Caleb Prince (SHSU) writes…

=== “There are plenty of passages in scripture that tell us that faith will have an effect that produces love and desire for God, which in turn should overpour into love for fellow believers (1 John). We should REFLECT ON OURSELVES to see if faith is having this effect. ” ===

“Reflect on ourselves”? So you want to withdraw the mind from the simple truth and introduce legality? Since all our righteousness are filthy rags, if a man tries “reflecting on himself” in order to gain assurance, he will gain none whatsoever. Instead, it will unsettle his Christian confidence and destroy his comfort. “Reflecting on ourselves” places the peace upon on an unstable and shifting foundation of sand (i.e. filthy rags).

Tim Vassy (UGA) admits this, and wrote…

=== A man is forced to examine himself to see whether he is living the life of faith that he claims he should. He must examine himself inwardly to see if he has truly been changed by the Holy Spirit. It is only natural to human experience that perhaps some DOUBT might be ASSOCIATED with this. ===

Clearly, if assurance is based on our fluctuating sincerity/humility believers cannot have infallible assurance of salvation. I mean, seriously, you guys say to “reflect on ourselves”? You may as well forget about the Infallible Testimony of God in the conscience as providing infallible assurance. Who cares about the Rock of ages in the heart? God’s testimony alone can’t fully assure a man, can it? No, no. We must “reflect on ourselves” to gain assurance!

And then you turn around and say you believe salvation is unconditional.

This dishonest and misleading. It’s downright deceptive when you say you believe salvation is unconditional but then list conditions we must meet in order to be assured of salvation.

OK. I’ll admit something. You may gain SOME peace from “reflecting on yourself”. But will it be the “perfect peace” (Isa 26:3)? And will you have your “conscience purged” (Heb 9:14) after you reflect on yourself? C’mon guys, it’s obvious that those “reflecting on themselves” are the same group of people of whom it can be said, “the way of peace they have not known”. They’ll never be sure if they’re humble enough or sincere enough. “Cursed is the man that trusts in himself” because such a man can never be sure if he’s humble enough to be assured.

I know, I know. You’ll say you’re not trusting in your own works. Jaci Dake (C. Oklahoma) writes,

===”Love, like you listed earlier, is in fact meant to be a proof of salvation, not only to the believer, but to the unbeliever. This is not something we have to do, because it is not something we can do on our own. The FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT ARE NOT OUR FRUITS, they are God’s attribute manifested in us. ===

OK. Jaci’s right when she says that the Spirit *causes* the believer to love and be humble and sincere. However, is she correct when she says that “the fruits of the Spirit are *not* our fruits”? I want to show that if you look at the love in your heart, you are building assurance upon YOUR love, YOUR sincerity and YOUR humility. You are NOT basing your assurance on the infallible testimony of God in the conscience. You are grounding your confidence on your affections. So how assured you are, will be determined by how obedient you are

On the other hand, Jaci says that if she looks at the humility in her heart, she is not basing her assurance on her *own* humility. She says she is basing her assurance on the fruits of the Spirit, not her *own* fruit.

Something fishy is going on here. I can see she is trying to justify people who look at their love as ground for their assurance. She’s saying that the love in them is not actually *their* love, but the *Spirit’s*. And this way she doesn’t sound like she’s saying, “we should look at how loving *we* are, to be assured we are saved”. Apparently, it’s the Spirit’s fruit that assures the believer he is saved, not his own fruit.

Now, is the love in a believer’s heart, is not their own love? Well, is the humility in the believer’s heart, not their own humility? Is their sincerity not their own sincerity? Then whose is it? I agree that the Spirit causes the sincerity to exist in the believer’s heart.

However, when we talk about a believer’s sincerity we are certainly NOT talking about how sincere the Spirit is. And we’re *not* talking about how humble the Holy Spirit is, when we talk about the humility in a believer. So there is no way we are talking about the Spirit’s love, when we talk about the love a believer has in their heart. We are talking about the believer’s own love, when we talk about the fruit of love in the believer’s heart.

Sure, the Spirit causes the believer to love. But it’s actually the *believer’s* sin-stained love in the believer’s heart. So if you look at the love in your heart, you are building assurance upon YOUR love, YOUR sincerity and YOUR humility. You are NOT basing your assurance on the infallible testimony of God in the conscience. You are grounding your confidence on your affections. So how assured you are, will be determined by how obedient you are.
 
