We return to our study of the doctrine of assurance as it is presented in the eighteenth chapter of the 1689 Baptist Confession. We come now to the third paragraph of the chapter.
So far, we have seen the dangers of false assurance. Then we turned to the positive teaching that true believers may certainly have assurance in this life that they are saved—that they are in a state of grace. And then we looked at the three grounds of assurance:
The blood and righteousness of Christ.
The inward evidence of the graces of the Spirit.
The testimony of the Spirit of adoption.
We have spent most of our time considering how a believer can have assurance and why it is not biblical to deny the doctrine of assurance. As we come to the third paragraph, the Confession guards us from the opposite extreme. There are those who deny that a believer can have assurance, but there are also those who teach that if you do not have full assurance of salvation, that proves you are not a believer at all. And even when that is not explicitly taught, sometimes that is simply how we think.
Notice what the third paragraph of this chapter says:
This infallible assurance is not such an essential part of faith that it is always fully experienced alongside faith. But true believers may wait a long time and struggle with many difficulties before obtaining it. Yet, with the enabling of the Spirit to know the things freely given to them by God, they may attain this assurance using ordinary means appropriately without any extraordinary revelation.
Therefore, it is the duty of all to be as diligent as possible to make their calling and election sure. In this way, their hearts may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience.
These effects are the natural fruits of this assurance. Thus, it does not at all encourage believers to be negligent.
Four Questions About Assurance
This paragraph answers four questions.
First, is full assurance identical with saving faith? The answer is no.
This infallible assurance is not such an essential part of faith that it is always fully experienced alongside faith.
Or, as the original wording of the Confession says, “This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith.”
Second, may true believers wait long and struggle before attaining assurance? The answer is yes.
True believers may wait a long time and struggle with many difficulties before obtaining it.
Third, does assurance require private or extraordinary revelation? The answer is no.
With the enabling of the Spirit to know the things freely given to them by God, they may attain this assurance using ordinary means appropriately without any extraordinary revelation.
Fourth, should believers pursue assurance diligently through ordinary means? The answer is yes.
It is the duty of all to be as diligent as possible to make their calling and election sure.
If I were to summarize the teaching of this paragraph, here is what I would say: Full assurance is not identical with saving faith, but it is a grace every believer should diligently pursue through the Spirit-enabled use of ordinary means.
Saving Faith and Full Assurance Are Not Identical
What does the Confession mean when it says assurance is not an essential part of faith?
You can probably imagine someone who hears teaching about the doctrine of assurance and thinks, I am a Christian. I believe. The Bible says the promises belong to me, and yet I do not feel confident about my salvation. I do not have assurance. Does that mean I am not really saved? Does that mean my faith is not genuine?
No. The point the Confession is making is that a believer can have saving faith without assurance.
Chapter 14 of the Confession, on saving faith, says:
The principal acts of saving faith focus directly on Christ, accepting, receiving, and resting upon Him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace.
More importantly, this statement in the Confession is drawn directly from Scripture. John writes:
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:11–12)
What gives them the right to become children of God? They simply receive Christ. They believe in Him.
Jesus says:
I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)
We come to Christ. We receive Him. We believe in Him.
Hebrews describes believers as those who “have fled for refuge” to lay hold of the hope set before us (Hebrews 6:18). We simply open our unworthy, empty hands and receive Him. We receive that hope in Christ. By faith, we run to Christ and take refuge in Him.
We hear Jesus say, “Come to me” (Matthew 11:28). Recognizing the voice of our Shepherd and Savior, we go to Him. Then He says to us, “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37).
Saving faith says, “Jesus is able to save me. He is willing to receive sinners just like me. I have no righteousness of my own, so I cast myself upon Him. He is my only refuge in salvation.”
That is faith. What, then, is assurance?
Assurance, because of faith, can reflect upon that faith and say, “I have come to Christ. I am resting upon Him. Therefore, according to His promises, I am His, and I will always be His. Nothing can separate me from His love. He will never cast me out” (Romans 8:38–39; John 6:37).
