The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Assurance of Salvation

In the unbeliever, introspection leads to despair as the sinner recognizes his sin, or to presumption if he believes he has obeyed the law, or to utter contempt of the law which condemns him.

The believer has been liberated from the bondage of the law. Introspection leads him to reflect on his many and great sins. The believer does not look for the assurance of salvation based on his own imperfect obeidance but in the promise of the gospel which the Holy Spirit causes him to believe and keeps him in that faith.

So I was quite shocked when I read Mr. Thomas Brooks and others urge an assurance of salvation based on a subjective examination of one's fruits. Can you explain?

I thought that's what I did in my previous reply? <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/scratch1.gif" alt="" /> If one is actually in union with Christ by a true and living faith, then there will be evidence of that union in the life of the believer. This is hardly the same as basing one's assurance on one's own merit, accomplishments, obedience, etc. Simply put, if there are no signs of spiritual life then it must be assumed that one is dead. Again, I offer you the following passages of Scripture: (Matt 7:21; Lk 6:46; Jh 8:31; Rom 6; Eph 1:4; 2:10; Jam 2:26). True assurance is gained through a combination of things; not an single source. Christ's death alone doesn't save anyone until that which was accomplished is applied. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

In His Grace,

For the most part, I think the religious unbeliever will speak peace to his own soul on something less than biblical evidence of a work of grace from the Lord. Generally, and probably, his confidence will be based on something like a "decision for Jesus" or some other work motivated by self-preservation - don't forget the proud, reprobate Legion who were able to beg Christ for deliverance from immediate pain. Yet they were not one whit regenerated.

It has to be good to check the soul to see if there is a heartfelt reverence for the Lord, heartfelt thankfulness for His kindnesses, affectionate delight in His wise ways, tears for offending His Love, delight in Christ's glory in one's salvation, or even finding the mere thought of selflessly loving Him and receiving His Love to be lovely itself, even if such graces are only small or barely discernible and generally obscured by all the remaining darkness, rebellion, and unbelief.

Finally, we must know that our assurance rests wholly in the faithfulness of Christ's promise of forgiveness for those with a new heart of love for God, i.e., those who thirst after righteousness.

<img src="/forum/images/graemlins/yep.gif" alt="" />

I'd highly enourage you all to read Jonathan Edwards' Religious Affections. It is a rather meaty book, but it is well worth the read.

Here is the chapter that pertains specifically to our feelings of assurance:

Page 1

Page 2

Oh ye with the non-endearing username, <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/giggle.gif" alt="" />

Well said! The latest article on The Highway, Conviction for Sin speaks very specifically to the matter of one resting upon feelings of guilt, aka: conviction of sin, as grounds for assurance of salvation. What is most difficult is that many genuine works of the Spirit, e.g., conviction of sin can and are counterfeited by one's own emotions and/or the Evil One. That is why it is precarious to rest upon "feelings" alone.

In His Grace,

Soli effusio!!!!

Or is that solus sensus?

Maybe one of our resident Latin scholars can help us out!

True assurance is not gained by trusting in the fruits of faith. When fruits are promoted as a means of obtaining assurance of salvation, they become works of the law not of grace.

Well, as it typical of most of your responses on the Board, you offer nothing by way of biblical evidence to support your view. Apparently, you think that simply saying, "No!" is a valid defense of what you believe. Further, you seem to ignore what I and others write in response, because all too often, as in this particular case, I have never said, nor has anyone else said that you are to "trust in the fruit of faith"! Contrary to what Luther initially declared, much to his embarrassment, the inspired letter of James is not "a right straw epistle".

James 2:17-24 (ASV) "Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith apart from [thy] works, and I by my works will show thee [my] faith. Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well: the demons also believe, and shudder. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar? Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect; and the scripture was fulfilled which saith, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God. Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith."

A man is justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. Assurance is rightly obtained by believing in the objective finished work of the Lord Christ, Whose Holy Spirit dwelling within the soul produces evidences of that living faith (fruit/good works). Thus assurance comes when one believes and sees evidence of that faith which Christ through the Spirit manifests in their life. Let me remind you that we are speaking of assurance of faith and not justification by faith!! The question is, How can I know if my faith is genuine and that I am truly reconciled to God and in union with Christ?

In His Grace,

Good works supply proof that faith is working. James 2:17-24. However, the assurance of salvation does not come from a glorification of the imperfect works of man. God gives us the assurance of salvation through His Word,


We no longer live in fear that we have not done enough under the law to merit grace. So why return to the bondage of the law unto fear by performing works to obtain the assurance of salvation? Good works flow naturally from a spirit that has been liberated from the curse of the law. Romans 7:6; 8:2.

Forgive the digression, but the username was in honour of a cat I once had... I had no idea of the word's N American connotations when I gave him the name.

Returning to the theme, what you say about conviction of sin is interesting and very valid. I think John Knox told the queen of Scotland that "conscience must be taught", when she objected that her conscience was at odds with his teaching. I think Paul's record of the case of believers who feared to eat meat offered to idols is pertinent; their scruples were not of God, but rather, from the flesh or the devil playing upon their fears.

