The Well-Meant Offer (aka the Free Offer of the Gospel) and Common Grace
There’s been much discussion on the internet on this subject, and I have been asked to clarify my position. This is not an article or a position paper. It is merely a blog post to state my position on these doctrines. These are not secondary issues.
Common Grace
The doctrine of Common Grace wrongfully teaches that God’s grace is common for all people. There’s nothing common about the grace of God. God’s grace is sovereign and particular, for a particular populace of people – the elect. Yes, there is a saving grace for the elect. And yes, the non-elect can enjoy the presence of God’s benevolence, goodness (ad-extra), and providence, but they will never experience His grace. Therefore, common grace is a false teaching.
The Well-Meant Offer
The well-meant offer of the Gospel (aka the free offer of the Gospel) is also a false teaching.
This false teaching says that God meant well (or was well-meaning) for all, but somehow failed with some. Or, that Jesus is willing to offer you salvation. To say that God is not sovereign is blasphemy and heresy.
The Lord is not longing for the lost to be saved. Nor is He longing to (or desire) to have a relationship with them. The same God that has already predestined who He has chosen (as His elect) before the foundations of this world, is the same God that has predestinated those who will never be saved.
As a Christian, minimally I have the following two-fold responsibility.
In the church, I am to preach to, or teach, and/or disciple the elect. To the lost, I am to preach the Gospel to all men everywhere and call them to repent. The elect will repent, and the non-elect will not.
Lastly, only by the sovereign grace of God did He cause this knucklehead to repent in this regard, as well as other areas in my life. And I have much more room for more growth. Semper Reformanda!
"I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry." - 2 Timothy 4:1-5
For a gem of a short article called ‘Common Grace?’ By Angus Stewart, click here or below. https://cprc.co.uk/articles/commongrace/
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About The Author
Bill Rhetts
An ordinary sinner saved by an Extraordinary Savior. Radically saved, and radically changed, by a Radical God. For more details, see the above 'About me' tab.
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The Means of Grace, better known among Reformers as Media Gratiae, is the essential function of the Lord’s Church. It is the preaching and teaching of His Holy Word. As well as via prayer, and the practice of the ordinances and/or sacraments of His church. #MeansOfGrace #MediaGratiae #ReformedTheology #TheologyMatters #EcclesiologyMatters
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Below are some more technical definitions.
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“They are the official means of the Church of Jesus Christ. The preaching of the Word (or, the Word preached) and the administration of the sacraments (or, the sacraments administered) are the means officially instituted in the Church, by which the Holy Spirit works and confirms faith in the hearts of men. Some Reformed theologians limit the idea of the means of grace still more by saying that they are administered only within the visible Church, and that they presuppose the existence of the principle of the new life in the soul.”
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[L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing co., 1938), 605–606.]
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Media gratiae: means of grace; i.e., Word and sacraments as the means by which the grace of God is operative in the church. The term is used by both Lutheran and Reformed orthodox, although the Lutherans often substitute a stronger term, organa gratiae et salutis (q.v.), instruments of grace and salvation… Word and sacraments are thus instrumental both in the inception of salvation and in the continuance of the work of grace in the Christian life. In addition, Word and sacraments are the sole officially ordained or instituted instruments or means of grace. God has promised the presence of his grace to faithful hearers of the Word and faithful participants in the sacraments. Thus the right preaching of the Word and right administration of the sacraments are the marks or identifying features of the true church (notae ecclesiae, q.v.).”
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[Richard A. Muller, Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms : Drawn Principally from Protestant Scholastic Theology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1985), 187–188.]