Super Deal ($5.00) on The Assurance of Faith by Berkhof

[moral necessity]

SGCB | THE ASSURANCE OF FAITH:: The Firm Foundation of Christian Hope

This book will be helpful in answering many of the recent posts on assurance. Here's an excerpt from it:

“It was one of the great mistakes of the Pietism of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that, in seeking the assurance of faith, or of salvation, it divorced itself too much from the word of God. The basis of assurance was sought, not in the objective promises of the gospel, but in the subjective experience of believers. The knowledge of the experiences that were made the touch-stone of faith, was not gathered from the word of God, but was obtained by an inductive study of the subjective states and affections of believers. In many cases these were not even put to the test of Scripture, so that the true was not always distinguished from the counterfeit. Moreover, there were unwarranted generalizations. Individual experiences and experiences of a very dubious character were often made normative, were set forth as the necessary marks of true faith.

The result was that they who were concerned about the welfare of their soul turned attention to themselves rather than to the word of God, and spent their life in morbid introspection. It is no wonder that this method did not promote the assurance of faith that fills the heart with heavenly joy, but rather engendered doubt and uncertainty and caused the soul to grope about in a labyrinth of anxious questionings, without an Ariadne-thread to lead it out. This method made seeking assurance by looking within rather than by looking without, to Jesus Christ as he is presented in Scripture, and made the experiences of others, especially those who are regarded as ‘oaks of righteousness’ normative.”

 

[Ask Mr. Religion]

I agree with Berkhof. This is basically what Clark called the Quest for Illegitimate Religious Experience (QIRE) in his book, Recovering the Reformed Confession.

That we can be certain (genuinely know) of our full assurance, without any sort of extraordinary revelation, is clear from Scripture. We need to trust God's word, not our fickle feelings, when He says "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life." 1 John 5:13

AMR

 

[Pilgrim]

SGCB has a lot of great deals now and has recently lowered prices again. Ussher's "Body of Divinity" has been $5 for a good while.

 

[Marrow Man]

That is a great quote. Thanks for sharing.

 

[jwithnell]

Is Mr. Berkhof's primary contention with the Pietism that came out of the Methodist camp and the extra-church groups pushing prohibition, etc.? In the reformed churches, Jonathan Edwards and Richard Baxter among others addressed assurance very well.

 

[moral necessity]

Is Mr. Berkhof's primary contention with the Pietism that came out of the Methodist camp and the extra-church groups pushing prohibition, etc.? In the reformed churches, Jonathan Edwards and Richard Baxter among others addressed assurance very well.

I think Berkhof's contention was the difference between Calvin and the Calvinists. He bridges the gap between Calvin's view of assurance and that of the Westminster Confession. I'll know more when I get the book. Here's another selection from it to illustrate:

"The direct act of faith undoubtedly involves an element of assurance. This assurance may be implicit rather than explicit in the first act of faith, may not at once reach the level of clear consciousness, and may for a long time be a matter of instinctive feeling rather than of positive knowledge; yet it is destined to grow, and its growth will be commensurate with the measure of faith. The more faith shines in its splendor, the more radiant will be the light it reflects upon itself. He who really believes with a true and living faith will also know that he believes, and will be ready to affirm that he believes, even though he should at times be prompted to add the prayer, “help thou my unbelief.” This does not mean, however, that he will always be clearly aware of the security, the safety, and the joy that is involved in this assurance."

"But though there is an assurance that is of the essence of faith, it cannot be said that all assurance of salvation is necessarily involved in faith. Thus the Reformers were led into a discussion of the nature and the grounds of Christian certitude. They claimed that the assurance possible was of the highest and most perfect description, a certainty like that with which men believe the plainly revealed truths of Scripture; that it was necessarily involved in justifying faith, was its distinguishing characteristic, and in fact belonged to its very essence. He [Calvin] evidently intends to teach that, though faith contains and always retains the element of assurance, the believer does not always so exercise faith that he is constantly free from doubts and perplexities. In other words, that the sense, the feeling of assurance, increases and decreases with the rise and decline of faith."

"The Westminster Confession apparently sounds a different note, when it says: “This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties before he be a partaker of it: yet, being enabled by the Spirit to know the things that are freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary revelation, in the right use of ordinary means, attain thereunto.” Presbyterian divines generally interpret this to mean that, though faith carries with it a certainty respecting the truth of the promises of salvation in Christ, it does not include what is usually called “the assurance of salvation,” or “the assurance of hope,” i.e. the personal assurance of being in a state of grace, of having a saving interest in Jesus Christ, and of being an heir of everlasting life. But it is possible to put a different interpretation on the words of the Confession, as was done by the Marrow-men, who were accused in 1720 of teaching contrary to the doctrine of the Confession that assurance is of the essence of faith. It should be noted that the Confession speaks of a complex assurance, resting in part on the promises of God, and in part on the evidence of the inward graces wrought in the life of believers and the testimony of the Holy Spirit. It calls this the “infallible (full) assurance of faith,” and asserts that this is not necessarily enjoyed by believers from the very moment that they accept Christ by faith. So understood the teaching of the Confession does not materially differ from that of the Reformers and of the other great Protestant Confessions, though there is undoubtedly a difference of emphasis."

Blessings!