assurance

Joel R. Beeke, Knowing and Growing in Assurance of Faith (Fearn, Ross-shire: Christian Focus Publications, 2017). 202pp. Paperback. B eing assured that we belong to God in Christ and that his Spirit dwells in our hearts is vitally important. Assurance that we are true Christians is a biblical duty...

I n 1995, I took a doctoral seminar class with Dr. Richard Gaffin in historical theology. Like the other students, I had to present my term paper in class. With great trepidation, I delivered my work on John Calvin’s position on saving faith and its connection to assurance. His definition of saving...

L et me close this series on assurance (parts 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) with some cautions about using the "signs of grace" to gain assurance. First , be careful how you define the marks of grace . On the one hand, do not require such signs of yourself as no Christian has in this life. A true Christian...

Every born again child of God who places true faith in Jesus Christ will struggle with assurance in various degrees over the course of their lives. It's in this context that what we call "the signs of grace" are so helpful to the soul. These sign are means by which we may know whether we are in a...

In discussing the practical doctrine of assuance (see parts 1 , 2 , and 3 in this series), one careful distinction we must make is between assurance and presumption . The reason is that a false assurance is the worst delusion and spiritual insanity, but too many people bless themselves even while...

On two different occasions recently, I have read and heard Spurgeon’s story of the Scottish “fishwife” carrying a basket of fish while an eager young man challenged her about spiritual things. When he compared her “burden” of fish to Bunyan’s spiritual one in Pilgrim’s Progress , the woman claimed...

As we continue our series ( part 1 , part 2 ) on assurance, we come to four basic details about it that are so important to consider. It is possible for a Christian to have an assurance of his salvation. We see in Scripture that God’s people have enjoyed it. David called God his God and his portion...

We continue our series on the blessed but difficult subject of assurance of salvation (see part 1 ). Assurance or certainty about a truth in general may come in various ways, such as seeing or hearing something with your eyes and ears, knowing a first principle and making logical deductions from it...

Paul commands us, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Cor. 13:5). It is a responsibility of great importance for the people of God to be assured that there is a true and...