1a. What is it?
Rev A W MacColl
The Westminster Confession of Faith emphasises God the Father’s gift in the everlasting covenant, in that He “freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved” (7:3). This biblical doctrine is thus part of the fixed constitution of the Church of Christ in Scotland. Yet it has been the subject of much discussion over the years, not least in our own day. Evangelical Presbyterians in Scotland and further afield have vigorously contended for this doctrine, and it is one which is given much prominence in the type of presentation of divine truth which characterizes faithful gospel preaching among us. It is thus worthy of detailed study. In this series of articles we will, firstly, seek to outline the various positions taken over the question of the free offer of the gospel, secondly, state the biblical grounds upon which the orthodox position rests and then, finally, deal with some objections and controverted areas of the debate.
The free offer of the gospel might be defined as the assertion that God, in bringing the good news of salvation to sinners through the preaching of the Word, invites all who hear that Word to accept the gift of salvation without reservation.2 It is an “offer” because Christ and all the benefits of His redemption are set before sinners who are without Him, and they are called upon to appropriate Him and His benefits for themselves.
It is “free” because there is nothing that any sinner can contribute to induce God to make such an offer, nor is there any qualification that the sinner can bring, to make himself acceptable to God, for the gospel excludes works. God’s gratuitous offer and invitation is therefore the only way of access to Him, and the salvation He offers is salvation “without money and without price”. Thomas Boston taught that the faith which unites with Christ comprises, firstly, faith in Christ’s sufficiency; secondly, faith in the gospel offer; thirdly, faith in our right to Christ; and, finally, the faith of particular trust for salvation. The faith of the gospel offer he held to be “that Jesus Christ, with His righteousness and all His salvation, is by Himself offered to sinners and to you in particular”.3
1The first part of a paper delivered at the 2015 Theological Conference.
2Some have given a wider definition and stated that the offer is to all of mankind. Practically there is no real difference since, although salvation is only offered to those who actually hear the Word, yet all are welcome to hear it preached and are thus not excluded.
3The Beauties of Boston, ed Samuel Macmillan, Christian Focus, 1979 reprint, p 594.
Historically, the controversy over the offer of salvation has been concentrated within Calvinistic Churches. Romanists and High Anglicans, with their sacramentarian system, lay little emphasis on the sinner’s response to the preached Word as a means of receiving the benefits of redemption. Arminians have no special difficulty with a universal offer of salvation to all men since they also maintain a universal atonement on behalf of all men. The difficulty that Arminians run into – if they examine their own position thoroughly enough – is with the freeness of the offer. If man’s salvation ultimately depends on a human decision to accept a general provision made for all, then the freeness of that salvation begins to come into question, for what is the ground of one’s salvation in such a case: is it divine grace or human free will?
We may initially summarise four main positions on the free offer. Firstly, there is the view that no offer is to be made to unconverted sinners and that the promises of grace and salvation are strictly limited to those exhibiting the marks of grace and election. Secondly, there is the opposite view, that of Arminianism and Amyraldianism,4 which grounds a universal offer of salvation in a universal atonement. Thirdly, there is the position of the Westminster Standards, which asserts a free offer of Christ in the administration of the gospel, yet does not found such an offer on a universal atonement. Fourthly, there are some who seek to narrow down or qualify the extent of the offer to a lesser or greater extent.
Whatever position is adopted, the great issue which Calvinists have to contend with is: whether it is possible to reconcile the Bible’s teachings on divine sovereignty, in salvation, with the promises and invitations of the gospel to sinners. This is, as William Cunningham notes in his Historical Theology, a difficulty with which all systems of theology have to contend at some point; it “just resolve[s] into the one grand difficulty of all religion and of every system of theology – that, namely, of reconciling, or rather of developing, the consistency between the supremacy and sovereignty of God, and the free agency and responsibility of man”.5 From this question all the other areas of controversy take rise.
Furthermore, the Calvinistic doctrine of total depravity, which teaches the inability of mankind in spiritual matters, may seem to raise its own difficulties. There is the issue of how a spiritually-dead sinner, who is unable to respond to the gospel, can be addressed by God in terms which emphasise the sinner’s
4Amyraldianism is an erroneous view that borrows some aspects of Arminianism and some aspects of Calvinism. It holds that Christ’s atonement was fully intended to save all men on condition of faith, but that another decree to make it effectual was needed for the elect.
5Cunningham, Historical Theology, Banner of Truth reprint, 1994, vol 2, p 346.
responsibility to accept the offer – and how that sinner can be responsible for his refusal and inability to accept it. Must we limit the offers and invitations of the Word to those who were elected from all eternity in the predestinating purpose of God? In practical terms, does this force us to look for marks of election and effectual calling before we call men to come to Christ?
As Cunningham comments, the notion that there is no offer of salvation to sinners as such is one which has generally held very little appeal to theologians and preachers of the Reformed Churches: “Very few Calvinists have ever disputed the propriety and the obligation of addressing to men, indiscriminately, without distinction or exception, the offers and invitations of gospel mercy”.6 The outright denial of the free offer to all men was mainly adopted by some of the more exclusive eighteenth-century English dissenters and has continued to this day in the Gospel Standard Strict Baptists and in certain of the Dutch Reformed Churches.
