Carl F. Wisløff (1908-2004) was a Norwegian Lutheran theologian and preacher. I recently acquired a copy of his short systematic theology, I Know in Whom I Believe: Studies in Bible Doctrine (I ordered it from here).
Here is what Wisløff writes about assurance of salvation:
“In Romans 4:16, it is said of Abraham: “For this reason it is by faith, that it might be in accordance with grace, in order that the promise may be certain to all the descendants…”
“Here the divine purpose of justification by grace through faith is set forth. God saves us this way in order that we may be certain of our salvation. We read: “…to the end the promise might be sure.”
“He who would be justified by law, i.e., by his own pious deeds, can never be certain of his salvation. If some type of condition is set up for salvation, a term that must be fulfilled, than [sic] we can never be quite certain that we have fulfilled it. If it is said that we must love God above all else, then both the Law and our conscience testify that we have never loved God as we ought. If it is said that you must first have forgiven the one who sinned against you from the heart, you would never know whether you wholly have been equal of this forgiveness; one would again and again be anxious that there might be something that has not been forgiven. And if we say that the seeker must first surrender himself wholly to God before God can save him, then the poor creature would never surrender to God during this entire lifetime, because there would be one thing or other in thoughts, words and deed which is not entirely surrendered to Him. What sinful person can wholly surrender to God? He must be able to change his own nature, but that is just what he cannot do.
“The Roman Church clearly says that a person can never be certain that he is saved. This relates to her teaching regarding justification. The Roman Church does not believe that we are saved by faith alone; a man must at least have a beginning of love to God and a firm determination to flee sin. And who can be certain that he has reached this love and this firm determination? Nobody can.
“But he who believes the testimony of the Bible regarding justification can be certain in his case. For this Gospel places no conditions for salvation, it merely states that God is reconciled by virtue of Jesus’ finished work. Jesus has done all that must be done in order that we might be saved.
“The Gospel expressly places the basis of salvation outside of ourselves. We listen to the witness of the Word regarding the finished salvation, and while we do that the Spirit whispers in our heart: “It was for you.” Therefore, a Christian is certain that he possesses grace; he knows that as truly as God’s Word and promises are true, he is saved. The certainty of faith is a certainty regarding the truth of God’s Word” (pp. 85-86).
Wisløff also recognizes that Christians can begin to doubt their salvation due to sin, but there is a solution:
“We can come into doubt and anxiety, and the struggle can be difficult before we again can rest in God’s Word. Normally, a Christian is certain that he stands in a state of grace.
“…Certainly a believer can also get into uncertainty. This happens because he still has his evil flesh which will never believe God’s Word. The enemy of the soul also attempts to stimulate this uncertainty, in that he points to our sins and asks whether we think all this is becoming to a Christian. There is only one way out of such an uncertainty and that is to admit that it is true. In many ways we have acted contrary to God’s will and from our hearts we must pray for more power to do better in the future. Then we must cling to the Gospel, until the heart is quiet in the assurance that the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin” (pp. 86-87).
David Wyatt
Wow! Great stuff! His flock must have been very blessed to hear such clear truth.
Alvin
Wisløff quote:
“The Gospel expressly places the basis of salvation outside of ourselves. We listen to the witness of the Word regarding the finished salvation, and while we do that the Spirit whispers in our heart: “It was for you.” THEREFORE, a Christian is certain that he possesses grace; he knows that as truly as God’s Word and promises are true, he is saved. The certainty of faith is a certainty regarding the truth of God’s Word” (pp. 85-86). End quote. (my emphasis on therefore)
It’s to bad he mixed the mystical with the truth to get your certainty, this is a lie~! It also makes me think he believes in limited atonement, that he is one of the LUCKY ones Jesus REALLY DIED FOR which is another lie~!
This most likely comes from a false understanding of Romans 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
Bob’s note on this: Taking Rom 8:16 as a verse about assurance of everlasting life not only misunderstands the passage entirely, but actually strips believers of assurance since they cease looking to Christ’s promise only (e.g., John 5:24). Instead, they now look introspectively for some sort of mysterious feeling. Such a practice is self-defeating since our feelings cannot be objectified or trusted. RNW Page 223 Zane’s commentary on Romans. This is just part of Bob’s comment showing the evidence of this false interpretation earlier.
Lon Gregg
Encouraging that this gent saw that salvation was based on something outside our own strivings, vows, and, in effect, everything we might want to contribute to it!
I’d like to see the blog tackle the “finished work” topic of this article. Yesterday’s blog seemingly took a slightly different tack on the relationship of “finished work” to salvation. Here, salvation seems to take place when the finished work is applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit; could this happen without faith? And if it could happen only by faith, then faith in what? Yesterday’s blog emphasized that faith saved only when directed to the promise of eternal life; made possible it is true by Christ’s sacrifice, but ultimately unrelated to the “work” being somehow applied.
BTW, speaking of “work,” I enjoy yours very much. I read the blog daily. Keep up the good work!
Leo Z
Hello Pastor Shawn,
Another great post from a great find. Thank you.
