God has given us an additional, and even more powerful, witness to our salvation – God’s own Holy Spirit, who bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, as Paul tells us in Romans 8:16. Yet in spite of this witness being more certain, it is the one we understand the least, and are very often the beneficiaries of without our even being aware.

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” Romans 8:16.
“Am I a Christian?” and “How can I be sure?” are two of the most important questions that we can ever ask ourselves. Our eternities are at stake over this matter, and, to heighten its importance still further, we all will have histories of getting some things wrong, even when we are convinced that we are right.
Thankfully (and graciously), God has given us some help in regard to the assurance of our saving faith in Jesus Christ:
Firstly, throughout the Bible we are given a variety of genuine marks of a Christian that we can use to test ourselves with. We might look at the fruits of the Spirit, or read how a humble, self-sacrificing spirit is characteristic of a follower of Christ, and see whether we manifest any of these marks in our own lives and characters (even if in just small ways). We could even use many of these marks together which could then, potentially, leave us with a fairly strong argument either for or against our salvation.
Secondly, God has given us an additional, and even more powerful, witness to our salvation – God’s own Holy Spirit, who bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, as Paul tells us in Romans 8:16. Yet in spite of this witness being more certain, it is the one we understand the least, and are very often the beneficiaries of without our even being aware.
A favourite illustration of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones (itself being borrowed from the Puritan Thomas Goodwin), that he used a number of times throughout his Romans preaching series, was the experience of a young child. This child was able to objectively assure himself of his father’s love by bringing to remembrance the loving things that the father had said and done to and for him. The Holy Spirit’s witness, however, is akin to the father swooping down, picking up the child in a loving embrace, and showering him with kisses. Both tell of the father’s love for the child, but the second witness is a deeper, felt experience. This is, as Paul describes in Romans 5:5, “The love of God [being] poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
How is it, then, that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God, that we might recognise it and benefit from it still further than just a mere experiential feeling?

By testifying to our being the Father’s children

Any parents, I am sure, will be familiar with seeing their children act in a way reminiscent of themselves, and concluding, “Yes, they are definitely my child!”
Likewise, the Holy Spirit bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God when we reflect the character and heart of our heavenly Father.
This can be summarized as being a love of holiness and a hatred of sin; or a heart that loves what the Father loves and hates what the Father hates. Of course, this will always be imperfectly on our part whilst we remain in this world, but it is when we obey the Spirit’s leading in choosing those things that the Father loves, and overcoming the temptation to choose those things which the Father hates, that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
Is it any wonder that we feel least certain of our salvation when we are embracing sin? This is, understandably, when the Holy Spirit’s witness with our spirits is at its quietest. We will also find that the opposite is true: we enjoy an assurance of our salvation at its strongest when we are embracing God’s righteousness.

By testifying to our being children of the Father

It is only through the Holy Spirit that we can ever cry out to God, “Abba, Father” with an assurance that what we are saying is true. Firstly, we have seen that it is in our obedience that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Secondly, and as yet a further act of grace toward us, the Holy Spirit also bears witness to our spirits that we are children of God, albeit in a different manner, even when we sin.
The preference must always be obedience to the Spirit’s leading and to the will and law of God, but, sadly, we fail, and we fail often.
As a Christian, then, how do you fall down before God in repentance of your sins?
Is it as falling down before a harsh taskmaster, where you cry out in fear for yourself, “God, I am so sorry for committing this sin… please don’t hurt me; please don’t strike out at me; please don’t destroy me!”?
Or are your cries more in line with, “Oh, my God and heavenly Father, I am so sorry for doing this wickedness against You; I am so sorry for letting You down again! How You still embrace me in love I will never know, but I know that You do, and I am so thankful, Father, that You love me so much!”?
You can only pray like the latter because the Holy Spirit is bearing witness with your spirit that you are a child of God.

By testifying to our union to Jesus Christ

If we are children of God, then heirs – heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (v.17).
We are children of God because of our relation to the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Through mystical, spiritual union to Jesus we are adopted into God’s family, being made legitimate children to a Father who loves us.
As a married man of seventeen years, there have never been any times during those seventeen years when I have been married to my wife any less or any more than at other times. However, it is when I am in a loving embrace with my wife that I feel that marriage the most.
It is when we are in our loving embraces with our spouse, Jesus Christ, that we feel our union to Him the most: when we pray, praise, read of, hear of, serve and worship Him with love-filled hearts. In these things the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are united to Jesus in spiritual marriage, and if united to Jesus, then children of God! We cannot be surprised to see that Romans 8, which is one of the most loved and precious chapters of Scripture, closes by stating that the love of God is found in Jesus Christ Himself. As children of God, we find all of the love of God in Jesus Christ, and it is all given to us through Him.
Conclusion
For the past year I have been a father to a gorgeous, naughty, anxiety-riddled little beagle dog, Lilo. When she is afraid, she has a tendency to face away from me, but scoot herself backwards until there is firm contact between herself and myself. This works quite nicely, as it enables me to wrap my arms around her in a loving embrace and whisper to her, “It’s okay, little Lilo. You’re family now. I’ll always be here for you.”
When we are feeling most anxious about our salvations, we would do well to learn from her, bringing ourselves into contact with our heavenly Father through whole-hearted worship, casting ourselves entirely upon Him, where, when we know what to listen out for, we can hear, and feel, the Holy Spirit witness with our spirits that we are children of God – that we would be assured that we are truly loved, and we are truly His, in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Matthew Prydden is an itinerant preacher from Wales, Reformed, Calvinistic, and Evangelical. This article is used with permission.
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The inner witness of the Holy Spirit confirms this promise of Scripture to my soul, but the gospel does more than just offer out that future promise of healing; it also works as a soothing-balm for the wound of sin until that final perfect restoration is realised. The Holy Spirit works through the gospel to our souls in the now, helping to alleviate – or soothe – many of the symptoms of sin that cause us so much current suffering.

