Written by Derek J. Brown |
Saturday, April 30, 2022
If we are ever wavering between confidence and doubt with regard to our standing with God, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to be decisive in spiritual matters. Obedience often requires earthly sacrifice, and if we are unsure that we possess eternal life, we will be unable to endure earthly trouble for the sake of Christ. Assurance is essential to the Christian life. If you have fallen into a pattern of doubt and have neglected the assurance of your salvation, let this be the day you heed the Scripture’s exhortations and, by God’s grace, find your footing through faith in God’s sure promises.

I remember a conversation during college in which a friend confessed to me that he did not think it was necessary, or even possible, for a believer to gain assurance of their salvation. I was surprised by his comments, especially because we were attending a Christian college that emphasized all the biblical truths related to assurance of salvation: election, grace, faith, repentance, substitutionary atonement, the fully deity and humanity of Christ, and eternal security.
As it turns out, this was not an isolated incident. Over the past several years as I’ve wrestled personally with the issue of assurance and had opportunity to speak to others about it, I’ve found that many Christians do not rightly understand the biblical basis or importance of this doctrine. Assurance is essential to genuine Christianity and central to the New Testament’s theological framework, yet plenty of Christians are content to walk through life without the sure knowledge that they belong to Christ. There are, of course, those who claim assurance who have no right to do so; but it seems that there are an equal number of professing Christians who have either resigned to the fact they will never have assurance or that they don’t really need it.
What is assurance?
When I use the phrase “assurance of salvation” I am referring to a professing Christian’s confidence that he is, through the gospel, presently in right standing with God and will, upon his death or at the return of Christ, enter into eternal life and be delivered from the penalty of eternal condemnation. Assurance is the present intellectual and heart-felt conviction that I am, at this moment and for eternity, at peace with the living God through Jesus Christ.
But is such assurance really that important? In light of our sin and struggles with faith, shouldn’t we be content with the reality that we may or may not achieve assurance in this lifetime? While Scripture acknowledges that we will wrestle with sin and a lack of faith, it also consistently calls professing believers to gain assurance of their salvation. Scripture doesn’t suggest that those who are without assurance of their right standing with God are not necessarily saved, but neither does it applaud those who lack it, as though being without assurance was a mark of spiritual humility and maturity. Here are five reasons why assurance is essential for the Christian life.
1. Assurance is God’s will for you.
The first reason we must say that assurance is essential for the Christian life is because assurance is God’s will for you. Listen to the language of the New Testament (emphasis added):

Colossians 2:1-3: For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Hebrews 6:11-12: And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 10:22: Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 11:1: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Read More
Related Posts:

[Paragraph regarding the first Thanksgiving] Our harvest being collected our governor sent four men fowling together so we might rejoice together in a more special way after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. In just one day the hunters killed as much fowl as if their hunting party had been larger. The fowl fed the company almost a week at which time, among other recreations, we drilled with our fire arms. Many of the Indians joined us including Massasoit, the greatest king, and some ninety of his men. We all entertained and feasted together for three days. The Indians went out and killed five deer which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, the captain, and others. 