We’ll it looks like Wisløff was not a three legged stool assurance proponent. As a Lutheran and a Reformed theologian and most likely a Calvinist, what he wrote here definitely goes against the grain of what you would normally expect from people of his theological persuasion.
He places emphasis on the promises of salvation in God’s Word as the basis of bringing assurance. He definitely denies the evidence of works as a basis for it. He also says cling to the gospel, I take that as cling to the promise of God and Jesus regarding the message of life.
To infer that when he says the Spirit “whispers”, he was refering to the “witness of the Spirit” that believers are children of God interpretation for assurance from Romans 8:16 as done by Reformed circles, could very well be true.
However, he could also have meant that when one is in doubt, one should go back to God’s Word, read all the promises and statements about the divine guarantee of ever-lasting life. The Spirit then “whispers” (re-teaches, reemphasizes or points out or reminds us ) not that we are God’s children (he did not say that, he could have, but he didn’t) but rather He talks about the testimony and witness of God’s Word regarding the certainty of justification/eternal salvation. He didn’t even quote Romans 8:16.
Based on the title of his book “I Know Whom I Believed” and this short excerpt from it that you shared here, I’d say he maintained a FG perspective on the “assurance” of salvation going against his tradition. That’s my read on him based on the limited data contained in this blog.
In continued prayer for you and GES.
Alvin
This came right after Shawn’s post.
In a sermon on the topic of assurance we see how Wisloff seeks to lead people to assurance.99Romans 8:14-16 is the passage he chose and in particular the sentence, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” A basic important truth for assurance is that by the word of two witnesses everything shall be confirmed. He states that “the Bible says there are two witnesses and when these two witnesses are in agreement with each other then I may say that I am a Christian.”1°° Therefore
“when I have the witness of my own spirit to agree with the witness of the Spirit of God, then I can be assured and I can be quiet because I can be sure I’m a child of God.
Page 375 https://scholar.csl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1041&context=phd
Alvin
From what I’ve read of Wisloff he has no understanding of a free gift you can simple take by faith. You must agree first with the Scripture that you are a sinner. And salvation to him is the forgiveness of sins. He sounds to me he has no understanding of John’s Gospel. The only time forgiveness of sins are mentioned in the Gospel of John is in 20:23 and it’s not free gift language (even though now we get that the moment we believe in Jesus for eternal life). But eternal life is offered over and over again as a gift taken simple by believing in Jesus with no reference to sin. Here is some more of his false understandings. From how I understand Wisloff, is that the atonement is only effectual if you have participated in salvation. It is true that we must receive the reconciliation, but as far as the sins of the world they have been taken away (John 1:29; 2 Cor 5:19; Rom 11:15). This is why sin as sin is not mentioned at The Great White Throne, and no one Is cast into the lake of fire because of their sins or because they are unforgiven, but because they don’t have life. The ones cast into the lake of fire are NOT forgiven but that is not the reason they are there, their sin was not the issue because it had been taken all away~! I don’t believe he has any understanding of this, that’s why forgiveness of sins is at center stage for him.
Wisloff quote:
75Wisloff responds to the teaching of some that baptism is the only means of regeneration. He points out that “in the New Testament 1 Peter 1:23 and James 1:18 stand as clear witnesses of the regenerating power of the Word.”76 He is in agreement with Pieper who states “as surely as baptism is a means of regeneration (Titus 3:5), so surely the Word of the Gospel works regeneration (I Pet. 1:23).”77 Wisloff sides with those who see regeneration as donatio fidei (gift of faith) as the scriptural expression.78Thus regeneration is tied to the moment one comes to faith and this can happen also by the word of the Gospe1.79 The baptized person who has fallen away and no longer lives in faith must be born anew by the word of the Gospe1.8°
The third aspect is Wisloff s understanding of salvation. What is salvation? The basis for salvation is Jesus’ once for all finished substitutionary death and victorious resurrection. The sins of all people have been atoned for.”6However, not all people have come into the right relationship with God for “that which Jesus has won for the whole world must become each individual person’s possession.”117Wisloff puts this in the terms of reconciliation. “The world is reconciled to God. That which now remains is that we allow ourselves to be reconciled with God,” as it states in 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.”8″Each individual must participate in the salvation.
Alvin
Zane Hodges page 331 Commentary on Romans 11:15.
For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world,
Reconciliation is inherently a two-party process, but the first step was taken at the cross where God reconciled THE WORLD to Himself by imputing their sins to Christ (2 Cor 5:19). Therefore THE WORLD is no longer estranged from God by an unbridgeable gulf of sin. As a result, the believer can experience personal reconciliation to God by faith (2 Cor 5:20).
Thus the whole world has been reconciled as a result of Israel’s fall. In the process of rejecting Messiah and crucifying Him, Israel precipitated her own THROWING ASIDE. But the result of this tragic loss of opportunity and privilege was THE RECONCILING OF THE entire WORLD. In the cross, Israel’s supreme sin becomes God’s supreme act of love (5:8) to all mankind. End of quote.
