Quotes Regarding the Free Offer of the Gospel and Other Relevant Issues

The Slander of Hyper-Calvinism to those who deny the Well-Meant Offer

"Let it be remembered, that it is not as elect or non-elect, but as guilty and perishing, that men are invited to receive Christ and his blessings; and that the invitation is by no means restricted to those who are awakened and convinced. That the Gospel contains a free and full exhibition of Christ and his benefits to sinners of every class and of every character, is an important truth, clearly founded in the sacred oracles, intimately connected with the glory of the grace of God and with the honor of Christ. . . . The doctrine of a free and universal exhibition of Christ and his righteousness and blessings to men as sinners, is by no means a distinctive badge of any one denomination of Christians, but a tenet conscientiously maintained in common by enlightened and faithful men of various persuasions—men who are anxious to guard, with equal scrupulosity, against Arminian and Antinomian errors."

-- Herman Witsius and Donald Fraser, Sacred Dissertations, on What Is Commonly Called the Apostles’ Creed, vol. 1 (Edinburgh: A. Fullarton & Co., 1823), 390, from [https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/the-free-offer-of-the-gospel/]

    "What do the reprobate have a warrant to believe? Surely not that God loves them (He does not); nor that Christ died for them (He did not); nor that God desires their salvation (He does not). Notwithstanding, the reprobate are commanded to turn from their sins in repentance, to believe in Jesus Christ, and to trust in Him as the perfect, all sufficient Savior who saves to the uttermost all those who come to him (Heb. 7:25).
    The Bible does not teach a “warrant” to believe, but it does teach a command to believe. That command to believe comes to everyone, elect or reprobate, who hears the gospel. At the same time, the Bible includes a promise, not to everyone, not to every hearer, but to every believer. And since only the elect are believers, it is tantamount to saying that the promise comes unconditionally to the elect. The reprobate hear the promise—it is proclaimed in their hearing, but the promise is not for them; it is for believers only, and no reprobate ever becomes a believer."

-- "A Response to the Free Offer of the Gospel in the Puritan Reformed Journal, Martin McGeown, [Protestant Reformed Theological Journal (PRTJ), Volume 51, April 2018, Number 2, p. 63].

"Hyper-Calvinism is not the doctrine that God loves only some humans (with His saving love in Christ crucified) and in this love, and grace, wills to save some only in the preaching of the gospel. This doctrine is Calvinism, .... Hyper-Calvinism, which thinks to advance beyond this Calvinism (“hyper”!!!), denies that the church may seriously call (exhort, command) anyone to repent and believe who does not show himself as regenerated and already saved. The church may issue the gospel-call only to those who show themselves saved and therefore elect, adding the promise that one who believes shall be saved only to the ears of such a (supposedly) saved person. Hyper-Calvinism is not the doctrine that God is gracious in the preaching only to the elect. This doctrine is Calvinism—pure, sound, orthodox, historic, creedal, biblical Calvinism. But hyper-Calvinism is the denial of the promiscuous call of the gospel on the (mistaken) ground of election.... It serves the purpose of the advocates of the well-meant offer to label those who deny the well-meant offer as hyper-Calvinists. But the charge is neither right, nor brotherly. It is theological slander. And it ought to cease, in the interests of theological accuracy, if for no other reason."

    " ... the charge that [those] who deny the well-meant offer are hyper-Calvinists arises out of the conviction that the well-meant offer is necessary for the promiscuous preaching of the gospel, including the indiscriminate call of the gospel to all who hear, “Repent, and believe.” ... This was exactly the charge of the Arminians against sound Reformed theology at the Synod of Dordt. Particular grace makes promiscuous preaching impossible. Dordt responded to this charge, or fear, as the case may be, in Canons, 2.5:

"Moreover, the promise of the gospel is that whosoever believeth in Christ crucified shall not perish, but have everlasting life. This promise, together with the command to repent and believe, ought to be declared and published to all nations, and to all persons promiscu- ously and without distinction, to whom God out of His good pleasure sends the gospel." 

[Review article: The Crux of the Free Offer is the Cross; David Englesma, Protestant Reformed Theological Journal, Vol.53, Nov. 2019, #1, 106-107].

   

Distinguishing: Prescriptive will, and Will of Decree

According to Moses, "The secret things (the things that God decrees) belong to the Lord our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Deut. 29:29).
    We need to differentiate between the complicated notion of, on the one hand, the will of God that is hidden from us and the will of God that is revealed to us. The will of God that is hidden from us is his secret will, that will by which he decrees and determines events that do come to pass.
    It’s by this secret will that he governs the universe and determines everything that will happen. He does not ordinarily reveal these decrees to us (except in prophecies of the future), so these decrees really are God's "secret" will.
    We find out what God has decreed in his secret will only when events actually happen. Because this secret will of God has to do with his decreeing of events in the world, this aspect of God's will is sometimes also called God's will of decree. We perceive God’s revealed will because it is known to us in His commands and precepts in the Scriptures. But his revealed will is not necessarily his (ultimate) will. His revealed will is only the commands and precepts he issues as the rule for our conduct. God’s revealed will we know from Scripture. In his revealed will he does not say what he will do; it is not the rule for his conduct; it does not prescribe what God must do, but tells us what he desires that we must do. His revealed will is the rule for our conduct. It is only in a metaphorical sense, therefore, that it is called the will of God.

