Chapter 6: The Noahic Covenant of Common Grace

The Setting after the Flood

Genesis 6:18 speaks of God’s covenant with Noah in connection with salvation through the flood. Noah and his household are preserved in the ark through waters of judgment. That redemptive covenant with Noah is closely related to the Covenant of Grace.

Genesis 9, however, establishes a broader covenant after the flood. God addresses not only Noah’s believing household but Noah’s descendants, every living creature, and the earth itself.

“Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you.” —Genesis 9:9–10

This is a universal covenant. It includes believers and unbelievers, humanity and the animal creation. Its purpose is not to save every covenant member eternally but to preserve the created order from another universal flood.

The Refracted Cultural Mandate

After the flood, God repeats three elements of the original cultural mandate:

“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” —Genesis 9:1

Genesis 1:28 also commanded humanity to subdue the earth. That fourth element is not repeated after the flood. Fallen humanity continues to marry, form families, cultivate the earth, build societies, and develop culture, but it cannot bring creation to its eschatological goal. The mandate continues in a refracted and non-eschatological form.

The Noahic order is temporary. God promises that seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will continue “while the earth remains” (Gen. 8:22). The phrase itself points toward an end. The present heavens and earth are preserved not forever but until the final judgment.

“By the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” —2 Peter 3:7

The flood did not remove sin from humanity. Noah’s own later failure demonstrates that the post-flood world is not the consummated kingdom. The Noahic covenant restrains judgment and preserves history so that God’s redemptive purpose can proceed.

The Common and Holy Kingdoms

The Noahic covenant establishes a common realm shared by believers and unbelievers. Kline defines this common kingdom as “the sovereign government of a temporal world order whose benefits are common to all alike.” It is governed by God’s providence and by natural law, which is rooted in humanity’s continuing creation in the image of God.

Within this common realm, God preserves several basic institutions:

conscience and the knowledge of moral accountability;
marriage and the family;
voluntary social and economic associations;
and civil government.

Civil authority is explicitly grounded in the image of God:

“For your lifeblood I will require a reckoning … Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” —Genesis 9:5–6

God delegates to human government the authority to punish violent wrongdoing and preserve public order. This authority belongs to the common kingdom and is not identical with the redemptive authority of the church.

Alongside the common kingdom, God establishes a holy kingdom: the set-apart people through whom he administers special grace. Israel later receives a typological form of this holy kingdom:

“You shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” —Exodus 19:5–6

In the new covenant, the church is the holy people of God, but it continues to live within the common Noahic order. Christians therefore share many temporal institutions and benefits with unbelievers while remaining spiritually distinct as the redeemed people of Christ.

The Rainbow and the Preservation of Redemptive History

God gives the rainbow as the covenant sign:

“I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” —Genesis 9:13

The bow is a weapon of war hung in the clouds. It signifies that God has suspended universal flood judgment and committed himself to preserve the earth. The sign does not promise that judgment will never return. It promises that the world will be preserved until God completes his redemptive purpose.

Revelation uses rainbow imagery around God’s throne and upon the mighty angel who announces that the mystery of God is about to be fulfilled (Rev. 4:3; 10:1–7). The common-grace covenant serves special grace. God preserves the stage of history until Christ gathers his people and brings the kingdom to consummation.

Common Grace and the Sincere Gospel Offer

The delay of final judgment is an expression of God’s kindness, forbearance, and patience. These temporal benefits do not save sinners, but they are intended to lead them to repentance.

“Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” —Romans 2:4

Peter explains the apparent delay of Christ’s return in the same way:

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” —2 Peter 3:9

The Noahic covenant therefore provides the historical setting for the sincere offer of the gospel. The world continues, the church preaches, and sinners are commanded to repent and believe. God’s patience is not indifference to evil; it is a temporary restraint of judgment for the accomplishment of his saving purpose.

Conclusion

The Noahic covenant establishes a different kind of arrangement: a universal covenant of common grace that preserves the post-fall world. It sustains human life, culture, family, and civil government while God unfolds the Covenant of Grace. The rainbow over the common world points beyond itself to the day when the mystery of God will be completed and the preserved creation will give way to the new heavens and new earth.