This is the second part of a series of articles by Jennyn Herrera:
The Forgiveness of Sins Through Christ, the Great High Priest
Furthermore, Christians enjoy the forgiveness of their sins. The Bible teaches that Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” in John
Hebrews
The Assurance of the Christian Believer
Another point that is unique about Christianity is the marvelous benefit of the assurance of salvation. The Bible assures believers in Christ that they will be with Him in Heaven after they die. Jesus said to the thief on the cross in Luke 23:43, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in
On the other hand, Muslims, Jews, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, and Roman Catholics do not have assurance of their salvation. They hope that in the end, their good deeds will outweigh their bad deeds, and some would even think it prideful to say with confidence that they will go to Heaven when they die. From these religions, people have to travel around residential areas and try to convert others to their religion, follow strict rules such as forbidding blood transfusions, not celebrating birthday parties, not saying the pledge to the American flag or serve in the military. Muslims also must pray at least five times a day facing towards
The Trinitarian God
The Trinitarian nature of God, one God expressed in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is also unique to the Christian worldview. Other religions hold to unitarian monotheism, polytheism and pantheism; the concept that everything is god. Muslims, for example hold to unitarian monotheism; there god being one person in nature, in reference to their belief in Allah. Hindus believe in a myriad of gods. Christians are the only ones who believe in a triune God. Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Referring to the
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Jennyn, I am really enjoying your series! The forgiveness of sins and the full-assurance of salvation! Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
P.S. When were you at my house to take a picture of the view I have from my living room that you used for this post? Just kidding, you’ve been here (with Mario), the view is nowhere near as beautiful as that!
We can also add Arminians to the list of those who do not believe that people have an assurance of salvation.
It does beg the question. What is a Christian? Saying assurance of salvation is part of what every Christian believes really makes the definition narrow. It makes Christians hard to find in history. I believe John Calvin was the first to teach eternal security. Was he the first Christian?
Randy, the definition is narrow (Matt.7:13-14).
It may be of help for you to read 1 John and underline the word “know” whenever you come accross it. Then take notice to the phrase “by this we know” or a variation of it (depending on translation). In doing so, you will learn that Christians have the assurance of eternal security. It is irrefutable. Terms such as: eternal life, everlasting life etc., mean just that – eternal. That is why John says that truth and assurance are invariably linked to each other.
“By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;” – 1 john 3:19-21 ESV
If you do not enjoy the assurance of eternal security, it is because you do not know (with certainty) that you are of the truth.
In the prologue of the epistle, John says that the purpose of his writing it is to proclaim the eternal fife so that we too can have fellowship with God.
5point…this one is for you. Hopefully it posts here:
It did not work! Check the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0uACs89vhE
Stephen, you are missing the point. I was not asking you to defend you exegesis. I was just asking if that particular doctrine is part of the definition of Christianity. I was thinking it lacks the historical pedigree to even be considered. It has been unknown for most of Christian history and even today a large majority of those who call themselves Christian do not believe it. So on what basis does it get included in what defines Christianity. Just because YOU find it to be biblical?
Randy, which point am I missing? Certainly it wasn’t the point that you’ve missed, which was that assurance is, to quote Jennyn’s article, “Another point that is unique about Christianity is the marvelous benefit of the assurance of salvation. The Bible assures believers in Christ that they will be with Him in Heaven after they die.”
She did not say that assurance was an essential. She said it was a unique benefit of Christianity not provided in the other named religions.
I said: “If you do not enjoy the assurance of eternal security, it is because you do not know (with certainty) that you are of the truth.”
This statement is what flowed from the quoted Scripture passages. If you want to begin a new discussion about whether or not assurance of salvation is part of the definition of Christianity, then I am delighted to do so. The historical argument is not a very strong one seeing that it is clearly presented in Scripture, and I don’t know how much more historical you can get than that. John 3:16 says that the believing ones will have eternal life. Are you disagreeing with this?
The point is that the article talks about Christianity without making clear what that is. If she was trying to assert that her particular belief system is unique then that is a different question. If you are going to do a high level comparison between Christianity and other faiths you need to stick to points that Christians are more or less agreed on.
