Psalm 73 and Common Grace

David J. Engelsma,
Prosperous Wicked and Plagued Saints: An Exposition of Psalm 73
(Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2007) p. 2-3, 9-10, 14.

This is the urgent question in Psalm 73, as in the experience of everyone who fears God: To whom is God good? Whom does he favor? Whom does he bless: Israel or the wicked?…The holiness of true Israel is prominent in the text: "to such as are of a clean heart." Israel is the church….

Although the goodness of God in Psalm 73 is not the perfection of his being but his gracious blessing of his people, the perfection of his being is at stake in the truth of the psalm. From the perfection of his being comes his goodness to his people. God's goodness to Israel reveals that God is good in himself. And if God is not in fact good to Israel in this life, but rather good to the ungodly, then he is not good in himself. He is not good because he has promised to be good to his people. A god who does not keep his promise is not the God of the gospel of Christ.

Likewise, the teaching that God blesses the reprobate ungodly is not an insignificant error. It is a mistake to suppose that theologians may endlessly debate the issue of common grace in a spirit of tolerance. The truth of the being and perfections of God are at stake. For example, God is a righteous God. As a righteous God, he blesses men and women in accordance with his own righteousness and on the ground of their righteousness through the atoning death of Jesus Christ. On what basis does God bless the ungodly, who are outside the elect church of Christ by God's own decree of reprobation? The only explanation by those who confess the biblical doctrine that Christ died only for the elect church is that God's grace ignores and conflicts with his righteousness. He has an attitude of favor, or love, toward men and women and blesses them apart from the cross of Christ. But if God can bless guilty sinners apart from the cross of Christ in earthly life and with regard to material things, why cannot he also extend his saving favor and the blessings of eternal life to them apart from the righteousness of the death of Christ? Common grace is incipient universalism, and universalism denies the cross….

Sound, faithful preachers of the gospel must preach this truth. They must not proclaim to the wealthy, healthy, fat, old infidel, who stops cursing, drinking, and fornicating only long enough to say, "I sure am blessed," "Yes, indeed, God is gracious to you and blesses you abundantly." If preachers want to be free of the blood of such unbelievers, they must rather proclaim, "If you think you are blessed by God, you are a fool! The wrath of God is destroying you with every dollar you invest, every lobster you eat, and every breath you take! There is no blessing in unbelief and wickedness! None! There is no shalom for the ungodly, not in the eternity that is coming and not in this life. Repent!"