Assurance | Grace Evangelical Society

Evangelical Leaders Who Deny Certainty of Salvation

October 25, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - absolute certainty, Assurance, Eternal Security, Evangelical leaders who deny the possibility of certainty, Perseverance

Dr. John Niemelä called today and asked me if I had a list of quotes from Evangelicals who deny absolute assurance. Well, I didn’t have the list, but I did have many such quotes. So, I’ve pulled them together for this blog. Robert Peterson: Protestants do not claim the ‘absolute’ certainty that Rome rejects.

Are You Cross Wise?

September 30, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Assurance, assurance is of the essence of saving faith, evangelism, the cross and evangelism

There has been confusion for twenty years now concerning what Zane Hodges wrote about the cross and resurrection. In 1999 at our national conference, he delivered two messages on how to lead a person to Christ. In those messages he said that believing that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose bodily from the dead does not mean that

How Do You Know You’re Trusting Jesus to Save You?

August 28, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Assurance, questions

Question How do I know that I am trusting in Jesus to save me? I am worried if I was to die, I’d find out that I was believing something else. I guess I get a bit confused because I was raised believing that if someone is truly saved they will have a changed life, and I have experienced

Assurance and Faith

August 2, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Assurance, assurance is of the essence of saving faith, Faith, saving faith

Beware of what you say. You may contradict yourself. Or, you might contradict your mentor. Here is a great question from a reader/listener: At the beginning of the July 4th episode of Grace in Focus Radio on Discussions on Christianity for the Emotionally Damaged, Bob stated that assurance is another name for faith or belief. Zane

Assurance Is the Essence of Saving Faith

July 16, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Assurance, Assurance of the essence of saving faith, Berkhof’s view of saving faith, Eternal Security

We’ve written on this before. See here for a 1997 article by Zane Hodges. And here is a 2017 article by Shawn Lazar. Here is a 2008 article by me. Here is my recent review of a booklet which argues that assurance is of the essence. So why look at this issue again? Today I ran across a quote from Louis Berkhof, the premier Reformed theologian, concerning this issue.

How Wrong Interpretation Can Destroy Assurance

June 12, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Assurance, James 2:14-26, legalism, Lordship Salvation

I thought this was a good question about James 2: Have you seen any articles/books expand on the fact that the traditional interpretation of James 2:14-26 (saving faith has works, and non-saving faith doesn’t have works) leads to legalism and lack of assurance of salvation? Recently I read a Free Grace book (can’t remember which one)

Romans and Perseverance of the Saints

May 31, 2019 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - Assurance, Perseverance, Sanctification

A reader recently wrote GES asking for comments on an article found online. The article deals with Romans 5-8. Click here for the article. In Romans 5-8, Paul deals with the Christian life. The main point of the article is that in these chapters Paul is saying that a productive Christian life is inevitable in the life of

Assurance and Ongoing Faith

May 23, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Assurance, Faith

Shawn Lazar, Ken Yates, and I received the following question via email: I read the affirmations of faith on the website (https://faithalone.org/beliefs) and saw a line that seems out of sort with what I have heard from GES teaching: “That is, as long as a person believes in Jesus for everlasting life, he knows he has

The Difference Between Backsliding and Apostasy

May 21, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - apostasy, Assurance, Backsliding, Hebrews 6:4-8

Free Grace people are united in saying that born again people are not immune to backsliding. Even Lordship Salvation people agree, though they would say that backsliding can’t last too long (but they don’t know how long is too long). But Free Grace people are not quite united on the question of apostasy. Do born again people

Asa Mahan’s Assurance of Salvation

May 14, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Asa Mahan, Assurance

Asa Mahan (1799-1889) was an Arminian philosopher and theologian. He was Presbyterian, but at a time when many Presbyterians were becoming Arminian (following the so-called “New Haven Theology”). Mahan was also the first president of Oberlin College (when it was a revivalist school and not the uber-liberal place it is today). Mahan was also co-worker with