Is Denying Common Grace a Novelty?
Jonathan D. Moore argues that denying common grace is not a novelty in Reformed theology by examining the teachings of Peter Martyr Vermigli, a leading 16th-century Reformed theologian, who distinguished between grace (limited to the elect) and natural gifts (freely given by God but not true grace). The article challenges the assumption that the denial of common grace contradicts historic Reformed tradition and calls for greater familiarity with what the original Protestant Reformers actually taught.
Dr. Jonathan D. Moore Some people dismiss the denial of common grace as being completely alien to historic Reformed theology. Rather than indulge in wishful thinking, should we not become more familiar with what leading Protestant Reformers actually taught? Peter Martyr Vermigli (1500-1562) was undoubtedly the greatest of all the Italian Protestant Reformers. He was an esteemed friend of Heinrich Bullinger, Thomas Cranmer and John Jewel. At Oxford he served as Regius Professor of Divinity and...