Rob Grunden | April 2023 | Originally this was a term paper for a Symbolics seminary course.
Introduction
It is impossible to reach the depths of the wonderous cavern that is Romans, chapter eight. Its riches are too much for the best biblical miner with the most extravagant tools to extract. From the very beginning of the chapter the disciple is met with assurance that the dreadful condemnation associated with being at odds with the God of Creation no longer rests on those who are in Christ (Rom. 8:1). Rather, it is Jesus Christ himself who bore that condemnation as he drank the full cup of the wrath of God (Matt. 26:39, 42; John 18:11) for all who would believe in his illustrious name (John 3:36). The chapter goes on to present more assuring truths upon which the Christian stakes a claim. Perhaps there are none more capable of giving confidence to the believer than the last two verses in the chapter which tell us that all who are chosen by God are meant, and even predestined to be “conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29). Paul then tells the reader that “those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified” (Rom. 8:30). These are truths that the Christian leans on, trusts in, and upon which each believer sets their hope.
However, there is a problem with chapter eight of Romans. Certainly, there is no problem with the text and no question regarding inerrancy or its verbal plenary inspiration or anything of that sort. To quote Paul again, “May it never be” (Rom. 6:2a). No. The problem with Romans chapter eight is that the Christian often identifies more practically with the end of the previous chapter, chapter seven. That is where many Christians so often live. It is actually that pesky, yet glorious idea presented near the end of Chapter eight that makes it difficult. As the Spirit of Truth progressively sanctifies and whittles off the knots that exist, each Christian is to become increasingly conformed to the image of Christ. That is difficult to see when wading through the muck and mire of life. Yes, as the seemingly unending depth of sinful flesh is brought more into the light, it should not, but tends to call into question whether or not there is assurance of grace and salvation at all. The more darkness is exposed from within, the more the Christian memory of no longer bearing condemnation fades and the believer simply echoes with Paul, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24). Beeke rightly observes the believer’s tendency toward this when he states that “every conscientious believer would despair; our failures would overwhelm whatever fruits we discover and destroy all assurance.”[1] So, the topic of the assurance of grace and salvation is invaluable for the Christian and it is, therefore, no surprise to find a treatment on the subject in the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith (henceforth, the 1689).
This paper will discuss paragraph two of chapter eighteen entitled, Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation. Specifically, the historical background, exposition and biblical basis, and practical application for the Christian life will be discussed. The paragraph is written as follows:
This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope, but an infallible assurance of faith, founded on the blood and righteousness of Christ revealed in the Gospel; and also upon the inward evidence of those graces of the Spirit unto which promises are made, and on the testimony of the Spirit of adoption, witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God; and, as a fruit thereof, keeping the heart both humble and holy.
Historical Background
The 1689, not unlike a host of other documents, both before and after it was drafted and subsequently accepted, was meant to show distinguishing marks of a group based on their doctrinal positions. In the same way, it also displays important doctrinal connections with the Christian orthodoxy of some of those same groups. For instance, the 1689 confirms the Calvinistic theology of the reformers, a major connection with the Presbyterians and the Westminster Confession, while differentiating the 1689 from the pedobaptism and polity associated with the Presbyterians and the Westminster.[2]
The 1689 finds its foundation in the 1st London Baptist Confession, the Savoy Declaration, the Westminster Confession, and of course, the careful thought and biblical knowledge of the framers.[3] The particular paragraph of the 1689 being treated in this paper mimics the Savoy Declaration almost entirely. The Savoy was an effort by congregationalist churches to maintain their obvious connection to reformed orthodoxy while setting apart their different view of church polity, and its framers included historic theologians such as Thomas Goodwin and John Owen.[4]
Exposition and Biblical Foundation
To properly treat the second paragraph of chapter eighteen, one must first give some time to the first paragraph. Paragraph two begins with the words, “This certainty,” and then goes on to describe that certainty. So, one must begin by asking the obvious question. Which certainty is being described? The answer lies not only in the first paragraph, but also in the title of the chapter; Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation. The certainty being further described in paragraph two has to do with the ability of the true Christian to attain assurance of their being in Christ and, therefore, in a state of grace before God the Father. This assurance, according to paragraph one, can be attained in this life, despite the sinfulness one sees at times, in the mirror. To put it more plainly, perhaps, a person can be assured that they are a true Christian in this life. This is something we see evidenced in the Scriptures often.