"Waldron misunderstands and misrepresents the distinction, “preceptive will/ [and] will of decree.” The distinction is not between a desire to save some (election) and a desire to save all (the well-meant offer). But, as the wording of the distinction itself makes plain, the distinction is between a desire, or intention, or purpose, to save only the elect (the will of decree) and the command, or precept, to all who hear the gospel, that they repent and believe (the will of precept). The preceptive will of God is His command, not the expression of His purpose, or intention. A precept is a command. It is not a wish. It is exactly the idea of the distinction in Reformed theology that the Bible often teaches that God commands (preceptive will) what He does not purpose according to His decree (will of decree). Similarly, He forbids (precept) what He has decreed (decree)." 

    "Here may be difficulty for the human comprehension. But there is no contradiction. God forbade Adam to eat the fruit (precept), whereas He had decreed that Adam would eat, in order that He might carry out His purpose of salvation in Jesus Christ (decree). God forbade Joseph’s brothers to sell him into Egypt, whereas He had decreed that they would sell him, so that Joseph might keep the family of Jacob alive. God forbade all the agents of the wickedness of bringing Jesus to the cross to perform their evil deeds, whereas He ordained that they would perform them in order to accomplish the salvation of many by the redemption of the cross. God commands all who hear the gospel to believe (precept), whereas by the very preaching of the gospel He hardens the hearts of some that they not believe, according to His decretal will of reprobation (decree). What God commands is one thing (will of precept). What He decrees is another thing (will of decree). Precept and decree involve no contradiction." ... "The secret will of God is what God has ordained in His eternal counsel, for example, that God would harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he would refuse to let God’s people go, in order that God might be glorified in Pharaoh’s disobedience. Pharaoh did not know this will, nor did he need to know it. Pharaoh knew, and only needed to know, God’s revealed will, which was the command of God to him by Moses, “Let my people go.” The precept did not contradict the decree. In fact, the precept served the decree. By disobeying the precept Pharaoh hardened himself so as to make himself ready for his decreed destruction."

[Review article: The Crux of the Free Offer is the Cross; David Englesma, Protestant Reformed Theological Journal, Vol.53,Nov. 2019, #1, 103-104].

God's Love and Reprobation

John Owen (1616-1683):
[1] “We deny that all mankind are the object of that love of God which moved him to send his Son to die; God having ‘made some for the day of evil’ (Prov. 16:4); ‘hated them before they were born‘ (Rom. 9:11, 13); ‘before of old ordained them to condemnation’ (Jude 4); being ‘fitted to destruction’ (Rom. 9:22); ‘made to be taken and destroyed’ (II Pet. 2:12); ‘appointed to wrath’ (I Thess. 5:9); to ‘go to their own place’ (Acts 1:25)” (Works, vol. 10, p. 227).
[2] “… reprobation … [is] the issue of hatred, or a purpose of rejection (Rom. 9:11-13)” (Works, vol. 10, p. 149).

Matthew Poole (1624-1679): “But as for the wicked, let them not rejoice in [David’s] trials, for far worse things are appointed for them; God hates and will severely punish them … His soul hateth; [God] hateth [him that loveth violence] with or from his soul, i.e. inwardly and ardently … For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright; This is given as the reason why God hateth and punisheth wicked men so dreadfully” (Commentary on Ps. 11:5, 7).

Preach earnestly the love of God in Christ Jesus, and magnify the abounding mercy of the Lord; but always preach it in connection with His justice. Do not extol the single attribute of love in the method too generally followed, but regard love in the high theological sense, in which, like a golden circle, it holds within itself all the divine attributes: for God were not love if He were not just, and did not hate every unholy thing. Never exalt one attribute at the expense of another. Let boundless mercy be seen in calm consistency with stern justice and unlimited sovereignty. The true character of God is fitted to awe, impress, and humble the sinner: be careful not to misrepresent your Lord. — C. H. Spurgeon, “On Conversion as Our Aim,” in Second Series of Lectures to My Students (Grand Rapids, Baker, 1978), 184. (retrieved here: http://theologicalmeditations.blogspot.com/search/label/Charles%20Spurgeon)

3. The offer of salvation on the part of God, therefore, is seriously and sincerely meant. For in that offer he does not say what he himself will do--whether or not he will bestow that faith. He has kept that to himself. He only tells us what he wants us to do: that we humble ourselves and seek our salvation in Christ alone. If it be objected that God nevertheless offers salvation to those to whom he has decided not to grant faith and salvation, then this is an objection equally applicable to the position of our opponents. For in that case, God also offers salvation to those whom he infallibly knows will not believe. It is the case after all, not only according to the Reformed but also according to all Christ-confessors, that the outcome of world history is eternally and unchangeably certain. The only difference is that the Reformed have the courage to say that that outcome corresponds to God’s will and purpose. Although it is beyond our comprehension, God must have been able to will all that is and takes place, subject to all his virtues and perfections, or else God would no longer be God. History cannot and may not be a sparring partner for God. — Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 4 vols., ed. John Bolt, trans. John Vriend (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 4:37. (retrieved here: http://theologicalmeditations.blogspot.com/search/label/Herman%20Bavinck).

