Faith is the foundation on which hope rests.
~Calvin, Institutes 3.2.42
This is Part 2 of my answer to a Pyro blogger. You can find part one here: Assurance Must Rest on Universal Atonement."
"Hope," in Calvin's language, would be the same as the modern word "assurance." When the modern evangelical speaks of assurance of salvation, he's speaking of the same thing that Calvin called hope.
So for Calvin, assurance is always produced by faith. But that faith must have an object. Obviously, for the Christian, the object of that faith is God. God promises salvation, faith believes God, and faith in God produces assurance. That's Calvin.
But what of the modern evangelical Calvinist? He says that there are some men for whom Christ has not died. How then can one have faith in God if God, perhaps, has not provided for my salvation, has no love for me, and has no desire that I should be saved? How then am I to have assurance?
The answer of many Calvinists down through the years is this syllogism:
- All believers will be saved
- I am a believer
- Therefore I will be saved
This, or something like it, is called the practical syllogism, and it is often resorted to as the grounds for assurance. The problem in the syllogism is that "I am a believer" part. It's problematic in two ways: first, it focuses on "I"; second, it presumes that I am not a false believer.
But what if I am a false believer? Surely it's conceivable that I have deceived myself. That being the case, I search somewhere for assurance. It cannot rest in God, for God may not love me. It must rest, therefore, in my works. I have believed, I am progressing in sanctification, etc. The assurance for the high Calvinist rests in God's work in him.
For Calvin, though, assurance rests directly in God. It is a direct (rather than reflex) act of faith. The look of faith looks to Christ alone, and finds assurance there.
But what of the objection that God may not love me? Rubbish. God loves all men and has proved his love by sending Christ to die for them.
But what if I'm a false believer? Look to Christ. The answer always for Calvin would be "look to Christ." Assurance is found always and only in the look of faith to Christ. No syllogisms, no looking to self; look to Christ and to him alone for assurance.
That look to Christ can only give hope if I know that God loves me and Christ has died for me. And that is why assurance must rest on universal atonement.
The answer to the Pyro Blogger
So how would I answer Phillips's objection: that if Christ has died for Judas and the Beast, I can't have any assurance that my sins won't send me to hell.
Answer: look to Christ. All objections are answered in that way: look to Christ. In Christ alone is salvation, and in Christ alone is assurance. No syllogisms, no arguments; just look to Christ. I can look to Christ, for I know that he has died for me.
Posts
4 comments:
Good job, Steve. It is telling that you have no comments after this installment. Who can argue with look to Christ.
Yes, that's exactly the problem, the high calvinist has bent the proposition of assurance back upon himself. Because he backs himself into a corner he must then assure himself.
I look back at this post, eight years later, and I still find it satisfying and persuasive. As I
read it today, I was thinking about the Pyro blogger who asked about Judas and the Beast. The argument is that Christ's work might not avail for me, since it did not avail for them. But did they look to Christ? If Judas, say, had looked to Christ, then he would have been saved.
And so it goes for me as well. If I look to myself, all I see is damnation (Calvin). If I look to Christ alone, I have both salvation and the assurance of salvation.
Hello sir
This is Praveen from India
I posted this at Calvin and calvanism site but was not sure 😃 if any one received it ..
Old school Lutherans have a doctrine called objective universal justification..OUJ
God forgave the world and justified the world 2000 years ago before faith ..this is the gospel
I can believe that easily because it is said as a matter of fact
Second presentation of something:
But then what should I believe when some say to me
Chris may or may not have died
Or
At least christ died for you sufficiently...but may or may not have effectively or efficiently died for you ..
Now for me there is no fact to receive or nothing concrete to receive or rather nothing concrete has been offered
At most or at least i can truthfully say to second presentation: in that case then I can say to second presenter : in that case I can truthfully say i may or may not end up in hell 😀😀
Dr. R. T. Kendall in his book Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649 reports that nearly to a man the great Puritan theologians lamented on their death beds that they probably were going to hell because they did not see enough evidence in their works to convince them that they had fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith. ...
now R T Kendall may or may not be true 😀😀 but
I can surely imagine that possibility.. whether arminian presentation or calvinists or moderates..
Nothing concrete is offered ..even after puj .. Lutheran thelogy claims that there is a possibility that i may fall away 😂😂😂
The reason all this is amazingly amusing to me is that I am not brigh educated briilinant ..like so many many of you all ...i look towards scholars to help me to have assurance of salvation and to encourage in my faith ...i really do ... because of great mental capacity God granted to you all...
But alas I get more confused ..this has been going on for 2 decades
Post a Comment