A Benefit of the Gospel — Peace of Conscience
“Peace of Conscience”
The Westminster Shorter Catechism (Q & A 36) on the Benefits of Justification, Adoption, and Sanctification
Many of us take for granted what a wonderful gift it is from God to place our heads on the pillow at night and know deep down inside that it is well with our souls— “peace like a river.” But there are times when our minds are much noisier, and we cannot turn them off when we try to sleep. At times, life’s troubles seem like they will overwhelm us. Then, there are those frightening moments when doubt comes rushing in like a flood. Is Christianity true? Are the sacrifices we must make associated with following Jesus worth the effort? We may even question whether or not we are Christ’s, or if we ever were. Worst of all, we may truly fear that we may have done something which will cause Christ to cast us away.
The good news for our troubled consciences is that because of the finished work of Jesus Christ for us on Calvary’s cross (the message of the gospel) it is always well with our souls, whether or not we can successfully turn off our noisy minds. Our standing with God does not in any sense depend upon whether or not we can sleep peacefully. But it sure helps us turn off our minds by considering the benefits of Christ—his obedient life, his sacrificial death, his victory over the grave—which are the basis for our salvation. These things are always secure. Yet, one of the most difficult struggles of the Christian life is our ability (or lack thereof) to fully grasp these benefits and then live in the light of the comfort which they bring us.
Even though God saves us through the doing and dying of Jesus (an objective, historical event, which is not at all dependent upon how we feel), how we feel about ourselves at any given moment (whether we have a peaceful conscience or inner turmoil) is often the basis of our own self-understanding of the assurance of our salvation. Our emotional state and personal circumstances can all too easily become the standard by which we evaluate our progress in the Christian life. Our gaze often shifts from the life of Jesus and his cross to our own internal compass (our feelings). Whenever we do this, those benefits which Jesus earned for us lose their relevance, even though our Good Shepherd will never let us slip from his grasp (cf. John 10:27-29).
This unfortunate disconnect between what God promises to all who trust in Christ, and our own sinful doubts about these promises, is a real problem for many. Although this is not the primary point of Question 36 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, nevertheless the Shorter Catechism addresses this pressing matter in a very helpful way: “What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?” Answer: “The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.”
What someone who is justified, adopted, and sanctified, needs to know, when they do not feel the benefit of these things, is that their salvation does not depend upon how they feel, but upon what Christ has done for them. What Christ has done is summarized in the 36th question of Shorter Catechism. The assurance of our salvation, the love of God, and our progress in the Christian life, are depicted as the fruit of God’s work on our behalf. This should push us to look outside of ourselves to what Christ has done for us, so that we can rest assured in his benefits. This particular question and answer reminds us of the precious truth that the work of Jesus Christ is the ground of our assurance, it is the proof of God’s love for us, and it is the sure sign that God intends to finish that good work which he has already begun in us (cf. Philippians 1:6).
That the basis of our standing with God is not how we happen to feel about God (or ourselves) at any given moment becomes clear when we are reminded in the Shorter Catechism to turn first to the doctrine of justification. As Paul puts it in Philippians 3:9, those who are justified through faith do not have a righteousness of their own, but a righteousness that comes from God. This echoes his comments in Galatians 2:16, “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” Therefore, anyone who trusts in Christ has already been reckoned as righteous because Christ’s righteousness has been credited to our accounts (so to speak) through faith.
In addition, those justified have been given the status as God’s adopted sons and daughters. In Romans 8:15, Paul reminds us that we “have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, `Abba! Father!” God unites us to Christ through his blessed Holy Spirit so that we now have the most intimate relationship to God. He is not only our Creator and Redeemer, he is our Sanctifier, and our “Father.” As if that were not enough, Paul can remind the Corinthians, “you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).
In Christ, we are justified, adopted, and sanctified. Out of these remarkable acts of God flow the benefits of the “assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.” I don’t know about you, but this is about the best list of benefits anyone can give me. This is what I need to know before my head hits the pillow at night.