The Free Offer And The Call Of The Gospel

"Do you believe in the 'free offer' of the Gospel?" In recent years this question has become a touchstone of orthodoxy for many people. It would seem churlish to deny the free offer. Who could want to? The language is generous, open, liberal. Who, after all, would want to confine or limit the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ? Except that the phrase does not mean simply, "Do you believe in preaching the Gospel to everyone?" To that we could all say a hearty "Amen!" No, the meaning is much different. The 'free offer' describes a method of preaching that undermines sovereign grace and denies that salvation is unconditionally the gift of God. It teaches that God genuinely offers forgiveness of sin and salation to sinners, irrespective of the eternal decree of election, despite the particular, substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ and regardless of the distinguishing effectual call of the Holy Spirit. Put like this the 'free offer' teaching becomes a bit more problematic. Indeed, every true believer must firmly reject its terms. This little book will explain why the free offer is more of a Trojan Horse than a blueprint for Gospel preaching.