The Assurance of Faith by Louis Berkhof

Author:Louis Berkhof
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: GLH Publishing
Published: 2018-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

IV. The Foundation of The Assurance of Faith

a. The Promises of God

It was one of the great mistakes of the Pietism of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that, in seeking the assurance of faith, or of salvation, it divorced itself too much from the Word of God. The basis of assurance was sought, not in the objective promises of the Gospel, but in the subjective experiences of believers. The knowledge of the experiences that were made the touchstone of faith, was not gathered from the Word of God, but was obtained by an inductive study of the subjective states and affections of believers. In many cases these were not even put to the test of Scripture, so that the true was not always distinguished from the counterfeit. Moreover, there were unwarranted generalizations. Individual experiences and experiences of a very dubious character were often made normative, were set forth as the necessary marks of true faith. The result was that they who were concerned about the welfare of their soul turned attention to themselves rather than to the Word of God, and spent their life in morbid introspection. It is no wonder that this method did not promote the assurance of faith that fills the heart with heavenly joy, but rather engendered doubt and uncertainty and caused the soul to grope about in a labyrinth of anxious questionings, without an Ariadne-thread to lead it out. This method of seeking assurance by looking within rather than by looking without, to Jesus Christ as He is presented in Scripture, and by making the experiences of others, especially of those who are regarded as “oaks of righteousness” normative, has not yet been abandoned entirely in our own circles. Yet it is a most disappointing one. Archibald Alexander in his Thoughts on Religious Experience quotes the narrative of a certain R—— C——, who makes the following pertinent statement: “I had spent much time in reading accounts of Christian experience, and those which lay down the marks and evidences of true religion, such as Owen on Spiritual-Mindedness, Edwards on The Affections, Guthrie’s Trial of a Saving Interest in Christ, Newton’s Letters, Pike and Hayward’s Cases of Conscience, etc. I also conversed much with old and experienced Christians, as well as with those of my own age. But all these having, as it seemed to me, very little facilitated my progress, and the evils of my heart seeming rather to increase, I hastily resolved to lay aside all books except the Bible, and to devote my whole time to prayer and reading until I experienced a favourable change.” The sequel shows that he did not make that trial in vain; by the study of God’s Word and prayer he was led into light.

The experience of R—— C—— points the way. If we would have the assurance of faith, the first great requisite is that we make a diligent study of the Bible, and more particularly of the glorious promises of forgiveness and salvation. After all it is

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