The issue of ‘assurance of salvation’ is a question which most Christians wrestle with at one point or another but I’ve noticed that they often drift to one of two extremes. There are those who never seem to gain the peaceful assurance that they are children of God that should be the inheritance of every Christian, and then there are others that convince themselves that they are secure in their salvation in a manner which is actually false security. So how do we avoid these two pitfalls and find the kind of peaceful assurance that Christ truly offers?
False security
Out of a sincere desire to find eternal security, many Christians turn to theology. They hope to find a theological reassurance that will convince their souls that if they have ever had a genuine, saving faith – then they are eternally secure and can rest easy.
For this purpose many Christians turn to John 10:28 “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” Or to Rom 8:39 “neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
But there are several problems with basing all our assurance of salvation purely on theological grounds. The first major problem is that when we conclude from these scriptures that salvation can never be lost we are forced to disregard or twist other passages of Scripture which warn Christians about the danger of ‘shipwrecking’ their faith.
Here is a sample of some of the warning passages of Scripture:
Hebrews 6:4-8; John 15:6; Matthew 24:10-12; Hebrews 10:26-31; Galatians 1:6; Hebrews 10:39; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 2:12; Hebrews 3:12; 2 Peter 3:17; John 6:66; 1 Timothy 1:19-20; 2 Timothy 4:10; 2 Peter 2:10-15; 2 Peter 2:20-22; Jude 1:8-16; Revelation 2:20-22; Luke 22:3-6 (Judas); Matthew 13:20-21; Matthew 10:33; Luke 13:26-27
The other problem is that most of us have had personal experience of people who seemed to be genuinely saved and loving Jesus who are now completely backslidden. How do we explain this if true Christians cannot fall away?
Some will explain this by assuming that these people were never truly saved. But this assumption raises more questions than it answers – if these people thought they were saved but were not, what if I am in the same boat? What if I am also a ‘fake Christian’?
So in an attempt to find assurance of salvation solely in theology, this kind of reasoning actually undermines assurance of salvation because how can anyone possibly know if they are the fake kind of Christian or the genuine kind!
This kind of false security that comes from convincing yourself that once-off saving faith entitles you to an irrevocable ‘ticket to heaven’ is actually incredibly dangerous because it cuts us off from taking God’s warnings seriously. Take this fiery warning for example,
“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” (Heb 10:26,27)
But if I believe that I am a ‘genuine’ believer and thus immune from backsliding I will simply assume that warnings such as these are always for others and never for myself!
Insecurity
On the other extreme we have Christians who are actually genuine believers but are constantly plagued by doubt and a sense of rejection. They never truly feel like they deserve to belong to the family of God.
This is not a healthy view of salvation either because when we come into Christ there is a distinctive transition from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God (Col 1:13). We have transitioned from being enemies of God to being sons and friends of God (1 John 3:1). God has set his seal of ownership on us by giving us his Holy Spirit (2 Cor 1:22).
In my experience as a pastor, people who wrestle with this kind of doubt have often been wounded in their souls and suffer from a general sense of feeling unworthy to be loved and accepted by people and by God.
At other times people have developed a skewed view of God as being an ungracious, nit-picky, fault-finding God that is always trying to ‘catch us out’ and send us to the ‘naughty corner’. They are thus constantly trying to work their way back into God’s ‘good books’.
When you experience this kind of relational brokenness, you need to find healing by renewing yourself in the truth and by developing healthy relationships within church community. Until you find healing in this area you are going to suffer with unhealthy thoughts and doubts about your place in God’s kingdom.
How can we experience true assurance?
Now that we have covered unhelpful ways to think about salvation, how can we gain a healthy, biblically informed confidence about where we stand with God?
1. The witness of my conscience
2 Cor 1:12 “Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.” (other references: Acts 23:1, 1 Corinthians 4:4, Hebrews 13:18)
One of the topics which the apostle John wrote about a lot was ‘How we can know if we are in Christ’. A very good test of the authenticity of our faith is the fruit of our lives. This is what John had to say about this,
“By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments. If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him: Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.” (1 john 2:3-6)
Those who are true believers are characterized by a life of obedience to the voice of God. When we are walking on the ‘narrow path’ of obedience, our conscience will be clear before God and we will not be ashamed to come freely into his presence.
This does not mean that we live out sinless perfection as Christians, in fact John says in the same book,
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8,9)
True Christians do sin, but they own up to their sins and truly repent of them rather than continuing to walk in disobedience to Christ.
As we live a lifestyle of true repentance and obedience to Christ, our consciences are washed clean and they do not condemn us.
But the opposite is also true, if we are not truly repenting of our sins, our consciences do condemn us and we can lose our peace with God because our salvation is in jeopardy and we need to drastically change course!
