Particular Redemption and the Free Offer Book

The Bible teaches: (i) Christ died only for the elect; (ii) God offers Christ to all. This looks like a first-class contradiction. Many think they have found a way to avoid it. Arminians deny the first statement; hyper-Calvinists, the second. But still the Bible teaches both. Most Calvinists take another route. They use the formula: 'Christ's death - sufficient for all, effective only for the elect'. In this, some follow Moïse Amyraut and say that Christ died provisionally for all, but effectively only for the elect. Others follow John Owen and say that although Christ's death is sufficient for all on account of who he is, nevertheless it was intended and effective only for the elect. In this way, both think they justify the free offer in light of particular redemption. But both are wrong. The Bible does not try to solve the seeming paradox. It never uses 'the sufficiency formula'. It simply states that Christ died for the elect, but even so it commands all sinners to repent and believe - promising them Christ and salvation if they do. While this book does not promise an easy read, it will repay careful study. And the subject is worthy of such. Above all, its author's aim is to glorify God by stimulating the wider, more passionate, and less-inhibited preaching of the free offer to sinners by those who rightly hold to particular redemption.Read More