It’s dishonest and misleading. It’s downright deceptive when you say you believe salvation is unconditional but then list conditions we must meet in order to be assured of salvation. And then you also say that its not *your* own love which assures you of your salvation. It’s the Spirit’s, apparently. Caleb Prince also wrote…

=== “‘If the spirit puts within us a humble heart of love, how can you say in your story that the author implies that it’s “their own love and humility” in the next sentence. If the someone gives me something (a humble heart of love) it COULD NOT BE MY OWN LOVE.” ===

Caleb, you should be a lawyer or a politician! I can even imagine you in court saying, “Your Honor, I was under the influence of alcohol when I crashed the car. And since I was under the influence, I wasn’t the one that crashed the car!”

My response: Seriously, don’t we all agree that just because the influence of something (e.g. alcohol) *causes* a man to act, the act is still his act? He can’t disown the act, just because something else caused him to do it. (Those who enjoy thinking can mull over the question – Is there anything we do that is not caused by something outside our control?)

So when the Spirit causes a believer to be sincere, it’s now the believer’s OWN sincerity. And the fruits of love and humility in a believer’s heart are the believer’s OWN love and humility. Duh! This is what the Scripture says….

“But even as you abound in everything, in faith, and in word, and in knowledge, and in all earnestness, and in YOUR LOVE in us, that you also should abound in this grace. I do not speak according to command, but through the earnestness of others and testing the trueness of YOUR LOVE.” (2 Cor 8:7-8)

“And this I pray, that YOUR LOVE may yet abound more and more in full knowledge and all perception.” (Phil 1:9)

“Ephraim shall say, What is it to me any more with idols? I answered him, and I regarded him. I am as a green cypress tree; YOUR FRUIT is found from Me.” (Hosea 14:8)

I say again … Sure, the Spirit causes the believer to love. But it’s actually the *believer’s* sin-stained love. So if you look at the love in your heart, you are building assurance upon YOUR love, YOUR sincerity and YOUR humility. You are NOT basing your assurance on the infallible testimony of God in the conscience. You are grounding your confidence on your affections. So how assured you are, will be determined by how obedient you are.

The believer, on the other hand, has the light of the Gospel in their heart… “God who said, “Out of darkness Light shall shine,” who shone in our hearts to give the brightness of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor 4:6). In other words, they have the truth manifested in their conscience. “The one believing in the Son of God has the witness in himself.” (1 John 5:10).

Salvation is indeed unconditional. That means there is absolutely nothing a believer must do, to be assured of his salvation. He has to put no effort into gaining assurance. Just like a person standing in the light of the sun doesn’t need to do anything to become confident they are in the light of the sun, so it is with the believer.

However, if you make lists of things a man needs to do to be assured, you believe salvation is conditional. You think there is SOMETHING between the Righteousness of Christ and a believer enjoying it. It could be love, sincerity or humility. But if you think any of these are necessary for a believer to be assured, then you believe assurance of salvation is CONDITIONED on something the believer does.

So stop going around and saying you believe in unconditional salvation when you are actually basing your confidence on your own obedience (your sincerity, humility etc).

OK. Lastly, Chadd Sheffield asks, “Do you agree that those people who sometimes doubt their salvation are not genuine believer?”

My response: Allow me to pass the buck. I’ll let one of your favorite theologians answer your question. You may not like the answer, but if your own beloved teacher condemns you, I’m sorry.

=== “The popish school-divines dream that faith is a quality cleaving in the heart, without Christ. This is a devilish error. But Christ should be set forth, that you should see nothing beside him, and should think that nothing can be more near to you, or more present within your heart than he is. For he sits not idly in heaven, but is present with us, working and living in us. As he Paul says before, in the second chapter, “I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.” And here likewise, “You have put on Christ.” Faith, therefore, is a certain, steadfast, beholding, which looks upon nothing else but Christ… This was notably and lively represented by the brazen serpent, and not turn away their eyes. They that did so, were healed on by that steadfast and constant beholding of the serpent. Numb 21:6-8. But contrawise, THEY DIED they died which obeyed not the commandment of Moses, but LOOKED UPON THEIR WOUNDS AND NOT UPON THE SERPEANT. So, if I would find comfort when my conscience is afflicted, or when I am at the point of death, I must do nothing but apprehend Christ by faith.” (Luther)===

Those who base their assurance on their own sincerity are dead! If they had the truth in them, they wouldn’t be looking at their sin-stained sincerity for their confidence. Basing your assurance on your works is one of the primary proofs of unbelief. Remember the Pharisee?

The infallible testimony in the conscience always gives a believer an infallible assurance. Indeed for believers, “Jesus Christ, and our God and Father, [is] the One having loved us and having given EVERLASTING COMFORT and good hope by grace”. And can someone with an “everlasting comfort” ever lose their assurance?

God says, “Not at all will I leave you, not at all will I forsake you, never!” (Heb 13:5). And if a believer is never forsaken, doesn’t that mean God infallibly assures them at all times by His infallible testimony?