The 16th/17th Century Meaning of “Offer”

(I) C. Matthew McMahon (Presbyterian theologian, founder of “Puritan Publications” and “A Puritan’s Mind”)

[1] “The word ‘offer’ can be somewhat ambiguous. I understand the word to mean ‘publish or proclaim’ as many of the early Puritans used the term, and those who drew up the Westminster Confession. The Latin text has connotations of ‘publishing’ or ‘proclaiming’ something” (The Two Wills of God: Does God ‘Really’ Have Two Wills? [Coconut Creek, FL: Puritan Publications, 2005], p. 60).

[2] “[William Ames writes,] ‘The offer is an objective presentation of Christ as the sufficient and necessary means to salvation (1 Corinthians 1:23, 24) [The Marrow of Theology, p. 157]. … Ames’ use of the word ‘offer’ is the Latin ‘offerre’ which means ‘to publish’ or ‘shout aloud.’ Here is a very important distinction: the Puritans and reformers of old used the word ‘offer’ in a very different sense than modern evangelicals do today … The Puritans and reformers used ‘offerre’ in the sense that the Gospel was a proclamation …” (The Two Wills of God: Does God ‘Really’ Have Two Wills? [Coconut Creek, FL: Puritan Publications, 2005], p. 304).

[3] “[John Calvin says,] ‘… one cannot speak of any disagreement between God’s eternal election and the testimony of his grace that he offers to believers’ [Institutes, 3.24.17] … [Footnote:] A difference must be remembered between our modern day use of the word ‘offer’ and the Latin word ‘offerre’ which means to ‘present or set forth’ without substance in the preaching itself. The substance derives from the application of the promise by the Spirit. This is Calvin’s meaning of the word, as the other Protestant Confessions, reformers, and puritans” (The Two Wills of God: Does God ‘Really’ Have Two Wills? [Coconut Creek, FL: Puritan Publications, 2005], p. 378).

[4] “The Westminster Confession of Faith has been the link to the term ‘offer’ for the proposal of the free offer. In Chapter 6 of the confession, Section 3, it says, ‘Man, by his fall, having made himself incapable of life by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant of grace; wherein he freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ; requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved, and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life his Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to believe.’ … Here we find the word ‘offer.’ The Latin word they used here, ‘offero’ means ‘to bring forward, place before, present, or expose.’ It is a publication of the Gospel, not giving or holding out the actual effectual call of the Gospel” (The Two Wills of God: Does God ‘Really’ Have Two Wills? [Coconut Creek, FL: Puritan Publications, 2005], p. 471).

---

(II) C. J. Connors (Australian Presbyterian)

The term “offer” [used in the 16/17^th century] does not imply a “desire” in God to save as [proponents of the well-meant offer] would have us understand … The confessional term “offer” does not carry [enough] weight to [bear such usage] … It does not imply a conditional will or a delight of God toward the salvation of all, nor does it imply any ability in the sinner to receive it—both of which are at the very least implied in [the well-meant offer’s use of the word].

“Offer” in the Reformed Confessions is the Latin term “offero”—meaning “to present, exhibit, or set forth.” It is in this sense that the term “offer” is used by the Westminster Confession of Faith and associated documents. “The Sum of Saving Knowledge” (found in the back of most editions of the Westminster Standards) in accord with the Latin “offero” and biblical teaching, defines “offer” in relation to the means of grace as “to clearly hold forth Christ already crucified before our eyes.” Or again, as Larger Catechism Q&A 72 says: “(Faith) rests upon Christ and His righteousness, therein held forth.” The apostle Paul sets the biblical pattern. The gospel must be preached so that men are obliged to: “Obey the truth, (as those) before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” (Gal. 3:1).

The Greek word prographoo is used [in Gal. 3:1] and means firstly, “to write beforehand,” as in respect to time; then “to depict or portray openly,” as in respect to place and sight. Thayer understands Gal. 3:1 to mean: “taught most definitely and plainly concerning the meritorious efficacy of the death of Christ.” The term is figurative and means “to write before the eyes of all who believe.” This passage gives the Biblical meaning of the term “offer” as used in the Reformed confessions.

Offer means that “the Gospel is externally proposed …”¹

[It means to] hold forth before the mind.

As to its content, the confessional offer includes both the clear setting forth of Christ crucified and God’s way of salvation in Him. The confessional offer presupposes the setting forth of God’s exalted holiness and the law to convince and convict men of sin and to show them their urgent need of Christ. It sets forth and displays Christ crucified as the blessed and only Saviour in all His glory, beauty, suitability and sufficiency for the chief of sinners. It authoritatively declares the command and call of God to all men, without exception, to repent and believe as the only way to life. It beseeches and with the cords of love and grace, tenderly draws the labouring, heavy-laden sinner to Christ and salvation in Him. It promises the Spirit to the elect to make them able and willing to come, and it proclaims the particular promise of God, that all who come will surely find mercy. In short, it must herald the good news of the gospel to sinners – nothing less, and nothing more.