Still, the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. I know there are various views on precisely what this means; a staunchly Reformed friend of mine spoke of it as an intuition, but I deeply distrust intuition, since we're back to "feelings" and impressions again. The Spirit is a person, so He somehow witnesses to our person; Paul speaks of having "the mind of the Spirit"... No, assurance is something our minds lay hold of by understanding of the Word (we are to "Get understanding"). Jesus said, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me"; do we love Jesus with a thankful heart? Do we enjoy selfless love for our neighbour? Do we have selfless reverence for God (as opposed to slavish dread)? Do such desires have appeal independent of the assurance they imply? If the answer is yes, the Word of God promises that we are believers. No intuiton is needed to know this!

The question is, can Satan counterfeit such proofs of a work of grace? Well, yes and no. People think they love God because they love the "things of God", e.g, prophecy, reading the Bible, theology, church activities, etc., or they may have love the idea of a soppy, "Santa Clause" of a "God", and so delude themselves into thinking they love God. But if the Bible says selfless love for God is a mark of grace, and if we can say we have caught a genuine glimpse of such love in our hearts, we surely have grounds to say that we are born again. We trust that God cannot lie about His promises in Scripture, and so, we say we are His children. But assurance may waver because we doubt our love for Him, since every good work God enables us do is tainted with indwelling sin.

For my own part, assurance was absolute when I was an Arminian, but it was false asurance because it was based on my own works. Then, as a Calvinist, I totally lost assurance for a long time - all I could see was my terrible guilt and blackness of heart as the law of God crushed me with its damning, killing words. But assurance seems to be gradually increasing as time progresses.

To close, let's look foremost at Christ (His excellencies of virtue, loveliness, meekness, love, selflessness, humility, Divinity, atonement, etc.) and then may we see if God has worked in us selfless delight in Christ. Let's do this rather than looking at anything we have done that even a devil could do; if the Legion of devils could ask Jesus to spare them pain or if cursed Ahab could go softly before the Lord when under threat, let us never rest in anything less than the Bible's definiton of evidences of a work of grace, knowing it is impossible to perform even one very imperfect deed of righteousness (selfless love for God, selfless love for one's neighbour) without the enabling of Him Who works in His children both to do and to will of His good pleasure.

Speratus, be sure to correctly define good works. Unless the motive is agape love ("charity" in 1 Cor 13), the works are not morally good, however outwardly kind and good they appear. Indeed, such works profit nothing.

True. A good work is everything a child of God does, speaks, or thinks in faith. Works done to avoid punishment or to secure eternal rewards are not works done in faith.

Let's make sure we define faith as believing in the Lord, where such belief is not merely academic (such as that possessed by the devils, who believe and tremble), but belief as in love and heartfelt admiration and respect for that wonderful Person (the Lord) and all His unique attributes.

speratus,

I see that you have contradicted yourself once again. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/rolleyes2.gif" alt="" />

First of all, NO ONE has even hinted that salvation comes from "a glorification of the imperfect works of man". The topic is assurance of salvation, i.e., how one can know that they already have salvation which is by grace through faith. Why is it that you cannot make this proper distinction?

Secondly, NO ONE has suggested that you should perform works in order "to obtain the assurance of salvation". What I wrote that one's good works which are evident in one's life are evidence of a true living faith which has united the believer to Christ. And thus, assurance is ascertained, at least in part.

Thirdly, you wrote, "Good works flow naturally from a spirit that has been liberated from the curse of the law." Yes, this is absolutely true. The believer has been liberated from the curse of the law, but not from the responsibility to keep the law. To this you certainly agree, since "good works" are those things which are in conformity to the law, albeit imperfectly done in this life, unless you are an Antinomian. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/evilgrin.gif" alt="" /> And it is these naturally flowing good works which the Spirit works within the soul (Eph 2:10; Jam 2:26; et al) that are evidence of a true faith and from which the believer has warrant to have assurance.

In His Grace,

Flunky1

As I wrote speratus, it is NOT "either/or" but rather BOTH the objective truths concerning the efficacy of Christ's atonement done for us AND the testimony of the Spirit to our spirit. The latter consists of BOTH inward impressions AND the manifestation of His indwelling which are evidenced in good works. It is true that the motivation behind those good works is essential, but even that is imperfect.

As to faith, true saving faith is "fiducia", that is an acceptance of the object truths concerning God, Christ, salvation, sin, etc., AND a reliance on them, a trusting in Christ, and an obedience to God in all things. In short, a true faith is something which controls one's entire life based upon the propositional truths revealed by God. Today, most profess a "faith" which is known as "assensus"; i.e., a simple affirmation of some truth(s) concerning God, salvation, etc. For example, "I believe that Jesus died for me." Such a statement says nothing of one's union with Christ and submission to Him. In fact, it is a statement which only belongs to one who has already believed on Christ, not one that unites one to Christ. Historically, this false profession of faith is known as "Sandemanianism" (re: Robert Sandeman) or as it is more commonly known, "Easy Believism".

In His Grace,