Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation
I. Although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God, and estate of salvation[1] (which hope of theirs shall perish):[2] yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace,[3] and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed.[4]
1. Micah 3:11; Deut. 29:19; John 8:41
2. Amos 9:10; Matt. 7:22-23
3. I John 2:3; 3:14, 18-19, 21, 24; 5:13
4. Rom. 5:2, 5
II. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope;[5] but an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation,[6] the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made,[7] the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God,[8] which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption.[9]
5. Heb. 6:11, 19
6. Heb. 6:17-18
7. II Peter 1:4-11; I John 2:3; 3:14; II Cor. 1:12
8. Rom. 8:15-16
9. Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30; II Cor. 1:21-22
THESE sections teach the following propositions: --
1. There is a false assurance of salvation which unregenerate men sometimes indulge, in which they are deceived and which shall be finally disappointed.
2. There is, on the other hand, a true assurance, amounting to an infallible certainty, which sincere believers may entertain as to their own personal salvation, which shall not be confounded.
3. This infallible assurance of faith rests -- (1.) Upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation. (2.) Upon the inward evidence of those graces unto which those promises are made. (3.) The testimony of the Spirit of adoption, witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God.
1. That unregenerate men, beguiled by the natural desire for happiness, flattered by self-love, and betrayed by a spirit of self-righteousness and self-confidence, should frequently indulge an unfounded assurance of their own gracious condition, is rendered antecedently probable from what we know of human nature, and rendered certain as a fact from common observation and from the declarations of Scripture. Micah iii.11; Job viii. 13, 14.
True assurance, however, may be distinguished from that which is false by the following tests: -- (1.) True assurance begets unfeigned humility; false assurance begets spiritual pride. 1 Cor. xv. 10; Gal. vi. 14. (2.) The true leads to increased diligence in the practice of holiness; the false leads to sloth and self-indulgence. Ps. li. 12, 13, 19. (3.) The true leads to candid self-examination and to a desire to be searched and corrected by God; the false leads to a disposition to be satisfied with appearance and to avoid accurate investigation. Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24. (4.) The true leads to constant aspirations after more intimate fellowship with God. 1 John iii. 2, 3.
2. That true believers may in this life attain to a certainty with regard to their own personal relations to Christ, and that this certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion founded on a fallible hope, but an infallible assurance of faith, is proved from the fact -- (1.) That it is directly affirmed in Scripture: " The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Rom. viii. 16. " hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." 1 John ii. 3. "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." 1 John iii. 14. (2.) The attainment of it is commanded as a duty in Scripture. We are exhorted "to shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end," (Heb. vi. 11); and to "give diligence to make our calling and election sure, for if we do these things we shall never fall." 2 Pet. i. 10. (3.) There are examples of its attainment by ancient believers recorded in Scripture. Thus Paul: "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able," etc. " I have fought a good fight,...... I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness," etc. 2 Tim. i. 12; iv. 7, 8; -- and John; 1 John ii. 3; iv. 16. (4.) There have been unquestionable instances in modern times in which sincere Christians have enjoyed a full assurance of their personal salvation, and in which their entire lives have vindicated the genuineness of their faith. The Protestant Reformers as a class were eminent examples of the possession of this assurance. God had qualified them for their great work with an extraordinary measure of this grace.
Their controversy with the Romanists also led them to lay great stress upon the duty of this attainment, even going so far as to identify assurance with faith, making it essential to salvation. The Romanists held that faith is mere intellectual assent to the truth, not involving trust; and that hence faith has nothing to do with the judgment any one makes of his own personal salvation; and hence that no one could attain to any certainty upon that point in this life without an extraordinary revelation. Council of Trent, sess. vi., ch. ix.
The Reformers, on the other hand, went so far as to teach that the special object of justifying faith is the favour of God toward us for Christ's sake: therefore to believe is to be assured of our own personal salvation. Thus Luther, Melancthon, and Calvin taught. This is the doctrine taught in the Augsburg Confession and Heidelberg Catechism. It is not, however, taught in any other of the Reformed Confessions, and, as will be seen below, is not the Doctrine of our Standards.
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