The presentation of the gospel—the [confessional] “offer”—in its totality does not constitute, or even imply, a well-meant offer to all. The presentation of the gospel implies no active delight, desire or longing within God toward the salvation of all in the preaching. All that can be rightfully implied from the gospel [confessional] offer is that God is pleased to save repentant, believing sinners—nothing more. The well-meant offer, however, cannot stand without first presupposing a conditional will of God to the salvation of the reprobate, Christ dead for all, and general grace. These are, of course the most basic premises of Arminianism. They, and the “offer” they create, must be rejected.

¹ Herman Witsius, The Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man (Escondido: The Den Dulk Christian Foundation, 1990), vol. 1, p. 354.

(C. J. Connors, The Biblical Offer of the Gospel, p. 10; cf. n. 26-27)

---

(III) Raymond A. Blacketer (Christian Reformed Church theologian)

The important phrase in the original Latin [of Canons III/IV.9] is Christo per evangelium oblato. The word oblato is a participial form of the Latin word offero, frequently translated with its English cognate, offer. But this is not the primary meaning of the Latin verb. Rather, its most basic meanings include: to put in a person’s path, to cause to be encountered; to show, reveal, exhibit; to present as something to be taken note of, to bring or force to someone’s attention.²⁹ Thus, to interpret this article as teaching that all persons who hear the gospel are confronted with Christ, or that they encounter Christ in the gospel, is at least as plausible as the assertion that such persons are offered Christ and salvation through Christ in the preaching of the gospel [in the sense of God desiring to save all who hear]. Set in the context of the broader teachings of the Canons and the writings of major Reformed theologians from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the former interpretation appears to be much more plausible than the latter.

²⁹ See P. G. W. Glare, ed., Oxford Latin Dictionary, corrected ed. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996), s.v. “offero.” It is not until the eighth through tenth definitions that the sense of the modem English word offer comes through.

(Raymond A. Blacketer, “The Three Points in Most Parts Reformed: A Re-examination of the So-Called Well-Meant Offer of Salvation,” Calvin Theological Journal [April, 2000])

---

(IV) David J. Engelsma

In the past the word offer from the Latin offero was used by Reformed men to describe God’s activity in the preaching of the gospel because the word originally had the meaning “bring to [someone],” “present [something or someone to somebody].” All Reformed men hold that Christ is presented in the preaching to everyone who hears the preaching. In this sense He is “offered” in the gospel. Calvin used offer in this sense, as do the Canons of Dordt: “It is not the fault of the gospel, nor of Christ offered therein … that those who are called by the ministry of the Word refuse to come” (Canons, Heads 3–4, Article 9). But this is not the meaning of the word when it is used in connection with a universal love of God and a desire of God to save everybody.

… Although our quarrel with the offer is not a quibbling over words, the word offer should be dropped from the Reformed vocabulary. Not a biblical term, it is so loaded with Arminian connotations today that it is no longer serviceable. Instead of an offer of the gospel, we should speak of the call of the gospel as the scriptures do.

(David J. Engelsma, Hyper-Calvinism and the Call of the Gospel: An Examination of the Well-Meant Offer [Jenison, MI: RFPA, 2014], p. 48; cf. n. 46)

---

(V) Russell J. Dykstra

Offered: from offerre, which means “to present, to exhibit or set forth.” This explanation of the word offer as used by Calvin has been supplied by Henry Atherton, the secretary of Sovereign Grace Union that reprinted Henry Cole’s translation, Calvin’s Calvinism, in 1927.

(Russell J. Dykstra, in John Calvin, Calvin’s Calvinism: God’s Eternal Predestination and Secret Providence [Jenison, MI: RFPA, 2009], p. 21, n. 10)

---

(VI) Ronald Hanko

There are many who prefer to speak of the gospel as an “offer” rather than a call. It is interesting, to say the least, that Scripture never uses the word offer to describe the gospel. We have no objection to the word offer as such. In its older sense it means only that in the gospel there is a “showing forth” of Christ. The Westminster Larger Catechism, for example, defines an offer of Christ as a “testifying that whosoever believers in Him shall be saved” (WLC, Q. & A. 65).

In its modern sense, however, the word offer suggests and is used to teach that God loves all men and wants to save every one of them, that He makes an effort to save all of them in the gospel, and that whether or not a sinner will be saved is dependent on the will of that sinner. These teachings are all contrary to Scripture.

Scripture does not teach that God loves all men (Ps. 11:5; John 13:1; Rom. 9:13), nor does it teach that God is trying to save all of them (Isa. 6:9-11; Rom. 9:18; II Cor. 2:14-16). Certainly it does not teach that in saving sinners God can be frustrated by their unwillingness, or that He waits, cap in hand as it were, for them to accept His salvation (Ps. 115:3; John 6:44; Rom. 9:16; Eph. 2:8-9). For these reasons we prefer not to speak of the gospel as an “offer.”

