Doth not wisdom
cry? and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high
places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the
entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men, I
call; and my voice is to the sons of man … Hear … Receive my instruction
… Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing always before him; Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and
my delights were with the sons of men. Now therefore hearken unto me, O
ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be
wise, and refuse it not (vv. 1-4, 6, 10, 30-33).
WELL-MEANT OFFER ARGUMENT:
Q. “Do we not
read, in Proverbs 8, of a general, saving purpose of God for the salvation of
all men (aka, the general, well-meant offer)? … Christ, who is the Wisdom of
God, here cries out through His preachers in the city streets for all who hear
to come to Him … His will is that He would have all men receive His saving
instruction and to come into His banqueting house of mercy and communion (cf.
Prov. 9:3-5). He is surely serious and sincere in this beseeching ... He
desires all to be saved … God, who is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ,
must therefore be favorably disposed toward all men, with a will of salvation
(albeit unfulfilled) …”
(I)
Prof. David J. Engelsma
In response to this argument, let us agree that the wisdom who speaks in Proverbs is personally the Son of God in human flesh, namely, Jesus the Christ. Let us also agree that the call of God’s wisdom is essentially the urgent call to believe on Jesus for the understanding that is salvation by faith in this Wisdom—that is, it is the urgent call to salvation. Let us also agree at the outset that this call is directed not only to the elect, who are saved by the call, but that the call is indiscriminate—directed to those who are reprobate as well as those who are elect, that is, today to everyone and anyone who reads or hears Proverbs 8. Concerning this last, verse 36 envisions that some of those to whom the call of Proverbs 8 comes sin against Wisdom by rejecting the call because they hate this Wisdom. Not all those to whom the urgent call of Proverbs 8 comes are saved by the call.
All of the above being true, it is not proved, or even suggested, that the call of Proverbs 8 is a well-meant offer, that is, a gracious offer of salvation to all humans indiscriminately in the would-be saving love of God towards all to whom the call of Proverbs 8 comes, in a desire of God to save all to whom that call comes, with the inescapable implication that the saving will and gracious desire of God for the salvation of some is frustrated inasmuch as some to whom the call comes are not saved by the call (v. 36). If this were the nature of the call of Proverbs 8, it would also be the implication that the salvation of some by the call depends upon the will of the sinner, rather than upon the electing will of God, inasmuch as God loves and desires to save all, but some are not saved by the well-meant offer. If God loves and desires to save all alike to whom the gospel of Proverbs 8 comes, but some are not saved, the explanation of the salvation of some must be that their will makes the difference. Thus, the well-meant offer explanation of Proverbs 8 is the denial that salvation is by grace (Romans 9:16).
Proverbs 8 teaches that Wisdom, who is Jesus Christ, calls all humans who come into contact with this Wisdom to hear and heed this Wisdom, that is, to believe on Jesus. It is to the honor of Wisdom that men do this, while rejecting this Wisdom is foolish and in the end destruction and damnation for those who sin against Wisdom. There is nothing expressed or implied in the chapter of a love of Wisdom of all those humans to whom the call of Wisdom comes. The chapter only expresses the demand of God that all humans honor His Wisdom by believing on Jesus Christ.
The chapter has the nature of a call that, because of the glory of God’s Wisdom, urgently commands all humans to “receive” the (gospel) instruction of Wisdom (v. 10).
Not only does the chapter say nothing of the call’s originating in a love of God for all to whom the call comes, but it also indicates that the love of God for humans in the call is particular: “I love them that love me” (v. 17). If those who want to press Proverbs 8 into the service of their well-meant offer respond that Wisdom’s love for certain humans, in distinction from other humans, is based upon these humans’ love for Wisdom, it becomes clear that the explanation of Proverbs 8 by the defenders of the well-meant offer overthrows the entire gospel of grace, which teaches that God’s love for certain sinners is sovereign and the cause of their love for Him.
In short, Proverbs 8 is what the Reformed faith calls the **external call of the gospel**. This is the urgent call or command of Christ in the gospel to all who hear, addressed as humans without Wisdom and very much in need of Wisdom, to come to Him as the Wisdom of God, extolling Christ as nothing less than the saving, precious divine Wisdom; promising that all who receive Him (by the grace of God) enjoy wonderful benefits; and warning that those who refuse Wisdom will die.
This external call is urgent to every one who hears.
There is nothing in a rejection of a well-meant offer, therefore, that prevents us from preaching Wisdom to all humans without distinction, from setting Wisdom forth in all His glory and benefits, from promising blessedness to all who believe on Him, and from warning those who despise Him of death and damnation.
But the call of Proverbs 8 is not the would-be saving power of God to all to whom the external call comes. It is not what Reformed theology regards as the internal call of the gospel, the call of Romans 8:28 and 30.
Nor is it motivated by a love of God for all. Nor does Proverbs 8 say so. An urgent, external call in the preaching of the gospel is one thing; a well-meant offer is quite another.
(DJE, 14/02/2022)
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(II)
More to come! (DV)
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