How then do the advocates of this teaching understand the example of Christ and of the Prophets and Apostles, who called the backslidden Jews to repent and believe the gospel – in other words, who made indiscriminate appeals to them to believe in the gospel, such as, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28)? They assume that these calls belong to the special privileges of a unique, covenanted nation. One very obvious question to ask here is: If only Jews were to be exhorted to repent and believe the good news of the gospel, how were the Gentiles ever to be gathered in? For if there is no warrant for sinners as sinners to accept of salvation (whether Jew or Gentile), it would be presumption for even the elect to lay hold of salvation. Indeed, Paul informed Agrippa that he made no distinction between Jew and Gentile when calling all men to the duty of repentance (Acts 26:20).
The Spirit of the Age1
Rev Donald MacLean
At the close of 1952 another chapter of our lives ended, reminding us, among other things, that a year will come when the final chapter of our lives will be written and we shall depart hence and be no more. Here we have no continuing city, for “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement” (Heb 9:27). Paul therefore keeps before us the great fact:
6Cunningham, Historical Theology, Banner of Truth reprint, 1994, vol 2, p 344.
1The pastoral letter that Mr MacLean wrote to his Portree congregation at the beginning of 1953, printed here with some editing.
“Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (v 28).
It would be a useful and searching question were we to consider on this New Year’s Day whether we are of those who are looking to Christ for salvation and whether our course in this world is governed by the hope that, when life’s journey ends, we shall be with Christ, which is far better than any earthly portion we can possibly possess.” As the watchman anxiously and wearily waited for the first streaks of light which would herald the approach of day, so the Psalmist waited with expectation upon Him who could deliver him from the depths. May this spirit be given to each one of us as another year dawns!
On the whole, the condition of our nation has reached a greater measure of stability in the year that is gone, yet the problems confronting our statesmen still demonstrate that more is needed than the wisdom of man to solve the difficulties arising from international conflict. Man without God, and only governed by his whims and individual desires, is the most unpredictable of all creatures, and it is evident that this lesson is being taught to this generation by the course which providence has been taking. There is no sign so far, however, that either the leaders of thought or the rulers of nations have profited by the experience despite the painful nature of the events taking place from time to time. Nor are they likely to profit, until a radical change comes over their outlook. “The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken; lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?” (Jer 8:9).
A spirit of material atheism has taken hold of the people generally. They show this by turning their backs on the means of grace and seeking satisfaction in streams and fountains other than the Fountain of life. The consequent ignorance of the gospel and the central doctrines of divine truth reigns in the popular understanding. It follows that the conscience is deadened, leading to the present serious outbreak of crime and disorder. “Unto the pure, all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Tts 1:15,16).
It is never an easy thing to find salvation, although that precious jewel is brought so near to us in the Word of God. The natural enmity of the human heart to all that belongs to God leads to rejection of the everlasting gospel,
which is the wisdom of God unto salvation. This fact, especially in a generation so spiritually corrupt as ours, makes the matter of the soul’s salvation a perilous business, and the wonder will be if any escape. Let each one of us dismiss for ever from our minds that there is any salvation apart from Christ and saving union to Him, and let it be an equally unshakable conviction that there is no such union apart from the work of the Holy Spirit imparting life and thus awakening and enlightening the sinner, and effectually drawing him to the Lord Jesus. All other forms of religion, however pleasing to the modern mind and acceptable to modern taste, are false and will not suffice when it comes to the swellings of Jordan and the great white throne.
The Church of God thus finds herself in a veritable wilderness, where no sympathy can be expected in her troubles, and either an undisguised hostility or a dead indifference is shown to her message of salvation. Yet she leans and must lean upon the arm of her Beloved for help and strength, and she desires that no arm but His should be exalted. She thus does her duty, in His strength, in bringing to sinners the services of God’s house, where the means are found through which Christ makes Himself known to the children of men. These means are still left with us in this generation; their purpose is the gathering of souls to Christ Jesus and the feeding of those who have already found Him. To us all the Lord says, “Seek ye My face”. May each of us, at the beginning of another year, get grace to say, “Thy face, Lord, will I seek” (Ps 27:8).
Let each one of us then resolve to seek the Lord by private prayer and the reading of God’s Word, earnestly looking up for a blessing. Let parents also seek His blessed and gracious face at family worship, prayerfully seeking to teach their children their need of the divine Saviour. If this seeking was more to be seen among us, the public means on Sabbath and weekday would be better attended and be more profitable to us all. I would like to see more who know Gaelic coming out for Sabbath morning. There could also be an improvement in attendance at the weekly meeting, where I am endeavouring to lecture through the Book of Psalms. Since the lecture is given in English, there is no excuse for lack of attendance.
There are some, I regret to say, who never attend on Sabbath or weekday except perhaps at communion times. Their families are brought up in ignorance of the Word of God and in defiance of God’s command, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more as we see the day approaching” (Heb 10:25). What tremendous responsibilities lie upon such people! What a solemn, dreadful light will be cast by eternity upon misspent Sabbaths and neglected Bibles! Let those who are guilty of these things repent, return to the truth and seek, in whatever time may yet be given them in the world, to
find Him who is able to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him. May the Holy Spirit be poured upon us all this year, so that the desert may “rejoice and blossom as the rose” (Is 35:1).
I again take the opportunity of extending my sympathy to all to whose homes death has come, or to whom days and nights on sickbeds have been appointed. May the God of all comfort grant His consolation, applying His own healing balm to the wounds thus made!
With best wishes for your spiritual and temporal welfare.