In other words, faith receives Christ, while assurance recognizes that I have received Him. Faith rests upon the promises of God, while assurance concludes that the promises belong to me. Faith says, “Lord, save me,” and assurance says, “The Lord has saved me.”
Obviously, there is a vital relationship between saving faith and assurance, but they are not the same thing. They are not identical. A person can have saving faith without full assurance.
Weak Faith Is Still Real Faith
Consider the father in Mark 9. He brings his tormented son to Jesus, and when Jesus tells him that all things are possible for the one who believes, the man cries out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:23–24).
That is an interesting confession. He acknowledges both his faith and his lack of faith in the same sentence.
His faith may be weak, but it was still enough for him to run to Christ for help. And yet it is clearly incomplete. It is what we might call a trembling faith. If nothing else, we can certainly sense his uncertainty in that moment—his lack of confidence. He has faith, but his assurance is shaky.
We see this even in the Lord’s disciples. In fact, we see it repeatedly.
Think of Peter walking on the water. Think of the faith or trust in Jesus he must have needed to step out of the boat. And yet it proved to be a relatively weak faith. When he saw the wind, he became afraid and began to sink. When Jesus rescued him, He said, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:28–31).
Little faith. The faith was real, but it was weak. It was genuine, but it was obviously disturbed by fear in that moment.
Again, we see something of the distinction between faith and assurance. Even as Peter was sinking, he still had faith to cry out to Jesus, “Lord, save me” (Matthew 14:30). Yet his faith was little. As real as it was, it was not accompanied in that moment by anything that could be described as confident assurance.
I have always thought the Psalms were a good place to see this distinction. Consider Psalm 42, where the author repeatedly asks:
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? (Psalm 42:5, 11)
That is not a question asked by a man moving through life with his head up, confident as confident can be that he is in a state of grace. Evidently, he is struggling to find the comfort he desires.
However, what does he tell himself? How does he answer his own question? I can imagine him standing in front of a mirror, preaching to himself: “Hope in God” (Psalm 42:5, 11).
Even though he does not possess the comfort he desires, he has not abandoned the object of his faith. Though he lacks a measure of assurance, his faith remains. Despite how he feels in the moment, he will continue to trust and hope in God.
Concerning faith, we should understand that its saving power is not in the strength of that faith, but in Christ, whom that faith receives. And concerning assurance, assurance is not the doorway into Christ. Christ is the doorway into assurance.
Just because a believer may doubt or have weak faith does not mean he is unconverted. Sometimes doubts are simply the painful struggle of a genuine believer whose faith is weak, whose conscience is wounded, or whose understanding is immature.
At the same time, it is not as though doubt is something to be praised. It is not a good thing. The Bible never presents uncertainty as humility or as the normal Christian condition.
Yes, saving faith can exist without full assurance, but saving faith naturally seeks greater confidence in Christ and in His promises. In short, we do not want to crush the doubting believer, but neither do we want to teach him to settle down and become comfortable with his doubts or with his lack of faith.
That answers our first question. Is full assurance identical with saving faith? No, it is not.
True Believers May Struggle for Assurance
Our second question is this: May true believers wait a long time and struggle before attaining assurance?
Again, the Confession says:
True believers may wait a long time and struggle with many difficulties before obtaining it.
This is not pure speculation on the part of the authors of the Confession. It is drawn from the experiences of many believers recorded throughout the Bible.
On this point, the Confession cites Isaiah 50:10:
Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. (Isaiah 50:10)
Here we have a person who fears the Lord, who obeys the Lord, and yet the text says he is walking in darkness.
In context, I do not believe the one walking in darkness is someone who is openly rejecting God. Rather, it describes a believer who fears the Lord and obeys the Lord but lacks any sense of the Lord’s favor. We might say he lacks assurance.