(Ronald Hanko, Doctrine According to Godliness: A Primer of Reformed Doctrine [Jenison, MI: RFPA, 2012], p. 191)

---

(VII) Herman Hoeksema

If the term “offer” is understood in the sense in which it occurs in the confessions, and in which Calvin uses it (offere, from obfero, meaning to present), there can be no objection to that term, though, to prevent misunderstanding, it would be better to employ the words to present, and presentation.

(Herman Hoeksema, The Clark-VanTil Controversy [Unicoi, TN: The Trinity Foundation, 2005], p. 47)

---

(VIII) Herman Hanko

It might be worthwhile, in passing, to point out that Calvin repeatedly used the word “offer” in his writings. And this use of the word “offer” is one reason why Calvin is said to support the idea of the gracious and well-meant offer of the gospel. I once knew a man, now in glory, who so desperately hated the word “offer” that, meaning well, he went through all of Calvin’s writings and blotted out the word “offer” wherever he found it. This man made a serious mistake and should never have done this. The word is, after all, found in the Canons of Dordt, a confession of the Reformed Churches. It is a good word. But he misunderstood the Latin use of it.

The word “offer” comes from the Latin offere, which means, “to present, set forth, and hold before someone.” And the idea of the frequently used term “offer” is, therefore, to underscore the fact that in the gospel, Christ is presented or set forth as the One whom God has ordained to be the means of salvation; and that all who hear the gospel are commanded to repent of their sin and believe in Christ. The word is used by Calvin in the sense in which Paul uses it in Galatians 3:1: “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?”

(Herman Hanko, Common Grace Considered, p. 12)

---

(IX) A. W. Pink (English Baptist)

[1] “Concerning the character and contents of the Gospel the utmost confusion prevails today. The Gospel is not an “offer” to be bandied around by evangelistic peddlers. The Gospel is no mere invitation, but a proclamation, a proclamation concerning Christ; true, whether men believe it or no. No man is asked to believe that Christ died for him in particular. The Gospel, in brief, is this: Christ died for sinners, you are a sinner, believe in Christ, and you shall be saved. In the Gospel, God simply announces the terms upon which men may be saved (namely, repentance and faith) and, indiscriminately, all are commanded to fulfil them” (A. W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2008], p. 209).

[2] “It is high time that some voice was raised in protest against the fearful perversions of Divine truth which are now being given out by many, who, though posing as the champions of orthodoxy, are nothing more than wolves in sheep’s clothing, blind, leading those who follow their pernicious heresies into the ditch. The omnipotency of God is now frittered down to a persuasive power which He brings to bear upon sinners, but which is so feeble that it fails to move the great majority who are subject to it: more than this ‘persuasion’ must not be affirmed, lest man be reduced to a ‘mere machine.’ The all-efficacious Atonement, which has actually redeemed everyone for whom it was made, is degraded to a ‘remedy’ which sin-sick souls may use if they feel disposed to. The invincible work of the Holy Spirit is supposed to be nothing more than an ‘offer’ of the Gospel which sinners may accept or reject as they please. That such frightful errors should now be accepted in ‘churches’ calling themselves ‘Fundamentalists,’ only shows how far the Apostasy has advanced” (The Atonement [Swengel, PA: Reiner Publications, n.d.], pp. 120-121).

---

(X) Steven Key

The term “offer” has an entirely different connotation today from its original Latin definition. In the Canons, the term “offer” simply means “to present” or “to set forth.” The idea is that of Acts 13:46, where Paul and Barnabas addressed the Jews, and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we tum to the Gentiles.” To take the simple concept, well understood by the fathers at Dordt, and to add the baggage associated with the idea of a well-meant offer is unwarranted.

(Steven Key, “The Canons and Common Grace,” Protestant Reformed Theological Journal [vol. 37, no. 2], p. 51)

---

(XI) Barry Gritters

Calvin wrote his Institutes in the Latin language. The word translated “offer” in English is, not surprisingly, offere in the Latin. But this word did not necessarily have the same connotations then as it does in English today. The word offere primarily means “to present, to bring towards, to thrust forward, to show, to exhibit.” Our word offer has broader connotations and implies the ability to accept or reject, as well as a desire on God’s part that the offer be accepted.

(Barry Gritters, “Grace Uncommon: A Protestant Reformed Look at Common Grace,” p. 33)

---

(XII) Martyn McGeown

We should take note that the word offer has undergone a development in meaning over the centuries. In the days of the Synod of Dordt, the word offer commonly meant to present, to display, or to set forth. The modern use of the word offer includes the idea of a desire or intention in the one making the offer, as well as a presupposed ability in the one to whom the offer is made. These ideas are foreign to Dordt’s meaning of the term.

(Martyn McGeown, Grace and Assurance: The Message of the Canons of Dordt [Jenison, MI: RFPA, 2018], p. 236)

---

(XIII) Others