b. The Cultivation of Assurance
of God: "Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Is His lovingkindness clean gone forever? Doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath He in anger shut up his tender mercies?" Ps. 77:7–9. It is evident, however, from the connection in which these expressions of disquietude, perplexity, and doubt occur, that these saints even in their distress did not cease to trust their God, were not entirely devoid of a feeling of security, and through their struggles again rose to the height of confident assurance.
The opposite of assurance is doubt, and the lack of assurance means the presence of doubt. It is necessary to remember, however, that doubt is not always of the same kind. There may be doubts respecting the objective truths of the Gospel, but also doubts respecting one's spiritual state. The former are always signs of unbelief, the latter, however deplorable and even culpable they may be, do not necessarily spring from unbelief. They may be merely the result of ignorance. There are four words in the New Testament that point to the doubt of the distracted mind, a doubt that reveals itself in wavering from faith, and that results in anxious questionings. This doubt presupposes the presence of faith, for only those who have faith can waver or be distracted from it. "But the faith to which it witnesses," says Dr. Warfield, "is equally necessarily an incomplete and imperfect faith; only an imperfect faith can waver or be distracted from its firm assurance." Such were the doubts of those whom the Saviour describes as having "little faith." Cf: also Luke
24:38; Rom. 14:1. But there is also a term that points, not merely to the weakness, but to the lack of faith. It denotes a critical attitude toward divine things, and where this attitude is found faith is absent.
This doubt is not merely the opposite of assurance, but of faith itself.
Cf. Matt. 21:21; Rom. 4:20; 14:23; Jas. 1:6; Jude 22. b. The Cultivation of Assurance In connection with the fact that believers are often weak in faith and distracted by doubts, and that these doubts may in some cases argue
the lack of faith, the Bible urges them to examine themselves closely, and exhorts them to cultivate assurance. It would hardly do to place great emphasis on 1 Cor. 11:28, for in that passage the apostle does not stress the necessity of examining into the presence or genuineness of faith. His main desire is that the Corinthians shall search their hearts to see, whether they have proper views of the Lord's Supper, and whether they are in a fit frame of mind to celebrate it worthily. But the situation is different in 2 Cor. 13:5, where the apostle says: "Try your own selves, whether ye are in the faith; prove your own selves. Or know ye not as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you? unless indeed ye be reprobate." The exhortation of Peter is entirely in line with this: "Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure." 2 Pet. 1:10. This admonition does not proceed on the assumption that there is an element of uncertainty in calling and election, but simply presupposes that they to whom it is directed may be or actually are uncertain in their own minds as to whether they have been called by the Spirit of God and elected unto eternal salvation. The apostle desires that they shall make their calling and election sure for their own consciousness, and also, as far as possible, in the estimation of their fellow-Christians. The Bible certainly does not regard a state of doubt as the normal condition of believers.
Their fundamental tone, as recorded in Scriptures, is one of glad assurance. At the same time it is clearly indicated that their faith may be weak, that they may be distracted by doubts, may be wandering about in a maze of uncertainty, and may be groping in spiritual darkness. But this is not presented as their normal condition. It is rather made to appear as subnormal or even abnormal; and the believer is exhorted to cultivate assurance.
An important question emerges at this point. How should the Christian cultivate the assurance of salvation? What method should he employ in his endeavor to obtain Christian certitude? If what was said in the preceding is not entirely beside the mark, then the best way to strive for the assurance of salvation is simply the diligent cultivation of an ever increasing life of faith. And this can best be
done by the ordinary means which God has placed at our disposal, i. e., by a diligent study of the Word of God, more particularly of the blessed promises that are yea and amen in Jesus Christ; by a constant and earnest prayer for the quickening influences of the Holy
Spirit, the Spirit of adoption; by faithful attendance to the means of grace, both the Word and the sacraments, through which the Holy
Spirit strengthens the good work which He has begun in the hearts of believers; and by the careful cultivation of those Christian graces that are the natural fruits of a living faith, for a slothful Christian cannot expect to enjoy the blessed assurance of salvation. The more our faith grows, the greater will be our assurance. The Christians of the Hebrews, who were abundant in their work of love, in ministering to the saints, are exhorted to show the same diligence unto the full assurance of hope even to the end, that they may be imitators of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises, Heb. 6:11,
12. And Peter exhorts his readers to make their calling and election sure by cultivating a Christian disposition, by adding to their faith (as the root) "virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly love, and to brotherly love, love to all," 2
Pet. 1:5–7, 10.
But it is well to remember that there is also an assurance that is the fruit of reflection. When we seek to give ourselves an intelligent account of our Christian certitude, we resort to analysis and comparison, and thus endeavor, as far as possible, to obtain a rational insight into our assurance. Such an attempt is often prompted by the disturbing questions, whether we really have faith, and whether the faith we claim is a real and living faith. Such questions ordinarily do not arise, when faith is strong and active and abundant in good works, but when it is weak and lethargic and does not abound in the fruits of the Spirit. In seeking assurance, the believer then searches, not the lives of other Christians, but the Scriptures for the marks and signs of true faith, and finds that these consist, among others, in a childlike spirit, confidence in God and in Jesus Christ, love to God and a holy desire to do his will, sorrow on