Assurance
May 26th, 2007
(By Nathan Williams)
The topic of assurance of salvation has become a fascinating topic to me over the last 6 months. It all began when I took a class on the writings of Jonathan Edwards and the teacher said that he normally tells his students that if they read Religious Affections by Edwards and don’t doubt their salvation, they might not be a Christian. When I was much younger I remember an evangelist coming to my church and telling us exactly how he felt we could gain assurance of salvation. He said that what we needed to do was write the date when we made a decision for Christ in the front of our Bibles. Then, when Satan would tempt us or doubts would arise, we could flip open our Bibles and say “See, look at that date, I made a decision for Christ and I even have it written down inside my Bible!”
One of the more interesting aspects of assurance of salvation is the difference in the way Scripture tells us to evaluate the salvation of those around us and the way we evaluate our own salvation. Ultimately, it is impossible to be sure of the salvation of another. However, we do have certain criteria from Scripture with which to assess whether or not spiritual life exists in someone else. In Matthew 7:17-18 Jesus tells us that good trees produce good fruit and bad trees produce bad fruit. In some ways it is quite simple to evaluate the spiritual state of another person. Good fruit means you are looking at a good tree and bad fruit means you are looking at a bad tree. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we were created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of performing good works. Again, we can look at the life of someone claiming to be a Christian and look at what the Bible considers good works and see if their life is producing good works. The basic principle is simple and vital, but because so much is based on internal motivation, it is ultimately impossible to know for certain the spiritual state of another.
This being said, I fear that sometimes we put an overemphasis on personal evaluation when it comes to gaining assurance of our own salvation. We look at the works of others and make judgment calls on their salvation and do the same thing to ourselves. This principle is definitely one aspect of assurance. We cannot expect to be living in the joy of assurance while we are living lifestyles which would be contrary to the Word of God. While looking at our own works and evaluating them in the light of Scripture is certainly important, it cannot be all we do to appraise our own state before God. Many times we become so introspective that we forget about the cross and the work Christ accomplished there on our behalf. In Assured by God, Richard Phillips had this to say concerning this issue:
“Let us find assurance not by long meditation on our own souls, not by pondering questions of assurance itself, but through an ever-absorbing interest in the saving blood of Jesus Christ.”
R.L. Dabney also spoke to this tendency of over self-examination in believers seeking assurance:
“The habit of introspection may be abused, to divert the eyes of the soul too much from Christ”
No doubt, we should test ourselves to see whether we are in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5). But often when we do this we begin to act as if we had something to do with our justification. The simple child-like trust in our sovereign God goes out the window. We are no longer focused on what He has done for us, but whether or not we have exercised enough faith. Thus, like everything else in our lives, even the assurance of salvation can become a self-centered pursuit rather than a God-centered pursuit. Erickson says this of faith:
“As repentance is the negative aspect of conversion, turning from one’s sin, so faith is the positive aspect, laying hold of the promises and the work of Christ.”
Our focus should always be on the cross-work of Jesus Christ. The faith we first exercise at the moment of salvation is the same faith that sustains us throughout our Christian lives. This is a faith that believes the facts about Christ and relies on those facts for salvation. It lays hold of the promises and the work of Christ. Inherent within this faith is what we call assurance of salvation. If you are dealing with someone who doubts their salvation, by all means examine the fruit showing in their life. But don’t stop there, go on to remind them of the promises and work of Christ they originally believed in and relied on for salvation. This is where true assurance is found, in God and not in us.
IMO, Ro. 10:9,10 is not a “one time” deal. Thus, if we can confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our heart God raised him from the dead, we have assurance of our salvation. We have this assurance based, objectively, upon the Bible’s promise that those who do this are among “the saved.”
To confess Jesus as Lord, however, carries massive implications. The church exists to help the saved see the implications and surrender to them. This is where examination comes in, to keep us surrendered to the Lord. If we don’t do this, then there is the risk of our hearts being hardened by sin’s deceitfulness, even to the point of turning away from the living God. (Heb. 3:12). No assurance there.
It seems that the subject of assurance can be viewed from at least three perspectives: God’s (concerning our salvation - this is objective), ours (concerning our own salvation - highly subjective), and again ours (concerning someone else’s salvation - again, highly subjective and potentially deadly … spiritually speaking).
