Sergey Hudiev

Assurance of salvation

COMMOM UNDERSTANDING

The goal of God in our salvation is to make us "more like the image of his Son" (Rom. 8:29; 1 John 2:3), so that we, having become partakers in his holiness (Heb. 12:10), would be received to His glory (John 17:24; Ps. 72:24). Assurance in one's personal salvation is having assurance in the fact that regarding me personally God will reach this goal. Such assurance is in no form or fashion to be considered as some kind of "insurance" which one can put in the desk drawer and not think of until the fearful day of Judgment when it will be needed. The Christian's assurance in salvation is similar to the assurance of a warrior of victory or the assurance of a traveller for a successful return trip home. The assurance of victory does not abolish the necessity to fight nor does the assurance of a successful return trip home remove the necessity to go. So also assurance of salvation does not take away the need to "fight against sin." This assurance does not mean that one can disregard personal piety, fellowship with the Church in the ordinances and all such means of spiritual strengthening and growth which God offers to the Church. The warrior who is assured of victory in no way begins to neglect the need of weapons, equipment, and nourishment. Likewise, the assured traveller on his return trip will carefully compare his track with a map. Let's look at an example: God firmly promised to protect and defend Jacob (Gen. 28:13-15). As a result, does Jacob then have no concerns? Not at all! When danger arises he turns to God in fervent prayer (Gen. 32:9-12) and undertakes prudent measures to flee disaster (Gen. 32:13-21).

 The same thing takes place in 1 Samuel (23:4) when God promises David the victory over the Philistines. This is the Word of God and it cannot be broken; however, David after hearing these words did not become lazy or unconcerned, but went to his enemies and delivered to them the Word of the Lord regarding their defeat. Such assurance of a successful outcome, instead of making people lazy and unconcerned, motivates them to greater diligence. 1 This is particularly important to note in connection with the fact that many people often have a distorted conception of assurance of salvation as a kind of frame of mind disposed to laziness and a lack of care. The Scriptures say that this is not so for we could hardly find a more zealous Christian than the Apostle Paul who clearly expressed assurance in his own personal salvation (2 Tim. 4:18). In my opinion, quite the contrary occurs, in that a lack of assurance hinders Christian service. For can one expect diligence from a workers who in general are not assured whether or not have been taken on as employees?

But is it is permissible for the believer to have assurance in his eternal salavtion? For one to "be assured" is not only possible but it is necessary–for it is inconceivable to assume that the Lord Jesus would hand over to destruction those who have trusted in Him and have followed after Him. The one who is not "assured" (of his salvation), objects that Christ, of course, is faithful, but the believer himself cannot be assured in his faith and steadfastness. To this retort the one with assurance would say that faith itself and steadfastness are God's gifts and are not human achievements; thus, Christ is able to keep in faith and obedience those, who have trusted in Him (John 10:28). Assurance of salvation rests first of all not upon this or that theological construct, but rather on the Person of Christ: this is not assurance in this or that theological doctrine, but assurance in the faithfulness and almighty power of God:

 In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge; Let me never be ashamed. ( Psalm 71:1 )

In general, so far as I understand, the essence of disagreement surrounding the teaching on assurance boils down to this: on whom do we in fact depend for our assurance?

 Formerly, when I saw in the teaching of assurance of salvation a sort of " self-sufficiency," I, in the same way, unwittingly myself concluded from this that man's eternal salvation was the work of his own merits and in such a way, the one "who had assurance" ( according to my thinking in those days) thought too highly of himself 2 and his virtues. Fallen man ( such as I, you or any other descendant of Adam) is so deeply "confident that we are achieving freedom by our own hands", that he can constantly and with great emotion speak of his own reliance on Christ while in reality he is depending upon himself, his penitential acts, his virtues and his piety. Man over and over is inclined to slip into reliance upon himself, at best removing Jesus from the place of , and to the example to some degree, of a helper in salvation (which the person accomplishes by his own personal efforts). Herein, lies the reason of yet another difficulty connected with assurance in salvation–the idea that such assurance is contrary to Christian humility.

 

As this is not paradoxical but rather just a proud notion of oneself as of one's own savior or at least a co-savior compeled me [at one time]to "humbly" refuse assurance of my salvation. The Apostle Paul warns us of "those who delight in false humility" (Col. 2:18), when the word of God is refused under the pretext of some kind of especially deep humility. Genuine humility simply means obedience to God–if the Lord is pleased to give us promises of eternal salvation, we must with reverence receive them and not try to be more humble than the Holy Apostles. The root of this controversy regarding assurance of salvation from my point of view lies in the conflict between the understanding of salvation from one side as (fully or partially) a human achievement and from the other side which understands salvation as God's gift. St. Augustine clearly clearly expresses the essence of this conflict:

 

 in order that they (believers) would not be confined to the opinions

 of the poets, who say "each person is a hope unto himself" (Virgil.

 , book 11, pg. 309); and would fall back not upon the poets,

 but instead upon the prophets who said "Cursed is the one who

 trusts in man" (Jer. 17:5) ( On the Predestination of the Saints, 2)

The question of salvation–this is not a question of whether or not I am able to save myself, but rather a question about whether or not Christ is able to save me. But first of all, of course, we must find out what the Word of God says regarding this question–for all remaining agruements lose every force is it is made clear that the Scriptures teach otherwise. Therefore I invite the reader with Bible in hand to examine together with me this question in order to try to gain understanding as to what the Apostles and Prophets say about assurance of one's salvation.