What should he do? Isaiah writes, “Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God” (Isaiah 50:10). Though he is waiting and struggling with many difficulties in the darkness, he is encouraged to press on in faith, trusting the Lord to provide light once again.
Psalm 77 gives us another example. Asaph cries out to God in the night. He groans as he remembers God, and then he asks a series of heartbreaking questions:
Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion? (Psalm 77:7–9)
I do not necessarily read these questions as accusations. This is not a testimony of apostasy. This is a sincere believer whose circumstances and emotions seem to contradict what he knows about God.
It is not long before Asaph writes:
I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. (Psalm 77:11)
This is not a man who has abandoned the faith. Clearly, his sense of God’s favor toward him is severely lacking in the moment, and that is why he asks, “Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable?” (Psalm 77:7). Yet even without this assurance, Asaph remembers the mighty works of God. He remembers the exodus, the redemption of God’s people, and the power God displayed at the sea (Psalm 77:16–20).
Take note of that. When his assurance was lacking, what did he do in pursuit of greater assurance? He did not wallow in his distress for very long. Instead, he reminded himself of who God is and what He has done. This is what he did as he waited and struggled.
Psalm 88 is an even darker psalm in some respects. The psalmist begins by crying out:
O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry! (Psalm 88:1–2)
The remainder of the psalm is tragic. He feels rejected, afflicted, and abandoned. He writes, “For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol” (Psalm 88:3).
In fact, the psalm literally ends with darkness:
You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness. (Psalm 88:18)
Do these words come from a man who does not know God? Do they come from a man who has no faith at all?
No. The author does have faith, and he knows the object of his faith. He says at the beginning of the psalm, “O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you” (Psalm 88:1). Despite his pitiful condition, these are the words of a man who knows God and trusts Him for salvation.
He is a believer, and yet he clearly lacks assurance. He is experiencing exactly what the Confession says: “True believers may wait a long time and struggle with many difficulties before obtaining it”—that is, before obtaining assurance of God’s favor in salvation.
Why Assurance May Be Delayed
Why does this happen? Why do true believers sometimes wait so long for assurance or struggle to obtain it?
I do not have a definitive list, but I will give you a few possibilities.
Poor Teaching
First, a believer may have been poorly taught.
As I have mentioned before, many Christians have been taught that assurance is too presumptuous. They have been told that they should not have assurance. To them, it is prideful and sinful to assume they are saved.
Because this teaching has been so deeply ingrained in them, they lack assurance. Even if they were to have a sense of God’s favor at any given moment, they have been taught to suppress it and deny it because they believe it is sinful.
Let me respond briefly to that kind of thinking. The apostle John says:
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)
My response is simply this: God does not call us to be more humble than He commands in Scripture.
Charles Spurgeon said, “I do not believe that I have any right to make a law where God has not made one.” On another occasion, if I remember correctly, he said something to the effect that God has given us enough commandments; we do not need to add more.
In the case of telling someone it is sinful to presume that he is saved, that is adding to God’s Word. It is actually defying God’s Word. “I write these things to you . . . that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). That is what the inspired Word of God says.
It is not sinful. It is not presumptuous to know that you have eternal life.
A Misunderstanding of Justification
Second, a believer may misunderstand justification.
If he imagines that his acceptance with God rests, at least partly, on the quality of his own obedience, assurance will inevitably rise and fall with every change in his performance. On a good day, he may feel accepted by God. On a bad day, he may feel condemned.
But what does Romans 5:1 say?
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1)
That is a verdict that has already been rendered. We are justified or we are not, and our justification does not rest on our obedience or good works.
Excessive Introspection
Third, excessive introspection may delay assurance.
To be clear, self-examination is biblical. But when that self-examination is detached from Christ, I think it becomes quicksand.
We ask ourselves:
Is my faith strong enough?
Is my repentance true enough?
Is my love warm enough?
