Here is a little help to get a head start on our future discussions on assurance of salvation. It is often either forgotten or unknown today that the doctrine of assurance was at the very heart of the divide between Protestants and Catholics during the Reformation. Here are two standard quotes from the Catholic viewpoint. The first comes from the Council of Trent, which was designed specifically to counter Luther and Calvin and the teaching of Protestants, and the second comes from a major Catholic theologian who was a contemporary of Calvin's. Both quotes accurately convey what is still Catholic teaching today.
“But, although it is necessary to believe that sins neither are remitted, nor ever were remitted save gratuitously by the mercy of God for Christ's sake; yet is it not to be said, that sins are forgiven, or have been forgiven, to any one who boasts of his confidence and certainty of the remission of his sins, and rests on that alone; seeing that it may exist, yea does in our day exist, amongst heretics and schismatics; and with great vehemence is this vain confidence, and one alien from all godliness, preached up in opposition to the Catholic Church. But neither is this to be asserted,-that they who are truly justified must needs, without any doubting whatever, settle within themselves that they are justified, and that no one is absolved from sins and justified, but he that believes for certain that he is absolved and justified; and that absolution and justification are effected by this faith alone: as though whoso has not this belief, doubts of the promises of God, and of the efficacy of the death and resurrection of Christ. For even as no pious person ought to doubt of the mercy of God, of the merit of Christ, and of the virtue and efficacy of the sacraments, even so each one, when he regards himself, and his own weakness and indisposition, may have fear and apprehension touching his own grace; seeing that no one can know with a certainty of faith, which cannot be subject to error, that he has obtained the grace of God.”
(Council of Trent, sixth session, §9, “Against the Vain Confidence of Heretics”)
“The principle heresy of Protestants is that saints may obtain to a certain assurance of their gracious and pardoned state before God.” (Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, 1542-1621)
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Initial Questions and Issues on Assurance
The following come in no particular order. If you have Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology, chapter 40 (pp. 788-809) deals with the doctrines of the perseverance of the saints and the assurance of salvation.
1.) Is assurance of salvation normative or exceptional in the Christian life?
2.) What are the differences between Catholics, Arminians, and Calvinists on assurance? What are strong points of each, and weak? What main problems (practically, not biblically) do each run into?
3.) Is assurance part of the essence of faith, or something entirely distinct that can be absent while true saving faith is present? This has been a huge question in the Protestant tradition, and is worth wrestling over. Think of biblical arguments. What problems do you run into in each direction?
4.) How do handle the tension between "I write these things so that you might know that you have eternal life" and "only the one who endures to the end will be saved"? That is, if we must endure to the end to be saved and not fall away, how can we have assurance until we have actually done it?
5.) What is the definition of assurance of salvation? How would Arminians and Calvinists define it differently?
6.) What role does the reality of false professors (Matthew 7:21-23, 13:1-30), not only now but on the last day, play in the doctrine of assurance?
7.) How can I know I am not self-deceived and actually have saving faith?
8.) What degree or kind of certainty are we talking about in the doctrine of assurance?
9.) What is the basis or foundation of assurance of salvation? How does it relate to the basis or foundation of salvation? That is, it is important to recognize that asking how I come to know God savingly, and how I come to know that I know God savingly, are two distinct questions.
10.) What passages of Scripture are particularly important and central for constructing the doctrine of assurance?
1.) Is assurance of salvation normative or exceptional in the Christian life?
2.) What are the differences between Catholics, Arminians, and Calvinists on assurance? What are strong points of each, and weak? What main problems (practically, not biblically) do each run into?
3.) Is assurance part of the essence of faith, or something entirely distinct that can be absent while true saving faith is present? This has been a huge question in the Protestant tradition, and is worth wrestling over. Think of biblical arguments. What problems do you run into in each direction?
4.) How do handle the tension between "I write these things so that you might know that you have eternal life" and "only the one who endures to the end will be saved"? That is, if we must endure to the end to be saved and not fall away, how can we have assurance until we have actually done it?
5.) What is the definition of assurance of salvation? How would Arminians and Calvinists define it differently?
6.) What role does the reality of false professors (Matthew 7:21-23, 13:1-30), not only now but on the last day, play in the doctrine of assurance?
7.) How can I know I am not self-deceived and actually have saving faith?
8.) What degree or kind of certainty are we talking about in the doctrine of assurance?
9.) What is the basis or foundation of assurance of salvation? How does it relate to the basis or foundation of salvation? That is, it is important to recognize that asking how I come to know God savingly, and how I come to know that I know God savingly, are two distinct questions.
10.) What passages of Scripture are particularly important and central for constructing the doctrine of assurance?
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