By Bob Vacendak

Is assurance of salvation “of the essence of saving faith” in the Gospel of John? Of course, when we say of the essence we mean: “Is assurance of salvation a necessary part of saving faith?” Since the Reformation, scholars have debated the assurance of salvation. The crux of the issue is: Can people be certain they will be with God forever, or is this impossible? And if they can be certain, must they be certain before they can have everlasting life?

Confusion about assurance is rampant. Among the most learned and well-known evangelical teachers and writers are those who are totally uncertain of their own eternal destinies. As a result, the uncertainty—along with its miserable side effects—that grips these Christian leaders is passed on to those in the pew and the classroom. The words of long-time professor Gary Burge illustrate this. Burge writes:

I am frankly astonished at the number of times I have explained to classes of Christian college students about the unmerited love God has for us…and how in the course of my explanation students from strong evangelical churches literally will cry…they point to the insecurity they have learned at their home churches. “If I don’t feel like God’s child, maybe I’m not.” “If I can’t always act like God’s child, perhaps I never was.” My office has witnessed such statements from the children of our evangelical households every semester for years.

I can relate to this. I was one of those students. My personal experience with this uncertainty that plagues Christianity was a key motivation for writing my dissertation. Scripture is clear that belief in Christ’s assuring promise involves 100% certainty that one has eternal life. Therefore, my goal in this article is to answer the following question: Does John’s Gospel expect 100% certainty of eternal life at the very moment of saving faith? In other words, does assurance occur at the moment a person believes in Christ for eternal life? Or is assurance in some way probationary, partial, or contingent upon post-conversion obedience and perseverance in faith?

In the Gospel of John, assurance is of the essence of saving faith. In other words, inherent in Christ’s promise of eternal life in John’s Gospel is His absolute assurance of eternal life at the very moment of faith to the one who believes His promise. Therefore, no one is born again until he is 100% certain that Christ has saved him forever.

Having said that, please allow me to insert a caveat. While born-again people can lose their assurance of eternal life, they cannot lose eternal life itself. That is very important to note. Jesus promised that He would not lose one person who ever believed in Him (see John 6:39).

KEY TERMINOLOGY

Now, two key phrases we need to be familiar with are partial assurance (which is less than complete certainty that Christ has given one eternal life) and absolute assurance (which is complete certainty that Christ has given one eternal life and that he will never be condemned).

Free Grace theologians view assurance as absolute—i.e., 100% certainty. Calvinist and Arminian theologians view assurance as partial. Both Calvinists and Arminians believe that people can be saved without being certain they will be with God forever.

A study of what has been written regarding assurance of salvation reveals two things. The first is that assurance has been a central focus of scholarly debate since Luther and Calvin. The second is that most scholars deny that absolute assurance is even possible. In contrast, Free Grace theologians argue that in John’s Gospel, assurance is not only possible, but a necessary part of saving faith.

When one examines the history of the theology of assurance, it is seen that both Luther and Calvin rediscovered the Biblical truth that assurance is of the essence of saving faith. However, a century later, the Westminster divines rejected the Reformers’ words (as well as the Apostle John’s intent), and, in 1647, wrote: “…infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of saving faith.” Westminster’s theology introduced a scourge of uncertainty that plagues professing Christians to the present day.

Ironically, the Westminster Confession verifies that absolute assurance is not the novel theology that many contemporary scholars claim. The words of Westminster prove absolute assurance’s existence prior to the Confession’s 1647 publication. If absolute assurance was not taught before 1647, it makes no sense that those words were included in Chapter 18 of the Confession.

KEY ARGUMENTS

The “Never” Passages

Four units of passages in John’s Gospel confirm absolute assurance and deny partial assurance. The first verification of absolute assurance can be called “The ‘Never’ Passages.” Seven times in John’s Gospel, Jesus gives an assuring promise that the one who believes in Him for eternal life that will:

» never thirst (4:14; 6:35b).
» never hunger (6:35a).
» never be cast out (6:37).
» never die spiritually (8:51; 11:26).
» never perish/be snatched out of His hand (10:28).¹

The Greek phrase for never (ou mē) is emphatic. Jesus seeks to preclude doubt via divine promise. The believer in Christ has Jesus’ promise—His ironclad guarantee—that he will never perish in hell; it is a total impossibility. Thus, at the very moment of faith in His assuring promise, Jesus bestows eternal life, and the believer is sure of it. It has become the believer’s permanent and irrevocable possession. Belief in Christ is the only contingency. The “never” passages in John argue that absolute assurance of eternal life is part and parcel of saving faith.