These are legitimate questions, but taken too far, what we are actually doing is trying to find in ourselves what can only be found perfectly in Christ. We want to be careful.
Remaining Sin
Fourth, remaining sin will cloud assurance.
Hebrews 12 teaches that God disciplines those He loves (Hebrews 12:6). Here we can see how self-examination is good and necessary. Are we holding on to sin? Perhaps our lack of assurance is connected to lingering sin.
When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband, Uriah, killed, this man after God’s own heart did not lose his salvation (2 Samuel 11:1–27). But when he confessed his sin and pleaded with God for mercy in Psalm 51, he prayed, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (Psalm 51:12).
His sin had clouded the light of God’s face. His sin had ruined his assurance for a time. In short, where sin is cherished, assurance can hardly remain.
Temptation and Accusation
Fifth, temptation may assault our assurance.
Revelation 12 calls Satan “the accuser of our brothers” (Revelation 12:10). He may point out real sins in us. He may point out real failures and real inconsistencies, but he uses them to draw a false conclusion when he makes his accusations against us.
He says, “You have sinned so many times. You have failed so many times. Therefore, God will not receive you. You are beyond mercy. All that is left for you is despair.”
How do we respond to that? We respond in the way Christ responded to the devil’s temptations: we go to Scripture. We go to what God Himself has said (Matthew 4:1–11).
Romans 8 is a great place to start:
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:33–35)
And then:
Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39)
Painful Providence
Lastly, God’s own providence may cloud our assurance.
This can be hard to accept. Bereavement, illness, loneliness, seemingly unanswered prayers, church troubles, and prolonged afflictions of various kinds can make a believer feel forsaken and forgotten by God.
The psalmists ask, “How long, O Lord?” The prophets ask, “How long, O Lord?” (Psalm 13:1; Habakkuk 1:2).
A person’s temperament may intensify the struggle. One believer can very quickly take comfort from the smallest evidence of grace, while another immediately explains it away and goes right back to despair.
But the overarching point is this: A long struggle with assurance does not, in and of itself, prove that no saving faith exists.
Both the Confession and, more importantly, the Bible make room for the bruised reed and the faintly burning wick. Christ does not break the one, and He does not extinguish the other (Isaiah 42:3; Matthew 12:20).
While we cannot have true assurance without saving faith, we can have saving faith without full assurance.
Assurance Does Not Require Extraordinary Revelation
Our third question is this: Does assurance require private or extraordinary revelation?
The Confession’s answer is no:
With the enabling of the Spirit to know the things freely given to them by God, they may attain this assurance using ordinary means appropriately without any extraordinary revelation.
Listen to what Paul writes:
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. (1 Corinthians 2:12)
Paul is showing how the Spirit opens the believer’s understanding to receive divine truth. We do not understand the things of God on our own or by human wisdom alone. These things must be revealed in the Word of God through the Spirit’s illumination.
It is not as though the Spirit needs to reveal something to us outside of or beyond the Word of God.
Sadly, this is how many people think. Years ago, I visited a charismatic church with a friend and had a good discussion with the pastor after the service. I asked him, “Do you believe in the sufficiency of Scripture?”
He was very quick to say, “Yes, I do.”
So I asked him, “Why, then, do you insist that a believer cannot be assured of salvation without an extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit?”
I asked because that was precisely what he had preached. He emphatically said, “You cannot know you are saved unless you receive the Spirit,” and he taught that this would be evidenced primarily by speaking in tongues.
Later, I asked my friend whether she had ever spoken in tongues. She admitted that she had not, though when she was younger, she had faked it a couple of times.
So I asked whether she had assurance of her salvation. Sadly, her answer was, “How could I?”
Even many Christians outside charismatic circles seem to think they cannot have assurance apart from extraordinary revelation of some kind.
I have often asked people, “Are you saved?” It is not unusual for their answer to include something along these lines:
“God spoke to me.”
“I had a dream.”
