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Contents

Chapter 18. Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation

(Larger Catechism: 80-81; Shorter Catechism: 36)

Confession of Faith

1CF 18.1
Although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes, and carnal presumptions of being in the favour of God, and estate of salvation; which hope of theirs shall perish: yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love Him in sincerity, endeavouring to walk in all good conscience before Him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed.

Job 8:13-14; Mic. 3:11; Deut. 29:19; John 8:41; Matt. 7:22-23; 1 John 2:3; 1 John 3:14, 18-19, 21, 24; 1 John 5:13; Rom. 5:2, 5.

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Testimony 18.1 to 18.2

2CF 18.2
This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion, grounded upon a fallible hope; but an infallible assurance of faith, founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation, the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made, the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God: which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption.

Heb. 6:11, 19; Heb. 6:17-18; 2 Pet. 1:4-5, 10-11; 1 John 2:3; 1 John 3:14; 2 Cor. 1:12; Rom. 8:15-16; Eph. 1:13-14; Eph. 4:30; 2 Cor. 1:21-22.

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Testimony 18.3 to 18.5

3CF 18.3
This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties before he be partaker of it: yet, being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may without extraordinary revelation, in the right use of ordinary means, attain thereunto. And therefore it is the duty of everyone to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure; that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the proper fruits of this assurance; so far is it from inclining men to looseness.

1 John 5:13; Isa. 50:10; Mark 9:24; Ps. 88; Ps. 77:1-12; 1 Cor. 2:12; 1 John 4:13; Heb. 6:11-12; Eph. 3:17-19; 2 Pet. 1:10; Rom. 5:1-2, 5; Rom. 14:17; Rom. 15:13; Eph. 1:3-4; Ps. 4:6-7; Ps. 119:32; 1 John 2:1-2; Rom. 6:1-2; Titus 2:11-12, 14; 2 Cor. 7:1; Rom. 8:1, 12; 1 John 3:2-3; Ps. 130:4; 1 John 1:6-7.

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Testimony 18.6 to 18.8

4CF 18.4
True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into some special sin, which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God’s withdrawing the light of His countenance, and suffering even such as fear Him to walk in darkness and to have no light: yet are they never utterly destitute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart, and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may, in due time, be revived; and by the which, in the mean time, they are supported from utter despair.

Song of Sol. 5:2-3, 6; Ps. 51:8, 12, 14; Eph. 4:30-31; Ps. 77:1-10; Matt. 26:69-72; Ps. 31:22; Ps. 88; Isa. 50:10; 1 John 3:9; Luke 22:32; Job 13:15; Ps. 73:15; Ps. 51:8, 12; Isa. 50:10; Mic. 7:7-9; Jer. 32:40; Isa. 54:7-10; Ps. 22:1; Ps. 88.

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Testimony 18.9 to 18.11

Testimony

With Confession 18.1

1T 18.1
A man may believe himself to be saved when he is not. A man can also fear that he is not saved, when in actual fact he is.

Isa. 50:10; Luke 18:11-14.

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2T 18.2
The Holy Spirit gives assurance of salvation by leading believers to rest confidently on God’s promises, producing in their lives the love for Christ and others which is the fruit of the new birth and enabling them to call upon God as their loving Father in heaven.

2 Tim. 1:12; John 14:21; 1 John 3:14; Rom. 8:14-16; 1 John 2:5; 1 John 5:13; John 10:27-28.

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With Confession 18.2

3T 18.3
Spiritual experiences or circumstances, however worthy, such as birth of Christian parents, church membership, participation in the sacraments, the hearing of the Word, good works, response to an altar call, speaking in tongues, and other real or imagined evidences of grace, do not of themselves constitute a basis for assurance of salvation.

Rom. 9:7; Rom. 2:28-29; 1 Cor. 10:1-12; Heb. 4:2; Acts 8:9-24; 1 Cor. 11:27-29; Heb. 10:38-39; Titus 3:5.

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4T 18.4
We reject the view that, without saving faith, participation in the sacraments or the use of any other means of grace is a proper basis of assurance.
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5T 18.5
We reject the teaching that assurance must be chiefly based upon one’s memory of a particular conversion experience.
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With Confession 18.3

6T 18.6
It is the task of the Church to declare the Word of God so that the believer, being enabled by the Holy Spirit, can discern his own true inward condition, and thus know that he is saved; but it is not the proper function of the minister or any other person to tell people whether they are saved.

Rom. 8:16.

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7T 18.7
We reject the view that preaching the Gospel consists merely in urging people to assent to its truth.
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8T 18.8
While the Scriptures require self-examination, a believer must remember that his heart can be deceived, and that he is always subject to the temptation to trust in works rather than in Christ. A person should not lightly assume he is saved.

1 Cor. 11:28, 32; Prov. 28:26; 1 John 3:19-24; Gal. 6:3; Rev. 3:17-18.

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With Confession 18.4

9T 18.9
A believer’s lack of assurance may evidence sinful neglect. Fear respecting the state of a man’s own heart is not necessarily the sin of unbelief, for unbelief consists in rejecting the Gospel, not in questioning the presence of grace in the heart.

2 Cor. 13:5.

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10T 18.10
We reject the teaching that a full assurance of salvation is so inseparably connected with saving faith that a believer cannot be saved without it.
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11T 18.11
We reject the teaching that assurance of salvation leads to complacency, or is unimportant to the life and walk of faith, to prayer, and to good works.
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