Posts tagged Assurance and Election
"The Error of Teaching That Our Election Is Secured By Human Obedience" -- Rejection of Errors, First Head of Doctrine, Canons of Dort (VII)
"The Error of Teaching That Our Election Is Secured By Human Obedience" -- Rejection of Errors, First Head of Doctrine, Canons of Dort (VII)

Having set forth the orthodox teaching concerning election and reprobation, the Synod rejects the errors of those . . .

VII. Who teach that in this life there is no fruit, no awareness, and no assurance of one’s unchangeable election to glory, except as conditional upon something changeable and contingent.

For not only is it absurd to speak of an uncertain assurance, but these things also militate against the experience of the saints, who with the apostle rejoice from an awareness of their election and sing the praises of this gift of God; who, as Christ urged, “rejoice” with his disciples “that their names have been written in heaven” (Luke 10:20); and finally who hold up against the flaming arrows of the devil’s temptations the awareness of their election, with the question “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?” (Rom. 8:33)

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Roman Catholic theology contends that any notion of the assurance of salvation inevitably leads to presumption and laxity in the Christian life, which Rome identifies as the sin of presumption. So too, many Arminians have argued that the ground of election is to be located in a Christian’s personal performance (faith, good works, and our own efforts at persevering to the end).

According to the Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent,

No one...so long as he lives this mortal life, ought to regard to the sacred mystery of divine predestination, so far presume as to state with absolute certainty, that he is numbered of the predestined, as if it were true that the one justified either cannot sin any more, or, if he does sin, that he ought to promise himself an assured repentance. For except by special revelation, it cannot be known who God has chosen to Himself. (Sixth Session, Chapter XII).

As Rome sees the matter, no one can know that they are numbered among the elect. This lack of assurance supposedly motivates the faithful to lead godly lives and to persevere in good works to the end of their lives, so that they may be delivered from eternal loss (or shorten their time in purgatory). In this scheme, the proper motivation for perseverance and good works is the fear of divine chastisement and/or eternal punishment. Clearly, Rome was worried that believers who possessed assurance of their salvation would become morally lax, and live lives indifferent to good works and holy living.

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"The Fruit of This Assurance" -- Article Thirteen, First Head of Doctrine, Canons of Dort
"The Fruit of This Assurance" -- Article Thirteen, First Head of Doctrine, Canons of Dort

Article 13: The Fruit of This Assurance

In their awareness and assurance of this election God’s children daily find greater cause to humble themselves before God, to adore the fathomless depth of his mercies, to cleanse themselves, and to give fervent love in return to him who first so greatly loved them. This is far from saying that this teaching concerning election, and reflection upon it, make God’s children lax in observing his commandments or carnally self-assured. By God’s just judgment this does usually happen to those who casually take for granted the grace of election or engage in idle and brazen talk about it but are unwilling to walk in the ways of the chosen.

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Contrary to a theology of fear and guilt taught by so many of our contemporaries, the assurance of our salvation is actually the only proper basis for good works. Critics of Reformed theology often charge that if you tell Christians that they can assuredly know that they will go to heaven when they die, then there is no longer any incentive for doing good works. This has long been the case with the Roman church which speaks of such assurance as a false presumption to be avoided (The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, Sixth Session on Justification, XII, XIII).

One response to this misguided argument is to ask a simple rhetorical question. “Does a dog bark to become a dog, or does a dog bark because it is a dog?” According to Ephesians 2:10, those who have been given faith in Christ as a gift by God do those good works which God has ordained of his people. Non-Christians cannot perform any good work that is acceptable to God (Hebrews 11:6), because whatever work they perform is completely tainted and stained by the guilt of sin (Romans 3:12).

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