By Mike Lii
Introduction
At the 1997 Grace Evangelical Society National Conference, Zane Hodges gave a message titled, “Assurance Is of the Essence of Saving Faith.”1 His title differs from “Assurance Is the Essence of Saving Faith” only by the addition of the word of. This has led many to confuse the two statements. GES, in its Affirmation of Beliefs,2 states: “Assurance is of the essence of believing in Jesus for everlasting life.” Yet occasionally, even GES has inadvertently omitted the word of when referencing assurance and the essence of saving faith in various publications.
What is the difference between “Assurance is of the essence of saving faith” and “Assurance is the essence of saving faith”? For Hodges, adding the word of was not optional; it was crucial in describing the saving message.
Assurance Is of the Essence of Saving Faith
“Assurance is of the essence of saving faith,” may be represented by the following diagram:
Saving faith (Believing in Jesus for everlasting life) -> (instantly gives) -> Everlasting life (can’t be lost) and Assurance (can be lost)
This diagram represents the truth that assurance of everlasting life is the instantaneous and inescapable result of believing the saving message (saving faith).
In addition to being a careful student of New Testament Greek, Hodges was a careful student of the English language. This author has at times inadvertently omitted the word of when referencing assurance and the essence of saving faith in GES publications. Hodges never did in either his 1997 conference message or subsequent 1998 JOTGES article.3 What is the significance of including the word of?
The purpose of including of is to demonstrate that assurance of everlasting life is the necessary immediate byproduct of believing the saving message. In John 11:25-26, Jesus states to Martha:
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
It is impossible for a person to believe what Jesus has stated to Martha, yet remain unsure of whether he will live with Jesus eternally. If a person is unsure of this, he is not believing that when he dies, “…he shall live.” He is, therefore, not believing what Jesus said. On the other hand, a person who believes “this” (what Jesus has stated to Martha) is assured of eternal life, based on Jesus’ promise. Saving faith always results in immediate assurance of everlasting life. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47).
A person who is unsure of whether he has everlasting life, is not, at that moment, exercising saving faith. He lacks assurance because he is not believing Jesus’ promise. Note that being unsure at a particular point in time does not mean that a person has never believed the saving message. When a person believes in Jesus for everlasting life, that life is secure forever and can never be lost. Assurance may be lost if one stops believing in Jesus for everlasting life, but the life received is eternally secure.
Assurance Is the Essence of Saving Faith
However, that does not mean that assurance is equal to or synonymous with saving faith.
“Assurance is the essence of saving faith” may be represented by the following diagram: Assurance of everlasting life = Saving faith
Note that this diagram equates “assurance of everlasting life” with “saving faith.” In other words, whenever you have assurance, you then have saving faith. The problem with this statement is that it is possible for a person to have assurance for a reason other than believing Jesus’ promises in the Gospel of John. For example, one might be sure of his salvation because he has the self-righteousness attitude of the Pharisee in Luke 18:11:
“God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.”
Although this Pharisee may have been sure of his salvation because of his good works, this was not saving faith because the source of his assurance was not belief in Jesus’ saving promise.
The saving message is not “believe that you have everlasting life.” It is “believe in Jesus for everlasting life.” If the saving message were the former instead of the latter, then anyone who feels assured that he has everlasting life has it—even if that assurance is based on thinking that one is good enough or has done the appropriate works (e.g., baptism, confession, or communion). While such a person may be 100% sure, he does not have everlasting life. Being sure of having everlasting life is not the same as believing the saving message.
When asked about the importance of distinguishing between faith and assurance—in other words, why should one avoid saying, “Assurance is the essence of saving faith”—Hodges answered:
Saving faith has objective content to it. Its content, essentially is the content we stated in John 11:25-27. This is what we believe, but because of the nature of the content, an inescapable byproduct of that content if I believe it, is that I know that I’m saved. Therefore in my mind, it is unguarded to say that assurance and faith are synonymous.4
The statement, “Assurance is of the essence of saving faith” clarifies that, while the presence of assurance does not guarantee that saving faith is present, saving faith (e.g., belief in the saving truth of John 3:16; 5:24) always results in the immediate assurance of everlasting life.
Conclusion
Assurance of everlasting life is of the essence of saving faith. There may be times in GES publications when of has been inadvertently omitted, but the Focused Free Grace and GES belief is that assurance of everlasting life is the immediate and inescapable byproduct of saving faith.
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Mike Lii is a finance attorney. He and his wife, Letitia, a member of the GES board, and their son, Payton, live in Dallas and serve at Vista Ridge Bible Fellowship in Lewisville, Texas. Mike and Letitia also run the Zane Hodges Library online (zanehodges.org).
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1 See https://youtu.be/LZ-3vY6VJtI
2 See https://faithalone.org/beliefs/
3 https://faithalone.org/journal-articles/of-the-essence-of-savingfaith/
4 See https://youtu.be/LZ-3vY6VJtI at 56:36.