And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged (Jn. 16.8-11 ESV).

Until I read this article, I was going to develop this section in Jn. 16 and argue that this a preparatory work of the promised Spirit on believers prior to their repentance. However, I concede the point to Dr. Goeman that this work of the Spirit refers to another aspect He accomplishes, namely, restraining evil on earth until He is taken out of the world: And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way (2Th. 2. 6-7 ESV). This is a work of common grace along with God giving “life and breath and everything” (Acts 17.25 ESV). God is accessible to all humans now on earth since the New Covenant is in effect where each person is able to have Christ as mediator: For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2.5 NLT).

The Pagan world used to worship idols, nature, or themselves. Since Christ’s sacrifice for sins, God now commands repentance from these idols since His judgment will be on the basis of having Jesus’ righteousness imputed to them by faith in Him: The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead (Acts 17. 30-31 ESV).

There are a variety of ways one could define common grace. In Wayne Grudem’s systematic theology, he defines common grace as “the grace of God by which he gives people innumerable blessings that are not part of salvation. Common refers to something that is common to all people and is not restricted to believers or…

The Non-Salvific Benefits of Common Grace — PeterGoeman.com