January 28, 2006
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Paul says to the Corinthians, “know not Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are
disapproved?” If you don’t know whether or not you believe the gospel, you
simply do NOT believe it.
After all, if
someone does not know whether or not they believe in the Republic Party they are
NOT a Republican !! They’re AGNOSTIC about the Republic Party. Perhaps they don’t
know what the Republic Party stands for. Maybe they haven’t thought
about politics much. They might even be skeptical or simply confused. Whatever
the reason, this person is NOT a Republican.Likewise, someone
unsure on whether or not they believe the gospel is AGNOSTIC about Christianity.
They are NOT a Christian !! Perhaps they don’t know what the The Gospel is.
Maybe they haven’t thought about the gospel much. They may be skeptical
or simply confused. Whatever the reason, this person is NOT a Christian. They’re
AGNOSTIC.
Now, there are people out there — including Presbyterians, Reformed Baptists, etc. — who say that someone can believe the gospel, but not know they are a believer. This is like saying someone can believe in the Republican Party, and not know they are a Republican.The reason these Presbyterians and RBs doubt their salvation is most likely because they don’t understand imputed righteousness. The Bible says that “it is finished”. Presbyterians and RBs, however, are trying to establish their own righteousness before God. For example, have you ever heard of the “means of grace”? Apparently, the Lord’s Supper and Baptism is a “means of grace”. At least, this is what Presbyterians say. Now, since when did the good work of taking the Lord’s Supper become a way of obtaining God’s favor? When did grace turn into works???
Presbyterians say that their faith is “nourished” and “helped” by the Lord’s Supper. They think Christ is more “spiritually present” at the Lord’s Supper because there is some bread and wine. Thus, Presbyterians make food the foundation of their faith !! And they think that Christ is less “spiritually present” 100 meters away from their communion table !!
Back to assurance. If
you doubt your salvation what you have is called DEAD — non-existent —
“faith”. And Paul says you are disapproved and lost.Call me extreme.
But if this is true — that assurance is deduced from one’s
belief in the gospel — then no believer can ever doubt his salvation. Think of
it this way. If someone is doubting whether or not they are a child of God, they
are calling God a liar in his promises. God says over and over and over again in
His Word that all believers are children of God. They simply do not believe what
God has said.Take a moment now
and ask yourself these questions.1. If someone is
doubting their salvation are they calling God a liar? Yes or No?2. Do believers
call God a liar? Yes or No?And read 1 John
5:10-11.10 He who is believing in the Son of God has
the testimony in himself; he who is not believing God has made Him a liar, for
he has not believed in the testimony which God has testified concerning His
Son.
11 And this is the testimony, that God
gives us life eternal, and this life is in His Son.This is the testimony: God has given all believers
eternal life. If you cannot say, “God has given me eternal life” you do not
believe the testimony.Full assurance is the privilege of every believer.
Comments (6)
wow. that’s all i can say.
Mr. Bain makes a very important distinction regarding “agnostic”.
I had always though it was “strengthened” by what it taught, kind of like the more you learned the more your faith was strengthened in knowledge. But mysticly, well if that’s what they mean they are dead wrong there, you can’t “mysticly” strengthen faith, you either have saving faith or you don’t.
amen, brother.
like brianjpatterson said, “you either have saving faith or you don’t” there is no middle ground.
1. I stick with my original interpretation of 2 Cor. 13:5, and refuse your biassed, narrow reading thereof.
2. The Republican/believer analogy is a poor one.
3. Presbyterians (and Reformed Baptists) reject the idea that believers are ever totally destitute of any assurance whatsoever, or are thrown into utter dispair; they simply affirm, with Scripture, that full assurance is not the possession of every believer at all times (see Westminster Confession of Faith 18.4). Your attempt to work that doctrine out from 1 John is ridiculous on the face of it, since John wrote that epistle to comfort and assure believers (why would fully assured believers need to be assured?).
4. Presbyterians do not believe that Christ is more spiritually present at the Lord’s Supper because there is some bread and wine. Presbyterians believe that Christ is present in the Lord’s Supper because of His promise, and because it is His ordinance.
5. No Presbyterian has ever said that taking the Lord’s Supper is a way of obtaining God’s favor, your distortions of our doctrinal standards to the contrary.
6. 1 John 2:23: “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.” This shows that faith is commanded of God. It must be commanded to unbelievers, since it would be ridiculous to command believers to believe. But if the faith we are commanded is, as you say, “God has given me eternal life,” then God commands reprobates to believe a lie. Either we are not commanded to believe (contrary to 1 John 2:23), or faith does not consist in believing, “God has given me eternal life.” Which is it?
7. How many believers are alive today, by your account of things? Do they populate only a small church in Rutland, VT, with a few scattered “true believers” across the globe? If so, does not my former charge stand true, that you call God a liar by asserting that His promise of the victory and increase of the church has failed (Matt. 16:18; Isa. 9:7)?
Very good, kaalvenist!