As to the third perspective, I think you are spot on, Nathan: “Ultimately, it is impossible to be sure of the salvation of another.” And it would seem that at least one verse in Scripture would dissuade us from dogmatism concerning the state of another’s soul — particularly the soul of one PROFESSING to know Christ (Mt. 7:1). At the MOST, it would seem like the closest thing that “mere mortals” could do in terms of drawing a conclusion about the state of a professing Christian living in disobedience would be to conclude little more than just that: “This is a professing Christian living in disobedience.” Are they truly regenerate? I don’t know! And I don’t think I CAN know. They profess to be Christians. Can anyone objectively know otherwise?
“But they are SINNING!”
“Yes. Its terrible, isn’t it? And that’s not how it should be, is it? Yet, it is what it is. And, come to think about it … did you not also sin this morning?” (1 Jn. 1:8-10)
To go further than to take men at their word seems, to me, spiritually precarious. (After all, doesn’t love hope all things?) This kind of “judging” happens all the time, to be sure, but I think it is especially “shameful” when it happens among church leaders. When, from the pulpit, or from the ranks of the elders, we hear: ‘So-n-so once professed to be a Christian, but because they have failed to repent of their sins, we NOW know the truth of the matter! So-n-so was never a Christian to begin with!” My response: “Oh really?! So then, you’ve got one of those white phones with a direct connect to Jesus, huh?” True - such folks might NOT be truly regenerate. BUT, is there any objective way for YOU to know this? I’m not convinced there is.
I have had colleagues (even graduates from TMS) respond: “We’re just fruit examiners, brother. That’s all we are.” As if this somehow legitimizes the rendering of a judgement against another man’s soul. My response is this: Its okay to judge the quality of fruit. But the reality of the sanctification process is such that we find ourselves skating on precariously thin ice when we conclude that a shriveled up raisen indicates conclusively against the olivet nature of the tree. After all, if a good tree ONLY produces good fruit (ever and always … in THAT sense), then what should we conclude about you? I mean, if God were to number our trangressions, who among us would not be exposed as having laid a few BIG eggs (even this morning)? And yet, how quickly most of us would object if started crying “Foul!”
So then, I conclude that the third perspective is spiritually unhealthy, even deadly, and sadly often practiced by church leaders. (I’m all FOR church discipline, but I think we’d all agree that attitudes and hearts of those administering discipline are just as important as the hearts and attitudes of those being disciplined!)
As to the second perspective (judging concerning the nature of one’s OWN justification), this ALSO seems to me to be a bit tricky, as we are constitutionally fickle creatures; judging first one way and then another concerning our respective “realities.” When we are leading family devotions, when the relationships with our wives and children are good, and after we receive that long anticipated raise, we are inclined to think that we’re in good with God. The next day, however, when the kids blow-up, and our wives clam up, and we loose our jobs, then our tendency is to wonder whether we haven’t misread our own walk with the Lord. Like it or not, we are pretty much ALL inclined to think that way. It is fleshly, yes. But, like it or not, that’s life “under the sun.”
Because what we generally think of when we talk about “assurance of salvation” is some measure of confidence (usually determined by our emotions; i.e., whether we FEEL saved … based on our actions, or lack of them), I think it is also dangerous to conclude too much as to the state of our own souls based on our OWN evaluation of our OWN “fruit”. I mean, if we were to “enter hell through the portals of heaven”, it wouldn’t be the first time men were self-deceived. Right? And are not our hearts desperately sick, and deceitful above all things? Who can know them?
This leaves us with God’s perspective. And, truly, this is the only perspective worth considering, AND (as it happens) it is also the only perspective that neither paralyzes us with fear, NOR numbs us as to the affects of sin … allowing it to increase. (mh genoito!)
