The following review was written by Seth Kooienga on the book Whosoever Will by Herman Hoeksema (Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing, 2014). The review was originally published in the Grandville Gleaner. The version below has been lightly edited for grammar and clarity.

Whosoever Will takes a closer, scriptural look into the extended phrase "whosoever will may come." This phrase is a man-made phrase from a popular hymn chorus (Whosoever Will by Philip Paul Bliss) at the time Rev. Hoeksema wrote this book. Although the phrase "whosoever will may come" is not found word for word in Scripture, it is derived from a few different texts. The first and most likely is Revelation 22:17b, "And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Other references related to this phrase are John 7:37, John 3:16, Matthew 7:7-8, Matthew 11:28, and Isaiah 55:1-3. Hoeksema objects to the singing of this hymn because of the underlying purpose to overthrow our doctrine of salvation by sovereign grace alone.

The purpose of this book is two-fold: to show the false, Arminian interpretation of the phrase that denotes salvation by sovereign grace alone, and to show the truthful interpretation of the phrase as taught in Scripture. Hoeksema reinforces this by reminding us that Scripture cannot contradict itself and any other interpretation of the words to deny the truth of salvation is simply distorting the meaning of the words taken from Scripture.

The error that Hoeksema sees coming from the false interpretation of "whosoever will may come" is that man has the ability to take part in his own salvation. God sent Jesus to die on the cross so that everyone can be saved, as long as we choose to accept this salvation by coming to the preaching, accepting Jesus into our hearts, knocking on the door, and taking the water of life freely (just to name a few). Wrong. This false doctrine which is so easily found in the world, and even preached off the pulpit in many churches today, is what we must be aware of.

Hoeksema in many chapters of the book dives into divine election by looking at the sinner himself. To whom must the sinner come? Although the answer seems obvious--we must come to Jesus--Hoeksema finds it necessary to spend many chapters focusing on what the sinner is coming to. In later chapters he focuses on why the sinner comes to Jesus, and also how he comes. After answering those questions throughout the book, Hoeksema explains the importance of salvation being in the preaching of the Word. The preaching of the gospel is the divinely instituted means by which it pleases God to draw sinners unto Him.

After explaining the importance of the preaching, Hoeksema points out the objection that is raised that if salvation is by God alone, then man is completely free of responsibility and when the day of judgement comes, those who didn't come to Christ cannot be held responsible. Hoeksema goes on to answer that objection and explain what man's "responsibility" really is.

I think that reading this book is a great reminder and in-depth proof of what our doctrine of salvation is and why it is true based on Scripture. To know our doctrine of salvation is not only important for our daily Christian life, but knowing about the false interpretation of "whosoever will may come" that is easily found in the world opens us up to opportunities to witness to those around us about the truth of salvation and encourage them to come to the pure preaching of the gospel!

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