Gifts Given

When an offer is made, nothing is yet completed or actually done. A possibility is simply being proposed. Offers also usually come with stipulations and are the beginning of a transaction, a negotiation between two parties. Often we speak of an “initial offer” for this very reason. To make an offer is to ask and require something of the one to whom it is made. 

On the other hand, a gift is when something is fully and completely given irrespective of the actions of the recipient. When a gift is given the giving itself is complete and finished. There is nothing more for the giver to do, and certainly no conditions are proposed. There is no transaction or negotiation. Those to whom the gift is given may or may not choose to make themselves recipients, for gifts by nature are not forced upon anyone, but it is a gift nonetheless. By nature gifts are not enhanced nor diminished by whether they are received or not, they are in themselves already fully gifts.

God’s work is given to us, not offered. The fact that we talk about the grace of God, describing every action of God as the movement of his uncreated love expressing his endless mercy, we indicate the freely given nature of what God does. He is not making us offers that, if we accept, then he will follow through. Instead, from the riches of his mercy and love God gives his finished and completed works. While we may or may not respond positively to his gifts, they are not mere offers. God requests nothing in return, though the nature of the gifts themselves, if received, will change us.

A car salesman might make me an offer, and commercials on TV make offers all the time. Neither give me anything but want to strike a deal, and outline a transaction of some kind. God gave us his Son and did not simply offer to give us his Son (John 3:16). Certainly, our part in receiving this gift will determine whether Jesus makes a difference in our lives, but Jesus still is not an offer. That we have some role in responding does not reduce God to making offers. 

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. Titus 2:11 NIV

This is an awful and misleading translation of Paul’s words. Of the 62 English translations listed on Biblegateway.com, only three use “offers”, and two of these are editions of the NIV, so really only one other version words it this way. What do the others say? Thirty-three say “brings salvation”, and the others some variety of “gives” or simply that the grace of God has appeared that “saves”.

In other words, almost all render Paul’s words as saying that the grace of God has appeared to us, and that this grace of God is the coming of Christ into the world which brings us salvation. God makes no mere offer through Christ, dependent on our acceptance. He gives humanity salvation through his own work, which is now being made known to us. God does not offer us salvation, but rather gives us salvation. This is brought to us through Christ, finished, complete, and whole. Nothing is left to do but to be amazed and trust the grace that has appeared.

I was raised in a tradition where we talked about a “plan of salvation” which was not something that God had completed according to his own will, but was like an Ikea dresser with “some assembly required”. The plan of salvation we talked about was a set of instructions which, if followed carefully, would finish and complete salvation. We tended to so emphasize the need to respond to God’s gift, which we made in essence an offer wrapped in a plan, that we failed to proclaim that the work was done! No assembly is needed. Accept and simply enjoy! We will not be the same!