So our conscience can be a helpful indicator of our assurance or danger in relation to salvation, but on its own this is not enough. In fact, Paul says in one place,
“My conscience is clear, but that does not vindicate me. It is the Lord who judges me.” (1 Corinthians 4:4)
He was aware that our conscience can be a ‘faulty witness’. Scripture tells us that through ongoing sin, our consciences can become ‘seared’, which implies that they can become dull to the danger of sin if we consistently ignore the warnings of conscience (1 Timothy 4:2).
2. The Spirit testifies with my Spirit
Rom 8:15,16 “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God”
The best way that I have heard this described is in the words of Wesley who said,
“the testimony of the Spirit is an inward impression on the soul, whereby the Spirit of God directly witnesses to my spirit, that I am a child of God; that Jesus Christ has loved me, and given himself for me; and that all my sins are blotted out, and I, even I, am reconciled to God.”
The person of the Holy Spirit adds his witness to the witness of a clear conscience that I am forgiven and that I am now a child of God. He makes the generalized truths of Scripture true for me. I go from believing that Christ died for the sins of the world to believing that he has forgiven my sins. I go from believing that he is the true king of the world to believing that he is my lord.
It is through the Spirit of God that we can truly know and be convinced that we are in Christ and that we are safe. He is the ‘seal’ and the ‘deposit’ of the inheritance of our salvation which awaits us.
Of course all these things are true if, in fact, we are in Christ and living out true repentance and faith in Christ. As with the witness of our conscience, if we are not living according to the Spirit, we can lose the peace and sense of security that is normal for a true Christian because we are in danger of removing ourselves from Christ.
3. The truth of Scripture
John 8:31 “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples.”
Earlier I discussed how some Christians try to find assurance of salvation from theology alone and I pointed out the dangers inherent in doing this. With all this in mind it is worth pointing out at this point how Scripture can help us gain confidence in our standing with God.
Jesus said about himself that he is ‘the way, the truth and the life’. We cannot find the way to salvation without the truth of God’s word. The truth of God helps us to judge what is true and what is false, especially when it comes to salvation. Jesus said that God is looking for worshippers who will worship him ‘in Spirit and in truth’.
I have already spoken of the assurance that comes by the Spirit, but if this is not in keeping with the truth of Scripture then we are certainly deceived.
The Scriptures point toward Christ and enable us to come to him and find eternal life. The Scriptures also instruct us regarding what God’s will is for our lives and so they are essential for walking in obedience to Christ.
We have already discussed how important true obedience to Christ is for a true Christian, so it should be apparent by now how important the Scriptures are for us in truly knowing what Christ requires of us.
4. The testimony of the church
1 Thessalonians 2:10 “You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous, and blameless our conduct was among you who believed.”
There is one final witness that I would like to bring into this discussion which I think can also be hugely beneficial to knowing whether I am truly in Christ, and that is the witness of the church community that we are in.
The Scriptures testify everywhere about how easy it is to be deceived if we are isolated and not living in transparent accountability with fellow believers.
Sometimes we can have sinful habits that are glaringly obvious to everyone around us but which we are completely oblivious to. God has made us to need Godly community for true sanctification (holiness).
“You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.” (heb 3:13)
Sin is often deceptive and can allure and deceive us into a lifestyle that puts us in enmity with God. God will often use the church community to warn us of unseen dangers.
Our perception of what is true and even how we interpret scripture will also inevitably be obscured by our sin (1 Cor 13:9). This makes us vulnerable to deception even regarding how we read and understand our Bibles!
The corporate church is the “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 tim 3:15) and God has appointed pastors and apostles within the church who have been especially entrusted with the responsibility of keeping the church aligned with the truth (Eph 4:11-16).
Again, the testimony of the church is not a reliable testimony on its own. In the letters in the book of Revelation we see some whole churches that have wondered into sin or deception, and some with only a remnant that are still in the faith.
So an unhealthy church can be a dangerous place to be because it can jeopardize our salvation as individuals if it influences us toward evil or deception. But when we are in a godly church it can be a very valuable safety mechanism for keeping us in the truth.
A word in closing
A new testament analogy of salvation is Noah’s ark (1 Pet 3). Christ is the ‘Ark’ that saves us from the ‘flood’ of God’s judgement. We are saved as we continue to remain in the ark of Christ. As long as we are in Christ we have nothing to fear from God’s judgement.
When we are in Christ we don’t have to fear anything in the world which comes against our faith (John 10:28; Rom 8:39) because God protects us by his great power. So our responsibility is to make sure that we stay in the boat! Christ’s responsibility is to empower and protect those who are ‘in Him’.
Epiphanies and Orthodoxy 