Evidence and assurance¶
The warning passages can make a believer ask, "How can I know I am in Christ?" This section answers that question with the New Testament's own evidence: the new birth, the marks of 1 John, the fruit of the Spirit, repentance, the Spirit's witness, and perseverance.
The pages¶
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| The new birth is real | Regeneration as a divine act, and what it does and does not guarantee. |
| The marks of new birth | The tests of 1 John: love, obedience, confession, doctrine, hope. |
| The fruit of the Spirit | Character as evidence, and the difference between fruit and works. |
| Repentance and godly sorrow | The difference between Peter's grief and Judas's. |
| The Spirit's witness | Assurance from within, and its relation to the Word and the fruit. |
| Assurance without presumption | Ground, evidence, and posture: how to know without presumption. |
| Perseverance as evidence | Why continuing is evidence of life, not the price of it. |
| Born of God and safe | What the evidence guarantees, and what it does not. |
The balance¶
The evidence is not the ground of salvation; Christ is. But the evidence is real, and it is meant to give assurance. The person who sees faith, love, obedience, confession, fruit, and perseverance can say, "The Spirit is at work in me." The person who sees none of these should not presume.