“For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’” (Rm. 10:11)
I guess the question for us, individually, is this: “Do we believe in Him?” (Along with all that this kind of “belief” entails?) I can’t know whether YOU really believe in Him. In the end, I’m not called to know that. But, I AM called to examine MYSELF. If so — if I truly believe in Him — then I know from other passages of Scripture that HE will complete that which He has begun in me. Do I sin? Yes. Everyday. Sometimes even multiple times per day. (… shhhhhhh … don’t tell! …) And sometimes even the same ol’ sin … day after day — or variations on the same theme! But my sins do not paralyze me from confession, repentance, and pressing foward for the “prize”. God’s “assurance” concerining my salvation (which, I guess, is another way for me to speak of the certainty of His promises — His word) neither numbs me to sin’s heinousness, nor paralyzes me with sin’s effects.
In the end, Nathan, I couldn’t agree more with you! True assurance lies NOT in ANY of our responses to God’s promises, but SOLELY in His promises — that is, in God Himself. He has promised: “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” The relationship here is NOT cause-and-effect. It is rather an encouragement concerning the end of our lives as Christians. Indeed, what then shall separate us from the love of God? The encouragement (the “assurance” - if you will) is this: “No matter WHAT happens, you won’t be disappointed!”
THAT, for me, is re-assuring! His promise concering the end-game gives me subjective assurance, because I know that what He reveals about the end-game is wrapped up in His very nature and character. So then, to boil it down: His WORD is my assurance!
Can this be abused to lead a man to antinomianism. Sure. I s’pose so. But I don’t think it has to lead him there.
For most of us who are in a daily, moment-by-moment, hand-to-hand struggle with mortifying our flesh — sometimes gaining ground, many times feeling like we’ve lost it — THIS is a inexpressible blessing. To expand on the metaphore, it is the basket into which all of our “eggs” have been placed.
Walter
I thank God for men like John Piper and John MacArthur who teach so clearly that we cannot get to heaven by faith alone!
The Bible is so clear on the fact that we must believe and then persevere in that faith.
-Jamie
“I thank God for men like John Piper and John MacArthur who teach so clearly that we cannot get to heaven by faith alone!
The Bible is so clear on the fact that we must believe and then persevere in that faith.”
Szrcasm?
“The habit of introspection may be abused, to divert the eyes of the soul too much from Christ”
That’s been my problem, in a nutshell. Thank you for shedding some much-needed light on this subject. It is an answer to prayer.
Doesn’t the confusion over one’s salvation come from not discerning the difference between Our Salvation, ie, the one-time redemption from the wrath of God at the final judgment through the atonement of sin by Jesus Christ, VERSUS the on-going forgiveness of sin through daily repentance *after* salvation due to our own depraved natures?
In the first instance, Jesus Christ’s atonement is for ALL sin, past present and future for ALL men. The gift of grace assures His protection as Advocate to the the ecclesia. While rebirth gives us a new heart, it does not eradicate our depraved natures and we are exhorted to confess daily repentance of sin to protects our relationship with Him.
It is tempting to wave “you’ll lose salvation!” as a way of keeping sheep from falling into sinful ways. But there is already such a threat: confess and repent of your on-going sinfulness so as to protect your relationship with God. He will not abandon you, but there is no guarantee He will always be watching over you, in fact, he says he will turn his face and leave you to your sinful ways. Finally, though covered by Christ’s blood, you’ll have to recite at the mercy seat the times you trampled the blood of His Son Jesus. This is hardly something we should want, despite having the gift of salvation.
Is assurance of our salvation the reality when we feel we have the same spirit as our Lord Jesus Christ? I feel when we doubt we are probably “not doing” for God. Get stangnant and stale, quit reading the Bible, quit praying and neglect your Godly friends influence and you will surely doubt! When the same spirit that dwells within God gets into us its perfection at its best! Thats ASSURANCE!
In my study of the subject it seems to me that if a person believes they have to do anything for eternal life besides simply believe in the Lord Jesus for it - they don’t believe in Jesus - they don’t believe the gospel. Either one believes in the character of Jesus as someone who is willing and able to freely give eternal life contingent on faith in Him (his work and character) alone; or one doesn’t. Jesus is Lord (I don’t need to make Him that); but if my security is in Him being the Lord of my life…I’m in trouble - and you are probably too. Quantify for me just how much Lordship I my life and yours must be submitted too: 10%, 20%, 50%, 100%? And remember your life consists of every thought, every action, every affection, every relationship - everyday all day for the rest of your days.