“I prayed that God would send me a sign, and a blue jay landed on my porch railing.”
That last example is one I actually heard.
First John 4:13 says:
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. (1 John 4:13)
That may sound as though the apostle John is pointing believers toward a secret revelation given by the Spirit, but we have to pay attention to the context of his entire letter.
This is not revelation detached from Scripture. Throughout the epistle, John points to the Spirit’s evident work in believers’ lives through confessing the true Christ, believing God’s Word, loving the brethren, loving and keeping God’s commandments, and abiding in the truth (1 John 2:3–5, 24; 3:14; 4:2; 5:3).
The Spirit assures believers by creating the very life Scripture identifies as the life of one of God’s children.
We do not need extraordinary revelation. We do not need a voice from heaven saying, “You are one of God’s elect.” We do not need a dream, a private prophecy, a vision, or an impression that cannot even be tested by Scripture.
The Spirit illuminates what the Bible says, gives us understanding of it, and moves us so that we can see our lives aligning with what Scripture teaches about those who are truly redeemed by Christ.
We can see our lives. We can see what Scripture says. And we can say, “I am one of God’s children.”
In short, the Spirit takes the objective truth of Christ, applies it to the conscience, produces faith, reveals grace, and enables the believer to say, not merely, “Christ saves sinners,” but, “Christ has saved me.”
“I have received Christ. I see His work in me. I know God as Father. Therefore, I belong to Him, and all of these promises for His people are mine.”
The Ordinary Means of Assurance
We come now to our last question: Should believers pursue assurance diligently through ordinary means?
The answer is an emphatic yes. Again, the Confession says believers “may attain this assurance using ordinary means appropriately.”
While we cannot simply manufacture assurance, we can nevertheless pursue it. We are called to pursue it, and we are given ordinary means by which to pursue it.
What are these means? This is not a complete list, but it is a good start.
The Word of God
First, we have the Word of God.
Through the Word, we learn the gospel promises. We learn about the finished work of Christ. We learn about the marks of grace seen in God’s people. We are given warnings against presumption, consolation for times when our faith is weak, and so much more.
The Preached Word
Second, we have the preached Word.
Romans 10 asks, “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” (Romans 10:14). God teaches and strengthens His people through the public proclamation of His Word.
In preaching, Christ is set before the congregation. The promises of God are repeated and explained to us. The marks of grace are explained. If we neglect the preaching of the Word, we should not be surprised when our faith becomes weak and our assurance is diminished.
These are God’s means, given to us according to His design.
The Ordinances
Third, He has given us the ordinances.
Baptism visibly declares union with Christ in His death and resurrection (Romans 6:3–4), and the Lord’s Supper points us time and again to Christ’s body and blood given for sinners (1 Corinthians 11:23–26).
Christian Fellowship
Fourth, we have Christian fellowship with one another.
Hebrews 3 commands believers to exhort one another every day, lest any be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13). Hebrews 10 tells us not to neglect meeting together, but to encourage one another (Hebrews 10:24–25).
Isolation is not good for the Christian, and it is not good for the assurance of his salvation.
Obedience
Fifth, obedience is an ordinary means of obtaining assurance.
Chapter 16 of the Confession says that good works are “the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith” and that by them believers strengthen their assurance.
This is the point John makes several times throughout his first epistle:
By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. (1 John 2:3)
Repentance
Sixth, I believe repentance belongs on this list.
Chapter 15 of the Confession calls repentance an evangelical grace. It is evidence of salvation when the believer sees sin as sin, grieves over it, confesses it, seeks pardon through Christ, and turns from that sin toward God.
Prayer
Seventh, prayer is a wonderful means of obtaining assurance.
Again, think of Psalms 77 and 88. Many of these psalms are prayers to God in the midst of the author’s lack of assurance. And how many of them are rejoicing in God once again before the prayer is even finished?
So pray.