The time has come for my monthly medication delivery for the small handful of incurable illnesses (by modern medicine standards at any rate) that I now possess in my body. This month, as I placed the near two carrier bags full of tablets down by my bedside cabinet, I noticed my Bible sitting nearby and my mind turned to the promises of healing within the gospel.
In my near-decade as a preacher, and despite those many gospel-declarations being proclaimed from out of my own sickly body, I think that I have only ever preached on those gospel promises of healing once, from Romans 8:23. Even then, I think that the gist of that message was very simply: “Sufferings within this current time is normal. During these sufferings there are groanings within for the perfect future. These groanings are a reminder of the hope that we have for the future.”
I have often thought upon Romans 8:23 (and the similar message from 2 Cor. 5:2, 4). The reality is I have experienced this groaning from within (both audible and silent) far more than I have ever let on. Why, then, haven’t I preached more on those promises of healing within the gospel? After all, we all suffer, and there are many, many others who suffer from various types of illnesses in similar ways to myself.
The reason for this, I think, is that while I have a lot more experience of illnesses, and the suffering caused by those illnesses, than I would have ideally liked[1], what do I know about a perfect freedom from all of sin’s effects? The fact is, I know nothing about that. What I do know about, however, is the feeling of the morphine hitting the right spot when hospitalised due to Crohn’s flare ups, and that, at any rate, feels pretty good!
I know nothing of freedom from the effects of sin – I can scarcely even remember, by this point, of freedom from the effects of illness – but the Holy Spirit that God has given to me as a groaning witness within knows what this perfect future redemption of our bodies will be like, and He is telling us that it is going to be so, so good! In fact, it will be so good that even the worst “sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).
Knowing that, we are left with a great hope. We can now listen to those wondrous examples of miraculous healing by Jesus and His disciples and, rather than feel a sense of bitter jealousy and dejection, we can be excited by what it is store for all of the children of God – and by grace we have been saved!
There are certain illnesses that can even be used to tell the story of the gospel’s promises. Say, for example, with large wound in the arm that has also picked up an infection. The doctor will give you antibiotic medication to fight the infection, but this medication does not bring an instantaneous cure to that infection. What it does bring, however, is the promise of that cure (assuming that the correct kind of antibiotic has been given). Knowing that the suffering caused by the infection should soon be over certainly offers us a hope within the suffering that helps to strengthen and hearten our inner spirits.
Chances are we still might not actually feel any sense of that cure coming within the first few days, so, in the meantime, the doctor may have given us a cooling balm to alleviate some of those surface level symptoms of an infected sore, such as a tormenting itchiness!
In Old Testament times, the region of Gilead was associated with healing balms. It was used by the prophet Jeremiah as a metaphor for the gospel message, a metaphor taken up by many gospel preachers ever since. There is something about this that it is so, so important and helpful for us to know:
The gospel message of the salvation in Jesus Christ offers out the promise of a perfect redemption of our bodies – redeeming it from all of the awful effects of sin, including illness and disease. More than that, as a child of God saved by God’s grace, the gospel does not just offer out that promise of redemption from illness and disease to me (as well as all of the other awful effects of sin, of course), but it tells me that this future physical redemption of the body is absolutely certain (as well as the spiritual redemption of the body too, praise God!).
Knowing that this is true is a wonderful comfort, and the inner witness of the Holy Spirit confirms this promise of Scripture to my soul, but the gospel does more than just offer out that future promise of healing; it also works as a soothing-balm for the wound of sin until that final perfect restoration is realised. The Holy Spirit works through the gospel to our souls in the now, helping to alleviate – or soothe – many of the symptoms of sin that cause us so much current suffering.
This is true spiritually, of course (think about the how the gospel helps to alleviate those feelings of guilt and shame associated with past sins, despite the fact we continue to commit more sins), but this is true of our physical sufferings, of our illnesses and diseases, too. The gospel may not offer physical relief in the same way a physical soothing balm would, but it certainly does help us in those battles that are physical, as well as those that are spiritual.
When the gospel is preached to Christians, the Holy Spirit is working within, applying its soothing balm upon our wounds. Maybe your wound was caused by a seemingly losing battle with besetting sins. Maybe your wound was caused by a seemingly losing battle with illness. Either way, the gospel does not just promise the future redemption from those things, but it also applies a much-needed soothing balm for those wounds to help us in the now too.
Preachers, keep preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, even if you are preaching to the converted! That same good news message that once saved us will continue to help us until we come to meet with our precious Lord face-to-face. The Holy Spirit within continues to use the gospel of Jesus Christ for our good in ways past our finding out, leading us over and again to Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, working to ever deepen and strengthen our union with Him.
[1] Deliberate understatement!
Matthew Prydden is an itinerant preacher from Wales, Reformed, Calvinistic, and Evangelical. This article is used with permission.
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