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Must We Be Hesitant?

Yesterday I was visiting with a man who told me that the religious affiliation in which he was raised taught that a Christian can never be certain of their salvation. They actually could not know if they were one of the saved. Do you find that as amazing as I do? After all, what is the point of having faith if there is no assurance with it? What kind of faith is so lacking in confidence that one can never be certain of what they believe in? So how would you answer the question, “Do you know you are saved?” Would you be able to say with confidence, “Yes, I am saved?” Or would you be tentative about it?

If there is anything abundantly clear in the NT, it is that salvation is a sure thing for those who put their faith and obedient trust in Jesus Christ. Paul and the other apostles constantly spoke in terms of full assurance and confidence (Eph 3.12; Heb 4.16; 6.11, 19; 10.19, 22). The apostle John spoke in the strongest possible terms, using the very words “we know” (1 Jn 2.3,5; 3.2,14,19,24; 4.13,5.15,19). His strongest statement in this regard is in 1 Jn 5.13: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Both salvation and eternal life are spoken of in terms of a present possession (cf. Jn 5.24). It is true that the Bible also speaks of salvation as a future reward, but even then it speaks in terms of assured confidence. In 1 Tim 1.12, for example, Paul said that he is convinced that Christ would guard what Paul entrusted to him (i.e., his salvation). Peter similarly said that we have an inheritance reserved in heaven, protected by the power of God through faith (1 Pet 1.4-5). Jude said that God is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand (Jude 24). Jesus himself said, “and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (Jn 10.28). The very word “hope” means “confident expectation.”

And yet, the Bible is equally clear that a Christian can fall from grace so as to lose their salvation (1 Cor 10.12; Rom 11.22), and even speaks of several who had (Gal 5.1-3; Heb 6.4-6). The little word “if” is a big word in the Bible, placing conditions on our salvation which, if not met, would result in forfeiture of our hope (Rom 11.22; 1 Cor 15.1-2; Col 1.22-23; Heb 3.6). This is not a theoretical “if.” We must hold fast our faith firm until the end. But such passages are not meant to make our hope tentative. Paul was never hesitant about his own standing with God, present or future. Even when he acknowledged the possibility of being disqualified (1 Cor 9.26-27), he stated that he disciplined himself to assure against it. It is a statement of confidence, not hesitancy or doubt. If you asked Paul if he was saved, he would say, “Yes!” If you asked him if he would be saved in the end, he would again say “Yes!” (cf. 1 Tim 4.8). Paul’s confidence was not because it was impossible to fall away, nor because he was so certain about his own righteousness (present or future), but rather because of his faith in God, as he says in Rom 4.16: “For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants….”