The letter that follows this introduction was sent by Edward Winslow from Plymouth Plantation to George Morton in December 1621 as part of what came to be published by Morton with other material as A Relation or Journal of the Beginning and Proceedings of the English Plantation Settled at Plimoth in New England, 1622, henceforth abbreviated A Relation. The book is specifically identified as having been published by “G. Mourt” at the end of its “To the Reader” section, thus the true identity of Mr. Mourt has been debated given the difference in spelling between Morton and Mourt. The issues involved in Mourt’s identification are addressed by H. M. Dexter in the edition of A Relation he edited for publication in 1865. The ship carrying Winslow’s work to England was the Fortune which had recently arrived in Plymouth. The letter and other material in A Relation were likely taken to England by Robert Cushman and given to George Morton. It is a wonder that A Relation made it to England because the Fortune was seized by the French as it neared the English coast and robbed of anything valuable, but it was later released after a short time of capture. One particularly valuable and bulky part of the cargo was clapboards hewn from the rich forests of America and there were some casks filled with pricey beaver and other pelts.
Edward Winslow was born in 1595. He married Elizabeth Barker and at the time of their arrival in Plymouth they were guardians for a little girl named Ellen who was the sister of Richard More. The family also had two male servants named George Soule and Elias Story. Winslow was educated in an Anglican school. He was a printing apprentice, however, he did not complete his training before leaving England for Holland to reside with other separatists. He worked in printing in Leyden with fellow separatist William Brewster until they boarded the Mayflower for Plymouth. Elizabeth Winslow died shortly after arrival in Plymouth. Edward then married Susanna White who was a widow and the mother of the first child born in the colony, Peregrine White. Winslow was a governor of Plymouth Colony and highly influential for the success of the community. He died aboard ship near Jamaica in 1655.
George Morton would arrive in Plymouth in July 1623 aboard the Anne with his wife Juliana Carpenter Morton and their five children—Nathaniel, Patience, John, Sarah, and Ephraim. Morton received seven acres in the land division of Plymouth in 1623. But the difficulties of New England life quickly took its toll on Mr. Morton as it did so many other colonists because he died in June 1624.
The letter provides an interesting overview of life for the first year of Plymouth Plantation. Most importantly for this article there is a paragraph about the first Thanksgiving, but do not look for the word because it is not in the letter.
As compared with other early seventeenth-century authors, Edward Winslow is not one of the better writers. The following text has been modernized and the more cumbersome lengthy sentences have been broken into shorter statements. Also, the paragraphing has been modified. In one location an ellipsis, three periods in a row, will be found in the place of about four lines of text which I could not understand sufficiently to compose in a coherent form. There are many ambiguities in Winslow’s text at least partially due to his composing it for a friend whom he assumes knows certain facts, issues, and events which are mysteries to modern readers. In several locations I have turned to paraphrasing and completely rewriting sentences for the sake of clarity. Some archaic terminology has been explained in [ ].
Sources for this introduction include the Plimoth Plantation website and William Bradford’s journal as cited in last years article on Thanksgiving. The edition of A Relation edited by Dexter was located in PDF on Internet Archive; Winslow’s letter is on pages 192-203 of the PDF, which are pages with the dual numbering of 60 & 131 through 142 & 65 of the original book as scanned to PDF (when you see the PDF you should understand what I mean). Note that there have been several editions of A Relation over the years including abridged versions which Dexter mentions in the introduction to his edition, and he has observed that some editions are not very well done.  Dexter includes in his extensive footnotes a list of the passengers who arrived in Plymouth on the Fortune. 
The original Plimoth (Plymouth) Plantation is a living museum which can be visited to experience the world of Winslow and the colonists. The village provides a wonderful experience through its buildings, grounds, and interpreters. At a separate location near Plymouth Rock there is a replica of the Mayflower which may lead visitors to revise their understanding of how large a vessel needs to be before it can be called a ship.
The images of both Edward Winslow and the title page of A Relation were located in The Story of The Pilgrim Fathers 1606-1623 as told by Themselves, their Friends, and their Enemies, which was written by Edward Arber, published in London in 1897, and found in digital form on Internet Archive.
A LETTER SENT FROM
New-England to a friend in these parts [England],
setting forth a briefe and true Declaration
of the worth of that Plantation;
As also certaine useful Directions
for such as intend a Voyage
into those Parts.
——————————-
Loving and old Friend, although I received no letter from you by this ship [Fortune], yet forasmuch as I know, you expect the performance of my promise which was to write unto you truly and faithfully of all things. I have therefore at this time sent unto you accordingly referring you for further satisfaction to our more large relations [the rest of A Relation]. You shall understand that in the short time we few have been here, we have built seven dwelling houses, four buildings for the use of the plantation, and have made preparation for several others. We sowed last spring some twenty acres of Indian corn and some six acres of barley and peas. According to the manner of the Indians, we fertilized our ground with herrings, or rather shads, which we have in great abundance and catch with great ease near our homes. Our corn did prove well, and God be praised, we had a good increase of Indian corn and our barley was fairly good, but our peas were not worth gathering. We feared that they were sown too late. They came up very well, and blossomed, but the sun parched them in the blossom.
Read More
Related Posts:

Any who are concerned about the changes that may be coming to the Chicago Statement should also take some time to consider whether its statement on biblical authority was sufficient in the first place. We suggest that it was not and invite the reader to return to a more classic expression of Protestant bibliology.

The Gospel Coalition posted an article on March 15, 2022 titled “Updating the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy: A Proposal” and, as probably expected, some conservatives have already begun to voice concern.
Concern is certainly warranted due to the editors’ admission that the goal of the proposed update is to “clarify arguments in light of new hermeneutical and cultural arguments.” There is, as the Preacher said, “no new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9), so any attempt to contemporize classic confessions of faith should be held suspect.
That having been said, the Chicago Statement is technically not a classic doctrinal standard. It is a modern one (1978), and this proposed update provides an opportunity to ponder the question: What if the statement was, in fact, doomed from the start? We suggest that it was and offer the following proof:
WE AFFIRM that inspiration, strictly speaking, applies only to the autographic text of Scripture, which in the providence of God can be ascertained from available manuscripts with great accuracy. We further affirm that copies and translations of Scripture are the Word of God to the extent that they faithfully represent the original (Chicago Statement, Article X).
This particular article affirms a distinction that is actually easy to read past. When the statement speaks of the “autographic text” of Scripture, it is referring to those documents that were originally penned by the Prophets and Apostles. These documents obviously no longer exist, and all biblical scholars readily acknowledge that.
When the statement then speaks of what scriptures the church has access to today (i.e., “copies and translations”), it intentionally stops short of applying the term “inspiration” to them and explains that they can only be considered accurate “to the extent that they faithfully represent the original.” This is an alarming admission because it effectively leaves today’s church without an inspired Bible.
Pastors who subscribe to the Chicago Statement are technically not able to hold up any printed edition of the Hebrew Old Testament, or the Greek New Testament, or any vernacular translation, and declare to the congregation, “This is the inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God,” because they have no way to verify it by comparing it to the permanently lost originals.
True, they can speak of a general “providence of God” that has led to “great accuracy,” but that affirms far less than earlier statements of the Protestant faith.
For example, those who wrote the Westminster Confession of Faith also acknowledged that the inspired originals had been lost, but they allowed their faith in God’s promises (Psalm 119:89, Matthew 5:18, etc.) to lead them to a better conclusion concerning the copies they possessed: That God, by his singular care and providence, had kept his Word pure in all ages, so that the Bible they held in their hands could be regarded as inspired and authentical (WCF, I.8).
Any who are concerned about the changes that may be coming to the Chicago Statement should also take some time to consider whether its statement on biblical authority was sufficient in the first place. We suggest that it was not and invite the reader to return to a more classic expression of Protestant bibliology.
Christian McShaffrey is Pastor of Five Solas Church (OPC) in Reedsburg, WI and stated clerk of the Presbytery of Wisconsin and Minnesota. His church hosts the Kept Pure in All Ages conference on the text of Holy Scripture.