What the “Well-Meant Offer” IS

The “well-meant offer” is the teaching promoted in the majority of Reformed, Presbyterian and evangelical churches today that teaches that God, out of a redemptive love for all men, sends the gospel out to all men, with the intention, desire, will, and wish that all that outwardly hear be blessed by it (with salvation).

Here are a collection of quotes from the defenders of this view to prove this is the case:

 

Sam Waldron: 

[1] “[The ‘well-meant offer’ is that] God wills for them [i.e., all who hear the gospel] to be saved” (The Crux of the Free Offer of the Gospel, [Free Grace Press, 2019], p. 22)

[2] “[God has a] desire and intention for the salvation of men who were finally lost” (Ibid., p. 24)

[3] “[The ‘free offer’ preacher assures everyone in his audience that] God wants him to be saved” (Ibid., p. 33).

[4] “[The doctrine is] that [God] would have all come to Christ” (Ibid., p. 130).

[5] “God earnestly desires the salvation of every man who hears the gospel. He sends them the gospel—with the desire, intention, and will—that they might be saved by it” (Ibid., p. 100).

  

Matthew Barrett:

[1] “[The well-meant offer of the gospel is the teaching that] the preaching of the gospel to all people comes out of a real, genuine desire to see all people repent and be saved …” (Salvation By Grace: The Case for Effectual Calling and Regeneration [P&R Publishing, 2013], p. 76).

[2] (Quoting Louis Berkhof with approval) … “When God calls the sinner to accept Christ by faith, He earnestly desire this …” (Ibid., p. 76).

 

A. C. de Jong:

[1] “God desires to save the sinner whom he confronts in the good news” (The Well-Meant Gospel Offer: The Views of H. Hoeksema and K. Schilder [T.Wever—Franeker,  1954], p. 174).

[2] “Is the covenant-keeping God offering (presenting for decision) Christ in order that the sinner may escape this wrath of God? Is the gospel offer well-meant, i.e. is it intended for the sinner’s salvation? Is the calling God redemptively disposed toward those sinners to whom he presents the Savior? (Ibid., p. 144).

 

Donald Macleod (b. 1940):

“It goes without saying that every preacher sincerely desires the conversion and salvation of all his hearers; and it should also go without saying that every Christian sincerely desires the salvation of all their neighbours. But can the same be said of God? Does He sincerely desire the salvation of everyone to whom He offers Christ in the gospel?” (Compel Them To Come In: Calvinism and the Free Offer of the Gospel [Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 2020], p. 71.  Macleod’s entire book responds with a resounding “Yes!” In a footnote on page 76, he writes: “On the question whether God can properly be said to desire the salvation of all men, see [John Murray’s] article, ‘The Free Offer of the Gospel’ …”.

 

John Murray (1898-1975):

[1] “… the real point in dispute in connection with the free offer of the gospel is whether it can properly be said that God desires the salvation of all men.” (“The Free Offer of the Gospel,” in Collected Writings of John Murray, vol. 4 [Great Britain: Banner, 1982], p. 113, emphasis added).

[2] “… the expression ‘God desires,’ in the formula that crystallizes the crux of the question, is intended to notify not at all the ‘seeming’ attitude of God but a real attitude, a real disposition … (Ibid., p. 114, emphasis added).

[3] “If it is proper to say that God desires the salvation of the reprobate, then he desires such by their repentance. And so it a mounts to the same thing to say ‘God desires their salvation’ as to say ‘He desires their repentance.’ This is the same as saying that he desires them to comply with the indispensable conditions of salvation. It would be impossible to say the one without implying the other” (Ibid., p. 114, emphasis added).

[4] “… God himself expresses an ardent desire for the fulfilment of certain things which he has not decreed in his inscrutable counsel to come to pass. This means that there is a will to the realization of what he has not decretively willed, a pleasure towards that which he has not been pleased to decree. This is indeed mysterious …” (Ibid., p. 131, emphasis added).

 

Anthony A. Hoekema (1913-1988):

[1] “… the Christian Reformed Church of North America maintains, in agreement with the majority of Reformed theologians, that the preaching of the gospel is a well-meant offer of salvation, … [which means] that God seriously and earnestly desires the salvation of all to whom the gospel call comes” (Saved By Grace [Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1989], p. 73, emphasis added).

[2] “that God does seriously and earnestly desire the salvation of all those to whom the gospel comes, including those who do not belong to his elect” (Ibid., p. 75, emphasis added).

[3] [Footnote on page 77]: “On the question of the well-meant gospel offer, see also John Murray and Ned Stonehouse, The Free Offer of the Gospel (Phillipsburg, NJ: Lewis J. Grotenhuis, [1948]).”

[4] “The missionary or evangelist must bring the gospel message with this confidence: ‘Not only do I desire each of you to turn from your sins to God so that you may be saved, but this is God’s desire as well” (Ibid., p. 79, emphasis added).

 

Louis Berkhof (1873-1957):

[Note: the following is under the subheading, “The Well-Meant offer of Salvation”]

[1] “It is actually his desire, that sinners in the way of faith and repentance come to him” (The Three Points in All Respects Reformed [originally published in 1925 in Dutch under the title, De Drie Punten in Alle Deelen Gereformeerd, but translated for us into English by Marvin Kamps in 1997], p. 18, emphasis added).

[2] “God calls and invites sinners, and gives us the solemn certainty in His Word that he earnestly desires, that the called ones come to him. His inviting is without hypocrisy, it is well meant” (Ibid., p. 19, emphasis added).

[3] “That God calls the godless to conversion, is presented in the Holy Bible as a proof of his desire for their salvation .... These quotations [Ezekiel 18:32; 33:11] tell us as clearly as words can, that God has no pleasure in the death of sinners (take note, that he did not say “of elect sinners,” but “of sinners” completely in general): and the tender voice, which we hear therein, testifies of his great love of sinners and of his desire for the salvation of the ungodly" (Ibid., p. 21, emphasis added).

[4] “... the offer of salvation is intended by God as a blessing to all that hear ...” (Ibid., p. 23).

[5] “the offer of salvation is intended as a blessing even for those, who refuse to give obedience to the word of the Gospel” (Ibid., p. 24).

More to come ... (DV)!