... In the word
of God preached by sent messengers, the Lord makes offer of grace to all
sinners, upon condition of faith in Jesus Christ; and whosoever do
confess their sin, accept of Christ offered, and submit themselves to his
ordinances, he will have both them and their children received into the honour
and privileges of the new covenant of grace. (The Sum of Saving Knowledge,
in The Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, with the
Scripture-Proofs at Large: Together with The Sum of Saving Knowledge) … and
Practical Use Thereof; Covenants, National and Solemn League; Acknowledgment of
Sins, and Engagement to Duties; Directories for Public and Family Worship; Form
of Church Government, etc. [Philadelphia: William S. Young, 1851], pp. 435)
COMMON GRACE
ARGUMENT:
In support of the well-meant gospel offer, appeal
is made various phrases in this document, written in 1650, especially to where it
speaks of “the Lord [making] offer of grace to all sinners, upon condition of
faith in Jesus Christ.”
(I)
Prof. Herman C.
Hanko
[Source:
An
Answer to David Silversides: Responses to Appeals Made to the Westminster
Standards and Westminster Divines in Support of the Well-Meant Gospel Offer
(2019), pp. 12-13]
[To] read this important document in its entirety
is to learn very quickly that it is particularistic throughout. The
introduction itself reads:
The Sum of
Saving Knowledge may be taken up in these four heads: 1. The woeful condition
wherein all men are by nature, through breaking of the covenant of works. 2.
The remedy provided for the elect in Jesus Christ by the covenant of
grace. 3. The means appointed to make them (aka, the elect, HH) partakers
of this covenant. 4. The blessings which are effectually conveyed unto the
elect by these means ... [The Confession of Faith … p. 433, emphasis
added].
When speaking of the way in which God works through
the means of grace, this document says,
… By these outward
ordinances, as our Lord makes the reprobate inexcusable, so, by the power of
his Spirit, he applies unto the elect, effectually, all saving graces purchased
to them in the covenant of redemption, and maketh a change in their persons … [The
Confession of Faith … p. 435].
It is a strange well-meant offer, in which God
expresses His love for the wicked and His intention and desire to save all,
that is also used, by the same Lord, to make the reprobate inexcusable.
What, then, about the use of the word offer
(“the Lord makes offer of grace to all sinners”; “… Christ offered”)?
The Sum of Saving Knowledge undoubtedly explains this expression itself
when, almost immediately following the words quoted above, it says, “[The
covenant] doth clearly hold forth Christ already crucified before our
eyes.” Nothing is said about a well-meant offer.
------------------------------------------
(II)
More to come!
(DV)
NOTE:
According to a number of Presbyterian divines, the
“gospel offer” is particular in its scope and address—to the contrite
and the repentant; those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (though this
good news is preached so that even the non-elect hear it).
This was, however, repudiated by the so-called “Marrow”
men, as well as all Amyraldians and Moderate Calvinists.
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