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Pilgrim said:
I'm just a little confused here as to how this part of the discussion is going. Joe was responding to what Susan wrote, where she said,
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God shows grace only to His elect, so how could an unbeliever even be in that Covenant?

OK, let me clarify what I meant by this. Perhaps I added to this confusion. I was thinking of the strict definition of grace here, not thinking of the unprecise term "common grace" which is really a misnomer according to Arthur Pink. I am not denying God shows goodness and mercy to unbelievers. I was asking the question to show that to have unbelievers in the Covenant of Grace would be inconsistent with the true meaning of grace, since God only exercises it toward the elect.

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Grace is a perfection of the Divine character which is exercised only toward the elect. Neither in the Old Testament nor in the New is the grace of God ever mentioned in connection with mankind generally, still less with the lower orders of His creatures. In this it is distinguished from mercy, for the mercy of God is "over all His works" (Ps. 145-9). Grace is the alone source from which flows the goodwill, love, and salvation of God unto His chosen people. This attribute of the Divine character was defined by Abraham Booth in his helpful book, The Reign of Grace thus, "It is the eternal and absolute free favour of God, manifested in the vouchsafement of spiritual and eternal blessings to the guilty and the unworthy."

Divine grace is the sovereign and saving favour of God exercised in the bestowment of blessings upon those who have no merit in them and for which no compensation is demanded from them. Nay, more; it is the favour of God shown to those who not only have no positive deserts of their own, but who are thoroughly ill-deserving and hell-deserving. It is completely unmerited and unsought, and is altogether unattracted by anything in or from or by the objects upon which it is bestowed. Grace can neither be bought, earned, nor won by the creature. If it could be, it would cease to be grace. When a thing is said to be of grace we mean that the recipient has no claim upon it, that it was in nowise due him. It comes to him as pure charity, and, at first, unasked and undesired...

The third Person in the Godhead is the Communicator of grace, therefore is He denominated "the Spirit of grace" (Zech. 12:10). God the Father is the Fountain of all grace, for He purposed in Himself the everlasting covenant of redemption. God the Son is the only Channel of grace. The Gospel is the Publisher of grace. The Spirit is the Bestower. He is the One who applies the Gospel in saving power to the soul: quickening the elect while spiritually dead, conquering their rebellious wills, melting their hard hearts, opening their blind eyes, cleansing them from the leprosy of sin.
--Arthur Pink

More on Grace here

So could you please help me understand this, are you in agreement then with Joe and Wes that unbelievers can actually be IN the Covenant of Grace and that a person can actually be in this eternal covenant temporarily?