Romans 5:8. For only rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though perhaps for a good man someone might even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us because, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Leo Z
Don’t know much about Wisløff and his overall theological leanings. But based on Pastor Shawn’s post and the quotes he shared from Wisløff’s book, he (Wisløff) seems to have presented “assurance of salvation” from a FG stance.
Having said that, maybe he could also be as confused as Calvin was with conflicting statements about what he believed when you look at his overall body of writings and work. Calvin for example had written defining what saving faith is. He defines it as to “understandand believe” that the biblical proposition of God’s saving message as true. If I’m not mistaken, Gordon Clark, a staunch Calvinist and Reformed theologian as wel as RT Kendall the Anglican pastor, have also shown that they are aligned with some FG theologians on defining “saving faith” as simply “understanding and believing” the propositional truth of God’s saving message as well. I say “some” FG theologians because it seems like there are FG theologians who believe otherwise, adding “trust” as a separate item into the meaning of “saving faith”. Clark and Kendall hold fast to other doctrines asserted by their theological system leanings which are not aligned with FG positions.
What I’m saying is, at the end of the day, I would contend that all men are still inherently fallible and no one has 100% claim on truth. Only God and His Word is the final authority and arbiter of all truth and teaches it through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We can only rely on His guidance, leading, enlightenment and illumination. Just my thoughts, not as a credentialled Bible scholar or theologian but as a serious student of Scripture searching and learning God’s truths. These blogs and discussions are certainly a part of that learning process. Thank you for the opportunity to share.
Live by faith in His grace, daily!
Alvin
Wisloff evaluates this position as one for which there is no biblical evidence.102 Secondly, the idea of a residue of grace “is nothing but a naturalistic distortion of the concept of grace” that “reminds one of the Roman Catholic concept of gratia infusa, infused grace.”1°3 Thirdly, it reminds “us of those who teach eternal security, ‘once saved, always saved.'”1°4 Since we are born again in baptism, and since you can only be born again once, there is no basis to speak about being born again to the baptized.
Leo Z
I appreciate your extended research into Wisloff. But like I said, I am only evaluating Wisloff based and what is said on this brief blog post from Pastor Shawn. I am not out to defend or attack Wisloff’s entire theology. Like I said, I don’t know much about him and he could be just as confused and contradicting in his statements of what he believes as many other prominent theologians are, like Calvin. Wisloff could very well be biblically unsound at every turn. I would determine that if I had studied his entire body of work which at this time I’m not really motivated to do as it’s not in my priority list. I of course speak for myself.
However for me, one thing really matters. At the end of the day, no matter what theological label one puts on one’s self FG, Reformed or whatever it may be, no matter which theologian you follow and quote, it always comes down to one thing. Whatever is said (even the one liners and short paragraphs of thought), whatever is asserted and taught, by whomever, has to be affirmed by Scripture as truth. If they say conflicting things, spiritual discernment should abound, then let Scripture decide whether to accept or reject what they say and teach.
Alvin
Leo, you would think I was attacking you, but this has nothing to do with you. I’m simply giving a more balanced understanding of what Wisløff believed. I spent over an hour just reading his statements which were very confusing.
Leo Z
No offense was taken Alvin. Was just trying to explain my assessment on Wisløff’s statements off Pastor Shawn’s blog. Yes, I agree from what your research had shown, he shows to be a true Lutheran in his overall theology. Confused as such in his statements about the assurance of salvation, I would surmise. Like I said, I love these interactions. Iron sharpens iron. my brother!
Alvin
Thanks Leo, I’m glad I wasn’t bugging you:-)
David Wyatt
Amen, i agree brothers. Just from what was shared in the original post it seemed to me (from probably a too-fast reading) that this man was sound but after the further research I can definitely see problems. God bless you all!
Alvin
Thanks David, God bless you too:-) I remember you from Antonio’s blog many years ago:-)
Alvin:-)
Alvin
Wisloff
From what I read about Wisløff was that he got his assurance from a mystical understanding of Romans 8:16 where the Spirit confirmed to his spirit that which whispered in his heart, “it was for you.” It sounds like this was a needed witness to have the Scriptural bases of two witnesses for assurance of his salvation. He also believed that there were two ways of regeneration. One by the word, and the other by water baptism. He believed there was grace in the sacraments of water baptism and the Lord’s supper. He believed that children could be baptized before they were old enough to believe, but then within a certain amount of time they needed to agree with what he called Law and Gospel concerning their sin.
I know that none of us had all our ducks in a row when we got saved. Jesus disciples had mis-understandings, as did the Woman at the Well didn’t know what she worshipped. But our assurance of our eternal destiny is critical to understanding Jesus as the Christ and being born of God. We don’t get saved by believing a lie, no matter how sincere we are. You can’t believe something you don’t understand. And until God opens the heart we haven’t understood. You must come to Jesus in childlike faith, so you don’t need to be a theologian to have assurance just taking Him at his promise is enough. And when you have you know it~!
It’s only the babes that the Father has given assurance to (see Luke 10:20,21).
And they can simply believe (simply taking Jesus at His word) Jesus promise in a verse like John 6:47 Most Assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.
If you have, Rejoice~! Because your name is written in heaven:-)