In his book, His Truth: Scripture Truths About Basic Doctrines, Jack Cottrell, an Arminian theologian, wrote on the subject of assurance.
He did not give a name for the view he defended. I think it would be appropriate to call it the “I hope I keep believing” view.
On Cottrell’s view, salvation is by faith apart from works, but you need to have a continuous faith in order to be saved. The moment you stop believing, you lose whatever provisional salvation you have.
Of course, we would strongly disagree with that.
However, in an odd way, Cottrell’s view of assurance is close to the Free Grace view in this sense: he links assurance to faith in the saving message, not to works:
That God’s protection is ours “through faith” leads to a second conclusion, namely, that our assurance of salvation is not conditioned upon works (His Truth, p. 115).
To put it another way, our sense of assurance derives from knowing we are justified by the blood of Christ, not from our having achieved a certain level of sanctification (His Truth, p. 115).
Cottrell argues that you ought to have assurance so long as you continue to believe the saving message—and he’s right about that! After all, that’s what assurance is: simply believing that what Jesus promised to do for believers is true.
But here’s the big difference between Cottrell and Free Grace: he thinks you lose both your assurance and your salvation when you stop believing; we think you only lose your assurance. We believe that Jesus gives believers eternal life, not provisional life.
If I took Cottrell’s position, I don’t think I could have assurance of my salvation, would you? I could not know if I would keep on believing until I died. On Cottrell’s view, assurance of salvation amounts to thinking this: “If I died right now, I think I would go to heaven. But I have no idea if I’ll go to heaven tomorrow.”
That’s not much of an assurance.
I would be interested in knowing if there are more Arminian theologians like Cottrell, who believe in a faith-only assurance. Let me know in the comments.
Ken Tamashiro
Thank You, Shawn, for bringing up the issue.
I have observed those who hold to the Arminian Perspective are convinced that the Old Testament represents God as one who hates Sin, which is true but looking at the wrong set of circumstances.
But in my opinion here,…..many Theologians like Dr. Michael Brown or Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, are basing their Continuance of Faith and Faithfulness much like the Jews in the Old Testament.
They missed or overlooked what God hated was the following of Occult practices which included Baal Worship and Idol Worship that can lead a Nation of people towards destruction. Which by the way is written in the 10 Commandments.
When God sent his people to destroy Jerico, was because the Occult Practices were rampant there, and that’s why that city was destroyed and a curse was placed there.
Thats why Isaiah and the other Profits were sent out to have the people return back to the Living God and to give up their Practices of the Occult.
There has been a common theme throughout the Old Testament when the Jews entered the Promised Land. Gods mission was to destroy the Occultic People and even its children to remove the Occultic practices there, and to replace and repopulate with the People of God.
Many Arminian Theologians missed the point of God requiring Faithfulness because of the circumstance there.
Ken,
Marty Cauley
Some Arminians, such as Shank and Marshall, condition the retention of regeneration on perseverance in both faith and faithfulness. Other Arminians, such as Forlines and Picirilli, condition retention of regeneration on perseverance in faith alone and therefore see themselves as teaching salvation by faith alone. I refute both sets of Arminians (plus others) in my book, Mere Christianity and Moral Christianity.
John W Reed
Interesting view about continuing faith vs moment of faith. Let’s use faith and prayer. Let’s imagine you prayed for a specific job, you’re qualified, have a good work history, but there are several applicants. As a Christian you just pray, thanking God for the job. Ok, you get the job. So after you are employed, must one continue weekly, daily, hourly praying “Lord, I am asking for this job, and thank you I receive it”? You received the job, so the moment of faith, trust in God, received the job. It is done, it is yours. There is no need for continuous faith. Say you got a bad report from the doctor. You come to God, and the church comes together and pray. In the moment of faith, you prayed for the great physician to move on your behalf. You go back to the doctor. Great news, a miracle occurred. You’re well. So that moment of faith, received healing for your body. Does that mean the whole church, and you yourself must have “continuous faith” for your healing?
Salvation was received the moment you believed. Continuing faith is nonsensical. If I purchased a product at the store and go home with the item, that transaction is complete. I don’t have to continually go to the store making payments for an item I have purchased in full. Paul said believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. Simple. Believe and you’re saved. It isn’t keep exercising belief, to stay saved.