The Will of God and the Gospel Offer

These passages from classical Reformed theologians and preachers speak of God’s desire for or delight in the salvation of those who hear the gospel offer, inasmuch as his revealed will is an expression of his goodness and kindness toward the hearers of the gospel.

James I. Packer (born 1926):
God in the gospel expresses a bona fide wish that all may hear, and that all who hear may believe and be saved
(Celebrating the Saving Work of God, p. 151)

God’s love is revealed in the universal invitations of the gospel, whereby sinful humans are invited to turn in faith and repentance to the living Christ who died for sins and are promised pardon and life if they do. ‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ ‘God is love (agape). This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.’ And God in the gospel expresses a bona fide wish that all may hear, and that all who hear may believe and be saved. This is love in active expression.