To say “this statement is what flowed from the quotes scripture passages” is to assume your personal interpretation is normative. What you need to look at is when was the doctrine of eternal security taught and by what percentage of Christians? The great majority of bible teachers did not and do not think scripture teaches this. Sure the minority that do teach it say it is very clear but that is the nature of the beast.
I would not mind discussing what defines Christianity. I think it is a hard question. If we want to embrace the Early Church Fathers as Christian we need to give a fair bit of doctrinal latitude. I would say the apostles creed is a good definition. At least that should be 99.9% correct.
Randy,
“What you need to look at is when was the doctrine of eternal security taught and by what percentage of Christians?”
I already pointed out to you that one example is John 3:16, written by the Apostle John, son of Zebedee, probably between AD60-AD68ish (not dogmatic on the date).
What else can “eternal life” (Gk. aionios zoe) mean?
Randy,
I believe that you should refer to the first part of this article, since this part that you are reading is the second part of the “Uniqueness of Christianity” paper. I agree with Stephen that the main point of this article is not to define Christianity, but to demonstrate–mainly by Scripture–that Christianity is unique among other worldviews. May I ask what church affiliation or denomination you are a part of?
Sincerely, Jennyn
I understand that. It does make sense to talk about Christianity as a whole. I just think when you do it you need to ignore the particular branch of Christianity you adhere to and limit yourself to what is generally agreed.
Some folks think eternal security is held by almost all Christians. I know I thought so once. I converted from a Reformed church to the Catholic church 5 years ago. This was one of my many awakenings that things, like this, that everyone I knew accepted without debate, were actually not typical Christian beliefs.
Randy,
The point is that assurance of salvation is based on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. We are making our argument from Scripture. Once again, as it says in 1 John 5:13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
I am also deeply grieved to hear that you have converted to Catholicism and I fear for your salvation. However, I am exceedingly glad that the Lord had you visit our website. These are exactly the kinds of opportunities that we pray for.
I also know that Roman Catholics do not have assurance of salvation and they cannot, for one reason–due to the supplemental works/merit which they believe they must be add to the work of Christ, in order to lessen time in Purgatory.
I would remind you that it says in Galatians 5:4, “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” Also, Galatians 2:21 says, “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly.”
We look forward to further discussion. Jennyn
Actually you came to my blog. I just returned the favor. I like to talk about faith. One article that I found convincing on the assurance question is here:
http://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/LOSS.htm
As for 1 John 5:13, we do know we have eternal life. We have a moral assurance, not an absolute assurance. We are the only ones who can separate ourselves from God. Nobody else can so as long as we remain faithful we will perservere. That allows us to be sure we will be saved just like we can be sure our father’s inheritance. We know it is possible to destroy that realtionship but we are not going to do that.
We do not add anything to the work of Christ. We become a work of Christ. We do good works through His grace and that is always part of a salvation relationship with God. There are sins that can destroy that relationship (Gal 5:19-21).
There are temporal consequences to sin which are often confused with salvation. That is where merit and purgetory come in. They are not directly involved with salvation. They are more like sowing and reaping.
Catholics are not “seeking to be justified by law.” We are seeking to be justified by “faith expressing itself through love” (Gal 5:6). Righteousness does not come through the law. It comes through grace, but it does come.
BTW, I made a post about this on my blog. It is not eactly the same as my comment here so you might want to look there too.
http://purifyyourbride.stblogs.com/2007/12/13/assurance-of-salvation/
Randy,
My question to you is if you had a genuine conversion to begin with. Many profess to be Christian, but in fact they have not truly been regenerated. As John 2:23-25 says, “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.” As Matthew Henry also says in his commentary, “Beware of a dead faith, or a formal profession: carnal, empty professors are not to be trusted, and however men impose on others or themselves, they cannot impose on the heart-searching God.” Of course, there is also the story of Simon the Magician in the book of Acts. Acts 8:13 says, “Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed. Then in verses 21-23: “You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”
In addition, in John 8 it says, “As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” and in a few verses following: 44a”You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father…”
1 John 2:19 says, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.” As our pastor says, professing Christians can and do fall away. However, the genuinely converted ones cannot loose their salvation. So what category do you fall in?
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