The men God wielded to write our New Testament had assurance of their faith. They knew who they were. They knew to whom they belonged. To illustrate this, we need to look no further than the first epistle of Paul. The very beginning of Paul’s letter to the Romans shows the Roman church, as well as every believer who would ever read the letter or hear its truths proclaimed that Paul was assured of his status as “slave of Christ Jesus,” his being “called as an apostle,” and his certainty of his having been “set apart for the gospel of God” (Romans 1:1). Though it is true that Paul would’ve written this as a typical greeting for those to whom he was writing, one of the clear implications of verse one is that Paul had a clear and present assurance of grace and salvation. Paul alludes either to his being a slave or servant of Christ Jesus or his calling to apostleship by the will of God as he begins 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st and 2nd Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. Paul knew who he was. He was assured of his place in the kingdom. He had certainty about his status in Christ and under grace.
Paul isn’t a lone assurance ranger among the New Testament writers. James also begins his epistle by stating that he is a “slave of god and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1). It is widely accepted that the writer of this epistle was not the James that walked with Jesus throughout his ministry as one of the twelve. That James was put to death by Herod as recorded in Acts chapter twelve. Rather, James, the half-brother of Jesus, who went on to be a leader of the church in Jerusalem. This James was already in a position of leadership within the church as they grappled with the great question of gentiles and circumcision in Acts chapter fifteen. If it is true that the half-brother of Jesus wrote the letter bearing his name in the New Testament, then it is a wonderful picture of someone who was once assured in his mind that Jesus was not whom he claimed to be (John 7:5), but later was sure about who Christ was, and who he was in Christ.
Peter is yet another example of an Apostle and a New Testament writer who was assured in his faith. Though little is known about Jesus’ half-brother, James, from the Scriptures, the reader is made well aware many times over of the mishaps, mistakes, and sins of Peter. He is often the brunt of the jesting of many because he seemed to truly enjoy the taste of his feet in his mouth throughout his time with Christ. However, the big picture of Peter is beyond imagination. It is a picture of a man who struggled mightily with control of his tongue, a man who famously denied that he even knew Christ multiple times at the direst moments of his time with Jesus. Yet later, we see this same man’s mouth being used by God to proclaim the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the masses. Peter went on to deliver the first Christian sermon at Pentecost (Acts 2). He went on to preach through persecution and even up to his own death. How? Why such a change? How did this man who was such a coward before turn into such a powerhouse of a preacher? The answer is that Peter once did not have assurance of his faith, yet through Christ calling him back after his denials, and through the testimony of the Spirit in his own life, Peter became fully assured of his place in the kingdom. Peter begins his own epistles by stating confidently that he is, without doubt, both a “slave and apostle of Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1).
These men were specially called by God for the tasks set before them, but they were only men. They, like Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and all others before them, were not the hero of the story. God is the hero of the overarching story presented in Scripture, and God is the hero of each individual story presented in Scripture. These men are simply men. They are examples of weak men with an unimaginably mighty God. And since they are not superheroes, we can restassured that we can be assured as they were. There is an assurance to be found in the Scriptures. There is, in this life, a certainty that is available to all who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the “certainty” being dealt with in the second paragraph of this chapter on assurance in the 1689.
As the second paragraph moves forward to describe this certainly achievable assurance of grace and salvation, it attempts to lay the foundation for that assurance. And that foundation is not mere conjecture. Assurance for the Christian is not guess-work or speculation based on things that move and change like the wind. No. The house of assurance is built, not on the sand of the works of mankind, but on the rock of the works of Christ. The works of man are weak, “carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14). Even within the godliest saint there remains a nature at war with the new person they have become. Beeke and Barrett state as much about the Apostle Paul himself when they write that “Paul’s life involved continual conflict between the spirit and the flesh; he experienced ongoing strife between his new nature and the remains of his old one.”[5] This is, in some ways, an ongoing tension for the believer. John Owen states, in his own paraphrase of Psalm 130:1-2, “O Lord, through my manifold sins and provocations, I have brought myself into great distresses. Mine iniquities are always before me, and I am ready to be overwhelmed with them.”[6] This tension can indeed even lead to a sort of hopelessness that does not belong in the Christian life. William Cowper was a Christian man, in which unchristian hopelessness dwelt. As he wrote to John Newton on January 13, 1784, “Loaded as my life is with despair, I have no such comfort as would result from a supposed probability of better things to come.”[7]
There are two foundations upon which people tend to base their assurance. The first, described in the previous paragraph, is one’s own works. This is so often the tendency of humanity. People are taught to take pride in their work, to work hard and prove themselves. They are taught the value of a hard day of work. They hear rags to riches stories that begin with responsibility, wise decisions, blood, sweat, and tears. The team that works the hardest wins the most. Meritocracy, right? Even the often over preached American dream says that if one works hard, then then can make something of themselves in this republic. Even the Scriptures themselves are littered with commandments and orders from God; things that must be obeyed. There is work that must be done. However, to depend on those works for Christian assurance is folly. As has already been demonstrated, one can never work hard enough, long enough, or well enough to confirm assurance of grace. The best of man’s works are flawed, the motive of man’s works are often impure, and the amount of man’s works are not enough. For assurance of grace and salvation to be built on works is, as the 1689 says, a fallible hope. It is unreliable, unable to be trusted. The reason assurance of grace and salvation is not attainable, much less sustainable, when based on human work, is that grace and salvation themselves are not based on human work. This brings us to the actual rock upon which grace and salvation, and therefore, assurance, are grounded. The remainder of the paragraph explains the true hope upon which Christian assurance is built, the infallible assurance of faith.
