"2023-05-09T08:00:19","date_gmt":"2023-05-09T14:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/?p=10341"},"modified":"2023-05-08T13:51:05","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T19:51:05","slug":"common-grace-3-43","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2023\/05\/common-grace-3-43\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Grace, 3.43"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This post is part of a series walking through the third volume of Abraham Kuyper\u2019s Common Grace<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

We\u2019re still moving towards a definition of a \u201cChristian\u201d family. After all, Jews, Muslims, pagans, etc, call all have real families. Kuyper focuses on the Jews as his example, since they are familiar to Christians (and some live in the Netherlands). He points out that their families are as strong as \u201cours\u201d, and at times even superior. Their lack of a nation [remember, this is pre-1948] has only strengthened their family life. The fact that they are not Christians does not seem to have affected this.<\/p>\n

The same is true of pagans historically, and today in the non-Christian Eastern world (and the Muslim world for that matter). Kuyper makes some unfortunate comments about the \u201cexceptions\u201d in the parts of Africa he thinks aren\u2019t as well developed. (pg 355) Hopefully this is more cultural ignorance than cultural judgmentalism on Kuyper\u2019s part\u2026<\/p>\n

Cultural judgments aside, the broader point is that \u201cfamily life spontaneously and quite naturally springs from the fundamental characteristics of human nature.\u201d (355) It is rooted in creation and is built:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. On two genders;<\/li>\n
  2. On the command to reproduce;<\/li>\n
  3. On the helplessness of the infant;<\/li>\n
  4. On the necessity of the \u201chome\u201d;<\/li>\n
  5. On the work required for food;<\/li>\n
  6. On the \u201csafety and legal certainty\u201d of groups;<\/li>\n
  7. On the natural love of a husband for a wife, of parents for children, siblings for each other, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    All of this is from common grace and is continuously replenished, despite the unceasing assaults of sin. Again, the family is not \u201cChristian\u201d in itself, even if Kuyper sees the \u201cChristian family\u201d as the pinnacle of the family. Still, the family pre-dates Christianity, as we see even in the history of barbarian Europe. (356)<\/p>\n

    But there does seem to be some kind of \u201cChristian family.\u201d So what is it? We have to keep in mind two sharp distinctions:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. A family is \u201cChristian\u201d if it displays the Christian ethics;<\/li>\n
    2. A family is \u201cChristian\u201d in so far as it becomes \u201ca miniature expression of the church.\u201d (357)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      These are two separate categories that have to be kept apart when talking about the Christian family. The first of these is the realm of common grace, and involves\u00a0moral<\/span> elevation. It has elements in common with the lives of animals like sex, and becomes human only when moral \u201cmutual obligation\u201d and \u201cpersonal love\u201d develop.<\/p>\n

      Which isn\u2019t to say that his kind of moral family isn\u2019t important! First, it binds together men and women in the highest moral bonds. Second, it binds together parent and child. This begins with\u2013and far surpasses\u2013instinct. Third, the sibling bond shows the communal nature of mankind. We are to love together, an the family bond \u201cconstitutes community on a small scale in terms of numbers, age, gender, and temperament.\u201d (358-359)<\/p>\n

      Obviously there are lots of factors at work here\u2013genetics, temperament, socio-economics, etc, all affect the health and quality of the moral state of the family. These are all important and lead to ideas like the basic right to a living space. These are all also aside from the \u201cChristian\u201d nature of the family. These external factors are somewhat incidental when compared to \u201cthe foundational moral contexts by which the family exist.\u201d Namely,<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. The man\/woman relationship;<\/li>\n
      2. The parent\/child relationship;<\/li>\n
      3. The sibling relationship.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        So speaking in general (and excluding key exceptions), does Christianity contribute to these exceptions? Or detract from them? The historical verdict is clear. Monogamy and gender equality has softened and strengthened all of these relationships as the light of the Gospel has shown on them all.<\/p>\n

        Yet, we\u2019re still in the realm of common grace. The New Testament and Old Testament alike merely \u201creinforce common grace and place the original creation and name in a brighter light.\u201d (361) We still have good unbelieving parents and bad believing parents, even as the Gospel elevates religion.<\/p>\n

        More on this in the next post.<\/p>\n

        Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast<\/a> an Amazon Associate (which is linked in this blog), and an Associate Profess<\/em>or of Political Science at\u00a0Southwest Baptist University<\/a>\u00a0in Bolivar, MO<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Kuyper on the moral side of the Christian family<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1469,"featured_media":9085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,6,115],"tags":[942,1128],"class_list":["post-10341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-christian","category-classics","category-philosophy","tag-abraham-kuyper","tag-common-grace"],"yoast_head":"\nCommon Grace, 3.43<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kuyper on the moral side of the Christian family\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2023\/05\/common-grace-3-43\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Common Grace, 3.43\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kuyper on the moral side of the Christian family\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2023\/05\/common-grace-3-43\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Schaeffer's Ghost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-09T14:00:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-08T19:51:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/266\/2022\/05\/CG3-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Coyle Neal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Coyle Neal\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2023\/05\/common-grace-3-43\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2023\/05\/common-grace-3-43\/\",\"name\":\"Common Grace, 3.43\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-09T14:00:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-08T19:51:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/54a602d4bf41a6b8aa4605781d58915e\"},\"description\":\"Kuyper on the moral side of the Christian family\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2023\/05\/common-grace-3-43\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2023\/05\/common-grace-3-43\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2023\/05\/common-grace-3-43\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Common Grace, 3.43\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/\",\"name\":\"Schaeffer's Ghost\",\"description\":\"Culture from a Christian Viewpoint\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/54a602d4bf41a6b8aa4605781d58915e\",\"name\":\"Coyle Neal\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/645a05c01c5917cfe661c7a7cea92591?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/645a05c01c5917cfe661c7a7cea92591?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Coyle Neal\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast and teaches Politics, Philosophy, and History in Bolivar, MO.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/author\/cneal\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Common Grace, 3.43","description":"Kuyper on the moral side of the Christian family","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2023\/05\/common-grace-3-43\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Common Grace, 3.43","og_description":"Kuyper on the moral side of the Christian family","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2023\/05\/common-grace-3-43\/","og_site_name":"Schaeffer's Ghost","article_published_time":"2023-05-09T14:00:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-08T19:51:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":538,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/266\/2022\/05\/CG3-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Coyle Neal","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Coyle Neal","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2023\/05\/common-grace-3-43\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2023\/05\/common-grace-3-43\/","name":"Common Grace, 3.43","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-05-09T14:00:19+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-08T19:51:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/54a602d4bf41a6b8aa4605781d58915e"},"description":"Kuyper on the moral side of the Christian family","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2023\/05\/common-grace-3-43\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2023\/05\/common-grace-3-43\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2023\/05\/common-grace-3-43\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Common Grace, 3.43"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/","name":"Schaeffer's Ghost","description":"Culture from a Christian Viewpoint","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/54a602d4bf41a6b8aa4605781d58915e","name":"Coyle Neal","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/645a05c01c5917cfe661c7a7cea92591?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/645a05c01c5917cfe661c7a7cea92591?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Coyle Neal"},"description":"Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast and teaches Politics, Philosophy, and History in Bolivar, MO.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/author\/cneal\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}