Make Your Calling and Election Sure
The Confession says that seeking assurance is not merely a possibility. It is given to us as a duty:
Therefore, it is the duty of all to be as diligent as possible to make their calling and election sure.
That is precisely what the apostle Peter writes:
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. (2 Peter 1:10)
Peter begins the letter by saying that God’s divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). He then says believers have received precious and very great promises and have become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).
Grace comes first. God acts first. He calls. He gives the promises. He supplies everything for life and godliness.
Then Peter says:
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge. (2 Peter 1:5)
As a fruit of and response to God’s grace, Peter implores us to be diligent in our Christian walk. Grow, he says. Produce even more fruit.
Then he explains that if these qualities are ours—faith, virtue, and so on—and if these qualities are increasing, they prevent us from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 1:8).
He says:
Whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. (2 Peter 1:9)
That is when he gives the command:
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:10–11)
We cannot peer into the Lamb’s Book of Life and see whether our names are written in it. But we do not need to. God has revealed enough.
Has the gospel come to us with power? Have we been brought near to Christ? Do we believe in Him? Do we repent of our sin? Is there a growing desire in us for holiness? Do we continue returning to Christ time and again, even after we have sinned—or perhaps I should say, especially after we have sinned?
We do not need direct access to God’s eternal decree to know whether He elected us to be His people before the foundation of the world. Why not? Because He calls those He elects, and our calling bears fruit. We see the evidence of it.
In 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul says:
We know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you. (1 Thessalonians 1:4)
How does he know? He has not seen the Lamb’s Book of Life either. He says:
Because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. (1 Thessalonians 1:5)
Then he points to their reception of the Word, their turning from idols, and their service to the living God (1 Thessalonians 1:6, 9). God’s election of them was evident through the visible effects of their calling.
That is why diligence is necessary. We will not find greater assurance—or full assurance—by doing nothing or by neglecting the ordinary means God has given us.
Hebrews says:
We desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end. (Hebrews 6:11)
Notice how earnestness, or diligence, and full assurance belong together. Then the writer immediately adds, “So that you may not be sluggish” (Hebrews 6:12).
The Fruits of Assurance
Why should we pursue assurance? The Confession answers:
In this way, their hearts may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience.
These effects are the natural fruits of this assurance. Thus, it does not at all encourage believers to be negligent.
Assurance brings peace because the believer consciously enjoys what Christ has secured.
Again:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1)
Assurance also produces joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans describes God’s kingdom as “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17).
To be clear, this joy is not the absence of all sorrow or all fear. It is the Spirit-given confidence that we have been reconciled to God and that we possess a living hope.
Assurance also deepens love and thankfulness. Jesus said, “He who is forgiven little, loves little” (Luke 7:47). The more clearly believers grasp God’s grace in Christ, the more their hearts overflow with gratitude and love.
Finally, assurance strengthens obedience. The believer no longer serves as a slave fearing condemnation, but as an adopted child of God.
Psalm 119:32 says:
I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart. (Psalm 119:32)
Assurance does not remove our duty to obey. Far from it. It changes the spirit in which that duty is performed.
The Confession concludes:
These effects are the natural fruits of this assurance. Thus, it does not at all encourage believers to be negligent.
This is the very objection Paul answers in Romans 6. Grace does not encourage sin, because those who have been united to Christ have died to sin and now walk in newness of life (Romans 6:1–4).
Titus 2 likewise teaches that saving grace trains believers to renounce ungodliness and to live holy lives (Titus 2:11–12).
This distinguishes assurance from mere presumption.
Presumption might treat grace as permission to sin: “If I am saved by grace, I can do whatever I want.” Assurance, on the other hand, loves Christ and desires to honor Him.
As 1 John 3 teaches, “Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself” (1 John 3:3).
True believers still battle sin, but we confess it. We fight it. We return to Christ again and again in repentance.
In short, genuine assurance produces humility, holiness, and joyful obedience—not apathy and not spiritual carelessness.