There are three distinct foundational pillars listed in the 1689, upon which we base our assurance; three things that make assurance not only reachable, but immoveable, unwavering, and infallible. The first and most foundational rock of our assurance is that same rock of our salvation, the blood and righteousness of the Lord, Jesus Christ. It is not the work of the person being saved, but the work of the one Savior that is the foundation of Christian assurance.
The Lord tells us through Paul that it is “by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). It is God who created salvation. It is God who initiates salvation. It is God or orchestrates salvation. And it is God who finishes salvation. It is not by the power of our meager works that save, but the power of God almighty.
Similarly, the same is true of assurance that is true of salvation. Jesus, himself, tells us as much when he stated, “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish – ever; and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29). Here we see it is not only God who does the work of salvation, but it is also God who does the work of ensuring the permanence of that salvation. God saves the sinner and keeps the saint. Therefore, it is first and foremost the work of God the Son, at the word of the Father, by the power of the Spirit, that has given salvation to each one who believes, and these are truths that are dependable. They do not waiver. The Scriptures teach that the Lord Jesus Christ died “once for all” (Rom. 6:10). This is past tense. In the words of Jesus, “It is finished” (John 19:30), which means there is nothing more to discuss on the matter. It has been accomplished and it is surer than the physical ground we stand on, which will one day pass away.
The second foundational pillar of assurance is subjective in nature. It is based on the work of Christ, not for, as in the first, but in the Christian. The 1689 calls this “the inward evidence of those graces of the Spirit.” An alternative expression is that this second pillar is the inward evidence of the new birth. It is the substantiation of the Christian having a heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh. It is confirming proof that one is a new creation. One might say, “Okay, that sounds great. But what in the world are those evidences?”
As with anything having to do with life and godliness, we get these proofs from the Scriptures. Jesus begins his famed sermon on the mount with a list of identifiers; the well-known beatitudes of Matthew chapter five. Jesus states that a person is blessed if they recognize their spiritual poverty, mourn their sinful state, and they have a deep longing for righteousness (Mat. 5:3,4,6). Paul contrasts the fruit of sinful flesh with the fruit of the Spirit of God in his letter to the churches in Galatia. After giving a list of works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21, he states, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). Of course, these are things in which there is no expectation of human perfection, however, there should be some observable personal growth in these character traits. Such growth is only possible by the work of the Spirit of God in a disciple of Christ.
The third and final pillar listed in LCF 18:2 is “the testimony of the Spirit of adoption, witnessing within our spirits that we are the children of God.” It is true that the mere evidence stated above is evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person. However, the work of progressive sanctification is not the only job of the Spirit. It is not even the only job of the Spirit in the Christian. When the Spirit of God enters into a person, he immediately begins testifying to the spirit of that person; telling the spirit of every Christian that they are indeed children of the Living God. This third pillar brings this treatment full circle, back to Romans chapter eight. Paul states that “as many as are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). This fits well with the second pillar. The Spirit is at work in each Christian and leading them in obvious and significant ways. However, Paul doesn’t end his statement there. “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8:15-16). {{{Person}}} writes about this particular ob of the Spirit and sums up the connection with the other pillars well. Speaking about the first two pillars, he states, “These two roots nourish the flower of assurance. But what is it that makes all that work, so to speak, to produce a felt sense of assurance in my heart? It is the Holy Spirit.”[8]
A Conclusion: Practical Application for the Christian Life
The summation of all of this means that the Christian can indeed grasp an assurance of grace and salvation in this life. The Christian must remember and trust that Almighty God, his work, his plan, his power, his trustworthiness, and his promises are the basis of Christian assurance. Christians may be assured because God says that “all who did receive [Christ], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Christians may be assured when they see themselves “put on then…compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (Col. 3:12). When a Man or Woman of God believes the gospel of Christ and witnesses these evidences showing up in their lives, then they may rest assured that is the Spirit of God bearing “witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom. 8:16), and that Christian may be assured both of grace and salvation.
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