A man and a woman were holding hands on a beach. For a while, the only sound was the sound of the waves breaking. Then the man asked, “What are you afraid of?” She replied, “I want to marry you more than anything in the world. But I still think you’re going to change your mind and leave me as . . . “. His eyes were looking at the ground. Just like his father abandoned his mother, “he asked quietly. Hesitantly, she nodded.
“Do not trust me?” I ask.
- ‘Oh.
- Yes.
- ‘ he said.
- You’re the most trustworthy man I’ve ever met.
- “He paused and then said.
- “But I’m afraid you realize I’m not what you really want.
- “.
Her hand squeezed hers harder and said, “I’ve known you since we were kids. “I know your flaws, but I love you, did I choose you and is there anyone else I want?
“I trust you,” he said, “I just need to learn to trust you more. “
Christians can feel the same way about the Lord. As believers, we trust in God and know that He is trustworthy. But doubt, guilt and fear can devour our belief that we are and will always be yours. Sometimes we’re afraid of being abandoned.
The security of salvation is both deeply personal and deeply doctrinal; that was at the heart of the debate on the Reformation. The Roman Catholic Church has declared that a Christian cannot be sure without first receiving an extraordinary and direct revelation from God. , have said that certainty is a birthright of every believer, although it can be experienced to varying degrees.
First we must understand the relationship between faith and certainty. Certainty arises from the essence of faith, just as apples grow naturally in apple trees. Is the certainty there?The essence of faith is trust. Faith understands the God of the covenant and considers it sufficient. As Psalm 18. 2 says: “The Lord is my rock, my strength, and my liberator; My God, my strength, who do I trust?(ACR).
Therefore, believers can legitimately be sure of their salvation. David confesses: “Is the Lord my Shepherd? (Salt 23,1). Paul says, “Because I know who I have believed in and I am sure you can keep my treasure to this day?”(2 Tim 1. 12).
Is it the essence of certainty to know that I am saved?That my sins are forgiven and that I belong to God?And therefore I know and experience communion with the Trinitarian God. In Ephesians 3:11-12, Paul writes about God’s eternal plan: in Christ Jesus our Lord, for whom we have the audacity and access entrusted by faith in Him. He describes this access in Trinitarian terms: “For by him [Christ], do we both have access to the Father in the same Spirit?(Eph. . 2. 18).
Everyone in the Godhead is involved in the safety of faith. Does Father, Son, and Holy Spirit lead us to approach God courageously as our Abba, Father, merciful and glorious?(Rom 8. 15; see also Sal 103,13; Gal 4. 6). We have this audacity toward God through Christ’s work of dying on the cross and approaching God in peace (Ephesians 2:13-14). The Holy Ghost allows us to experience the joy and peace of knowing that we are children of God (Rom 8:16; Ga 5. 22). By trusting in Christ, the God of hope fills us with joy and peace through the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:12-13).
However, certainty is not automatic. Westminster’s Confession of Faith tells us that true Christians can go through many conflicts without certainty (18:3). Certainty is the fruit of the saving faith. Just as an out-of-season frost can prevent a tree from fruiting for a season, certainty may not exist for a while, even where there is true faith, and a believer can, for a while, be unsure.
A child of God can walk in darkness (Is 50:10). Think of David, who implored, “Do not accept me, O Eternal, in thy wrath [?] (Exit 38,1, 4). Likewise Haman, the Ezraéte, cried, “Your wrath weighs upon me; You hit me with all your waves?(88,7).
Peter urges us to “work harder and harder to establish our vocation and our choice” (2 P. 1,10). His words indicate that a Christian can find the certainty that God chose him and called him to salvation in Christ. That security is generally inseparable from walking with God in faith.
The Westminster Confession says
A foolproof security of faith [is] based on the divine truth of the promises of salvation, on the inner evidence of those through whom these promises are made, on the testimony of the Spirit of adoption that testifies with our minds that we are children of God (18:2). 1
Let’s look at each of these ways to achieve that security.
The way to seek him is, first, to strive to know God experimentally through his great and precious promises (2P 1. 2-4). The Gospel promises that Christ is given to us free of charge in all his sufficiency. If you see these promises like they do? From God to Christ, will you be strengthened to give your amen?(2Co 1. 20). Anthony Burgess, who was one of Westminster’s theologians, wrote: “Trusting in God and Christ when we feel nothing but guilt and destruction in us is the greatest honor we can give to God. “
Second, we must seek spiritual growth by acting on promises. Peter said that God made his promises to us “so that through them you may become participants of the divine nature,” that is, so that we may conform to the image of God (2P 1. 4). Strive to grow in virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, piety, fraternal goodness and charity (vv. 5-7) is the way to “confirm your vocation and your choice?”(V. 10). As we grow in our ability to keep God’s commandments, we can be sure that we belong to Him (1 John 2. 3). Those who persist at low levels of obedience will experience, at most, low levels of security.
Obedience leads to increased certainty because it is proof of living faith and proof that we are not hypocrites (Jacq 2. 14). Good works do not save us (Ephesians 2:8-9), but a life of justice and love is solid proof of the new birth (1 John 2. 29; 4. 7). William Ames wrote, “He who correctly understands the promise of the covenant can only be sure of his salvation if he realizes true faith and repentance. “
Third, when we follow the guidance of the Holy Ghost to walk through faith in Christ, we will experience his testimony as a spirit of adoption (Romans 8:14-16).
These three ways of obtaining the security of salvation, identified by Westminster theologians, are inseparable from the Ministry of the Spirit: the Spirit leads us to embrace God’s promises, shows us the external proof of grace in us, and testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.
A wife can trust her husband’s love by walking near him throughout her life and learning from the experience she is hers. May God bless Christ’s wife so that she too may approach her husband, Jesus Christ, and grow in the certainty of her immutable love for her.