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Gift or offer.

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  • Gift or offer.

    Ephesians 2:8
    For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:


    Does a preponderance of scripture portray this gift of God to be an offer rather than a gift unless it is accepted. Is it represent itself as more of an offer until it is received.

  • #2
    Why can't both terms be used in their respective contexts?
    "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

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    • #3
      It is a gift that is offered to all. Whether everyone accepts the gift is up to them.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
        Why can't both terms be used in their respective contexts?
        Would you be so kind as to illustrate?

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Sparko View Post
          It is a gift that is offered to all. Whether everyone accepts the gift is up to them.
          Guess what I was attempting to discuss is the physical attributes of a gift. Are there two aspects necessary to complete the mechanics of a gift. One, the offering; two, acceptance or receiving.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by dacristoy View Post
            Guess what I was attempting to discuss is the physical attributes of a gift. Are there two aspects necessary to complete the mechanics of a gift. One, the offering; two, acceptance or receiving.
            in most cases yes. Especially if free will is concerned.

            I mean I suppose I could somehow pay off your home and car without your approval, and that would be a gift. But you would have no free will in the matter, no choice. The bible makes it clear that choosing to receive Jesus is part of the gift.

            John 1:11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

            John 3:16 For 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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

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            • #7
              If someone goes yo a card with 100 dollars to spend at Christmas its a gift offer. You can give it back to the person though I doubt you would. So it is with salvation. Only its better than that card at Christmas. Most of us choose never to open it or we just give it back we don't take the offered gift
              A happy family is but an earlier heaven.
              George Bernard Shaw

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Catholicity View Post
                If someone goes yo a card with 100 dollars to spend at Christmas its a gift offer. You can give it back to the person though I doubt you would. So it is with salvation. Only its better than that card at Christmas. Most of us choose never to open it or we just give it back we don't take the offered gift
                I think that after you proactively accept the offer, the gift is complete. What you do with it after accepting it is up to you. After all, it now belongs to you... So for this conversation we want to deal only with the OFFER, and its subsequent acceptance...

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by dacristoy View Post
                  Would you be so kind as to illustrate?
                  I think both terms are really attempts to provide metaphors for God's reconciliation of man, and I think either metaphor could be more or less accurate.
                  "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
                    I think both terms are really attempts to provide metaphors for God's reconciliation of man, and I think either metaphor could be more or less accurate.
                    Which one is more accurate, which one is less accurate?

                    offer
                    verb of•fer \ˈȯ-fər, ˈä-\
                    : to give someone the opportunity to accept or take (something): to say that you are willing to do something
                    : to make (something) available : to provide or supply (something)

                    1gift
                    noun \ˈgift\
                    : something that is given to another person or to a group or organization
                    : a special ability
                    Full Definition of GIFT
                    1
                    : a notable capacity, talent, or endowment
                    2
                    : something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation

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                    • #11
                      I think there is so much trouble in this thread differentiating between gift and offer because they are so intertwined in this context that one can not exist without the other so you can't split them or use just one word or the other.
                      "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

                      "Theology can be an intellectual entertainment." Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Thoughtful Monk View Post
                        I think there is so much trouble in this thread differentiating between gift and offer because they are so intertwined in this context that one can not exist without the other so you can't split them or use just one word or the other.
                        Offer: A precursor to the giving of a gift.
                        Gift: That which is volitionally given by one to another.
                        Acceptance or rejection: That which completes and validates a gift.

                        Does this clarify?

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                          in most cases yes. Especially if free will is concerned.

                          I mean I suppose I could somehow pay off your home and car without your approval, and that would be a gift. But you would have no free will in the matter, no choice. The bible makes it clear that choosing to receive Jesus is part of the gift.

                          John 1:11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

                          John 3:16 For 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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
                          ## Why can it not be both, in different ways or aspects ?

                          Comment

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