Most Christians know about saving grace, the grace by which God rescues sinners through Jesus Christ. Fewer have heard of its quieter companion. Yet if you have ever wondered why an unbelieving surgeon can save your child’s life, why a pagan poet can move you to tears, or why the phone in your pocket works at all, you have already brushed up against the doctrine of common grace.
In this article I want to define common grace, show where it comes from in Scripture, and explain why it has become one of the most practical doctrines a Christian can understand in the age of artificial intelligence.
What is common grace?
Common grace is God’s non-saving favor shown to all humanity, restraining sin and enabling good. It is “common” because it is given to everyone, believer and unbeliever alike. It is “grace” because none of us deserve it.
Reformed theologians have usually described common grace in three ways:
- Restraint of sin. God holds back the full expression of human depravity. The world is fallen, but it is not as wicked as it could be.
- Maintenance of order. God sustains the natural world and the social structures of human life: seasons, families, governments, markets, and laws.
- Distribution of gifts. God gives real talents to believers and unbelievers alike: intelligence, skill, artistry, and the capacity to discover and invent.
None of this saves anyone. Common grace does not forgive sin or unite a person to Christ. But it is the reason human life and culture can continue at all in a fallen world.
Common grace in the Bible
The doctrine is not an invention of systematic theologians. It runs through Scripture from the beginning.
Jesus says that the Father “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). Paul tells the crowd at Lystra that God “did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17). The Psalmist says, “The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made” (Psalm 145:9).
But the clearest picture, and the one most relevant to technology, comes in Genesis 4.
The line of Cain
After Cain murders his brother, God sends him away under judgment. Yet God also preserves him, and Cain’s descendants go on to build a city. Then Genesis records something surprising:
“Jabal was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron.” (Genesis 4:20–22)
The first great innovations in human history, in shelter, in music, and in metalworking, all come from the line of Cain, a family that had walked away from God. The rhyming names (Jabal, Jubal, Tubal) likely share a Hebrew root connected to producing or bringing forth. These men were producers. Their identity was bound up with their inventiveness.
God did not have to record their contributions. He did. Even under judgment, God’s common grace ensured that human creativity and cultural development would continue.
Noah and the ark
A few chapters later, God calls Noah to build an ark (Genesis 6:13–18). Noah did not invent the skills he needed from scratch. He drew on the craft that had developed in the generations before him: working wood, measuring, sealing a vessel with pitch. The skills developed by people who rejected God became the means God used to save His people.
Tony Reinke puts it memorably in God, Technology, and the Christian Life:
“God-rejecting innovators are given their gifts, not as God’s love to the innovator, but ultimately as God’s gift to the church. It’s not unlike the metal-working brilliance of Cain’s lineage, the divine gift that Noah used to build and hold together his ark.”
Common grace vs. saving grace
It helps to set the two side by side.
| Common grace | Saving (special) grace | |
|---|---|---|
| Who receives it | All people | God’s elect, those united to Christ |
| What it does | Restrains sin, sustains order, gives gifts | Forgives sin, regenerates, justifies, sanctifies |
| What it cannot do | Save anyone | It does not fail; it saves completely |
| Where we see it | Rain, harvests, medicine, art, science, technology | The cross, the new birth, the church |
The two are not in competition. Common grace sets the stage on which saving grace does its work. God preserves the world so that the gospel can go into all of it.
Where the doctrine comes from in Reformed theology
John Calvin laid the groundwork when he insisted that Christians should not despise truth just because it came from an unbelieving source:
“If we regard the Spirit of God as the sole fountain of truth, we shall neither reject the truth itself, nor despise it wherever it shall appear, unless we wish to dishonor the Spirit of God.” (Institutes 2.2.15)
Calvin pointed to the brilliance of ancient lawyers, philosophers, physicians, and mathematicians and asked how a Christian could deny that their gifts came from God. Later Reformed theologians, especially Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck in the Netherlands, developed the idea into a full doctrine. It became a foundation for how Reformed Christians engage science, art, politics, and work.