I, but here it may be objected; does not the Apostle say, that the Gospel is the savour of death unto death, as well as the savour of life unto life. 2 Cor. 2. 16. Now, if the Gospel be the savour of death unto death, then how can it be said to bring Eternal Salvation? To this I answer.

When the Gospel is said to be the savour of death unto death, it is not spoken because the Gospel does kill and condemn simply, and in its own nature; but through the corruption of mens hearts that do not obey it, but do reject it, that do resist it. A King's pardon you know, does not kill any by itself, but by the Contempt of a Malefactor that does reject it, and so the pardon may double the Malefactor's guilt, and bring upon him a more speedy and fearful execution. So here, the Gracious pardon of God that is tendered in the Gospel, does not kill, or condemn any in it self, or in its own Nature, but through the contempt of those that do disregard it, in this regard, not simply, but accidentally, through the Corruptions of mens hearts, and Natures, in this regard, the Gospel may be said to increase a man's curse and condemnation: Whereas now the Law in its own nature, is said to be a killing Letter, because it leaves a man in a state of death, and leaves him under a curse, and does not show him the way at all how to avoid that curse, as the Gospel does; Therefore the Apostle says, The Law is a killing Letter of itself, but the Spirit giveth life. 2 Cor. 3. 6. because in the Preaching of the Gospel, the Spirit of God is conveyed into our souls, which enables us in some acceptable manner, to perform what the Gospel enjoins; and thus you have the Point opened to you, that the knowledge of Life, and Immortality, that Eternal Salvation that is laid up for the Saints in Light, is discovered, and revealed by the Preaching of the Gospel. — James Naltan, (retrieved here: http://theologicalmeditations.blogspot.com/search/label/James%20Nalton).

"But the word serio certainly does not mean that God earnestly desires the salvation of all hearers. It cannot mean that, because God did not elect all to salvation (in fact, He reprobated many of those who in time hear the gospel); Christ did not die for all men (in fact, God has nothing to offer the reprobate who hear the gospel); and the Holy Spirit does not work graciously in the hearts of all hearers to regenerate them and work faith in them (in fact, the Spirit hardens many who hear the gospel).7 Since the Triune God does nothing for the salvation of the reprobate—He neither elects, nor redeems, nor regenerates them—how could He, then, in the preaching of the gospel desire (even seriously, ardently and passionately desire) the salvation of the same reprobate?" [retrieved here: https://cprc.co.uk/articles/hypercalvinist/]

"The sufferings of the damned will be no occasion of grief to the heavenly inhabitants, as they will have no love nor pity to the damned as such. It will be no argument of want of a spirit of love in them that they do not love the damned; for the heavenly inhabitants will know that it is not fit that they should love them, because they will know then, that God has no love to them nor pity for them; but that they are the objects of God's eternal hatred. And they will then be perfectly conformed to God in their wills and affections. They will love what God loves, and that only. However the saints in heaven may have loved the Damned while here, especially those of them who are near and dear to them in this world, they will have no love to them here after. It will be an occasion of their rejoicing, as the glory of God will appear in it. The glory of God appears in all his works: and therefore there is no work of God which the saints in glory shall behold and contemplate, but what will be an occasion of rejoicing to them. God glorifies himself in the eternal damnation of the ungodly men. God glorifies himself in all that he doth; but he glorifies himself principally in his eternal disposal of his intelligent creatures, some are appointed to everlasting life, and others left to everlasting death." [The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 2, Hendrickson Publishers, 1998, 'The End of the Wicked Contemplated by the Righteous: or, The Torments of the Wicked in Hell, No Occasion of Grief to the Saints in Heaven,' Section II, 209].

" ... And yet, it is the will of God that this means to call and nourish His people [in His Word] should also be placed before the dead, the spiritually dead. Nor are these like the physically dead that sleep in our graveyards in this respect that the presentation of the Word of God leaves them cold and without any activity whatsoever. The physically dead are wholly inactive, the spiritually dead are actuated by enmity against God and His Christ. And, unless God in eternal and electing love changes our inmost heart from death into life, the preaching of the Word to the spiritually dead will serve the purpose to bring to light in clearer manifestation the enmity against God that is in them. They will despise the Word of God. They will trample it under foot. They will reply to its calling to repent with an ever stronger and more determined No! And thus their hearts will be hardened, the things of the Kingdom of God will be hid from them, their judgment will be aggravated and the preaching of the Word will have become a savor of death unto death for them. But means of grace, means to call to conscious faith and to nourish that faith and cause the believer to grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is for the living children of God only."