The “Has” (or “May Have”) Everlasting Life Passages

The second piece of evidence in John for absolute assurance is what can be called “The ‘Has’ (or ‘May Have’) Everlasting Life Passages.” Six times in John’s Gospel, Christ promises the believer that eternal life is his the very moment he believes (3:15- 16; 5:24; 6:40; 6:47; 6:54).² Two examples are as follows:

» “…he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life…” (5:24).
» “…he who believes in Me has everlasting life” (6:47).

Calvinists and Arminians say that a believer must wait until death to be absolutely certain of eternal life. But Jesus says the opposite. He promises that the believer has eternal life right now! Thus, failure to understand that Jesus—right now—has absolutely assured one’s eternal destiny, is to believe something less than Jesus’ actual promise.

The “For Eternity” or “Forever” Passages

The third piece of evidence in John may be called “The ‘For Eternity’ or ‘Forever’ Passages.” Six passages in John argue that assurance is inseparable from saving faith. Jesus gives assuring promises that the one who believes in Him for eternal life will:

» never thirst for eternity (4:14).
» live forever (6:51, 58).
» never experience spiritual death for eternity (8:5; 11:26).
» never perish for eternity (10:28).

(For eternity/forever = (eis ton aiōna) lit., “into the ages.”)

If the double-negative never were not emphatic enough, Jesus adds the words for eternity. In John 10:28, Jesus promises those who believe in Him for eternal life that they will never ever perish in hell for all eternity! Thus, failure to comprehend at the moment of faith that Jesus guarantees one’s eternal destiny is to believe something less than what Jesus has actually promised.

The Future Resurrection Passages

The fourth and final piece of evidence in John for absolute assurance is what can be called “The Future Resurrection Passages.” In three passages, Christ’s assuring promise to those who believe in Him is that He will physically raise them from the dead:

» 6:40: “…everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up on the last day.”
» 6:54: “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood [a metaphor for believing] has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
» 11:25: “I am the resurrection and the life… he who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”

Jesus does not promise believers a future resurrection body based on a lifetime of faith and obedience, but on one moment of faith in His promise. Thus, to believe in Jesus for His promise of everlasting life is to know—at that very moment—that one will live eternally. Certainty of eternal life and future resurrection is Christ’s assuring promise.

SUMMARY

In all four sets of evidence derived from John’s Gospel, Christ’s assuring promises demand that assurance is of the essence of saving faith. All four deny that assurance is merely probationary or impossible before death. One who has never possessed certainty of eternal life has not yet believed Christ’s promise. His promise is the guarantee of eternal life by the God who cannot lie. Thinking that absolute assurance is only possible after death totally misreads Christ’s assuring promises.

CONCLUSION

Three over-arching arguments are presented in this article.

1. Absolute assurance is not a novel theology, but a NT truth that Luther and Calvin rediscovered.

Jesus, the apostles, and the early Reformers all taught absolute assurance of salvation. Faithful followers of Christ continue to teach it today.

2. Those theologies requiring life-long perseverance for “final salvation” fatally compromise the doctrine of absolute assurance.

Calvinism and Arminianism cannot provide 100% certainty of salvation. Both theologies treat perseverance (not assurance) as of the essence of saving faith. These systems make final salvation impossible apart from lifelong perseverance. As a result, they necessarily make absolute assurance unattainable in this life. Free Grace theology, however, argues that Jesus makes assuring promises so believers will know with certainty that their destiny is secure.

3. Christ’s promises in John’s Gospel establish assurance of salvation as of the essence of saving faith.

The promises of Christ are clear. The one who believes in Him for eternal life has it—and is sure of it—the moment he believes, because eternal life is what Christ promises. To possess what is eternal is to be certain that it is one’s forever. If a person has never been 100% certain that he currently possesses eternal life, that person has not yet believed Christ’s promise of eternal life. In the Gospel of John, assurance of salvation is of the essence of saving faith. The basis of this assurance is not the believer’s feeble hold on Christ, but Christ’s sure grip on the believer.

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Bob Vacendak is the Senior Pastor of Ridge Pointe Fellowship in Dallas and has a Ph.D. in Apologetics and Theology from Liberty University. He and his wife, Kelly, live in Richardson, TX.

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¹ Hebrews 13:5 is another passage (outside of John’s Gospel) where Jesus gives a “never” promise: “…He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
² John the Baptist adds a seventh passage in John 3:36: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life…”