At the same time, the Reformed tradition has always held a second truth alongside the first. Cornelius Van Til, who taught at Westminster for decades, put it bluntly: “There are two and only two classes of men. There are those who worship and serve the creature, and there are those who worship and serve the Creator.” Common grace explains why unbelievers can build good things. It does not mean their starting assumptions are neutral.
Why common grace matters for AI
This is where an old doctrine becomes urgently practical.
Much of the technology shaping our lives, including the large AI models now writing emails, answering questions, and generating images, was built by people who do not honor Christ. Some of the most influential voices in AI openly hope technology will replace religion (I explore that worldview in Transhumanism and the Bible). Should Christians use these tools at all?
Common grace gives us a better answer than either of the two reactions most Christians default to.
It rules out blanket rejection. “Unbelievers made it, so we should avoid it” sounds pious, but it is not the biblical pattern. If it were, Noah could not have built the ark. Reinke again: “We could still glorify God for the innovation that comes through extraordinarily gifted and powerful unbelievers because the common grace of technological discovery continues to flow, especially thick through non-Christians.”
It also rules out uncritical adoption. “It works, so it’s fine” ignores the other half of the Reformed teaching. Every builder starts from assumptions about God, the world, and human nature, and those assumptions get built into what they make. As John Dyer warns in From the Garden to the City, “One of the most dangerous things you can believe in this world is that technology is neutral.” A tool can be genuinely useful and still carry values that pull against the way of Christ.
The posture common grace produces is this: receive with thanksgiving, evaluate with wisdom, use with discernment. I work out what that looks like in daily life, including a traffic-light framework for families, in Should Christians Use AI?
Three questions to ask of any AI tool
Common grace frees us to use good tools. Biblical wisdom teaches us to ask good questions before we do. Here are three I return to often:
- What is this tool for, and what does it assume about people? Does it treat human beings as image-bearers or as data to be harvested and attention to be captured?
- What does it replace? A tool that saves an hour of scheduling is different from a tool that replaces a conversation, a prayer, or a friendship.
- What is it doing to me? As Dyer notes, “it is not only the world that gets transformed by technology. We, too, are transformed.” Watch your habits, your attention, and your dependence.
The bottom line
Common grace means that the gifts of unbelievers still come from God. The blacksmith makes the sword, but God makes the blacksmith (Isaiah 54:16). Christians can use AI built by people who reject God. But they should do so the way Noah used the craft of Cain’s line: gratefully, discerningly, and for the purposes of the God who gave the gift in the first place.
This is the heart of Session Two of God, AI, and the Future of the Church, where we work through Genesis 4, Noah’s ark, and the “no neutral ground” principle with your small group or class. If you want a shorter starting point, the free guide What Does the Bible Say About AI? walks through seven questions every church should be asking.
Frequently asked questions
What is common grace in simple terms?
Common grace is God's non-saving favor shown to all people. He restrains sin, sustains order in the world, and gives real gifts and talents to believers and unbelievers alike.
What is the difference between common grace and saving grace?
Common grace is given to everyone and preserves life and culture in a fallen world, but it does not save. Saving (or special) grace is given to those united to Christ; it forgives sin, gives new life, and brings a person into God's family.
Where is common grace in the Bible?
Key passages include Matthew 5:45 (God sends rain on the just and unjust), Acts 14:17, Psalm 145:9, and Genesis 4:20-22, where the first great innovations come from the line of Cain.
Can Christians use technology made by non-Christians?
Yes. Because of common grace, the gifts of unbelievers still come from God. But Christians should evaluate tools with wisdom, since no technology is neutral: receive with thanksgiving, evaluate with wisdom, and use with discernment.
Who developed the doctrine of common grace?
John Calvin laid the groundwork in his Institutes (2.2.15), teaching that all truth comes from the Spirit of God wherever it appears. Dutch Reformed theologians Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck developed it into a full doctrine in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Is common grace the same as general revelation?
They are related but not identical. General revelation is God making Himself known through creation and conscience (Romans 1:20). Common grace is God's broader kindness to all people: restraining sin, sustaining order, and giving gifts. Both are given to everyone, and neither saves.
About the author: Ryan Shelley
Founder of Common Grace Institute. Ryan holds a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Westminster Theological Seminary and is a candidate for the MPhil in Artificial Intelligence at Capital Technology University.