Faith and Assurance (3)

Rev. J.J. van Eckeveld, Zeist, the Netherlands

The Reformation, to counter the doctrine of Rome, has emphasized that assurance is inseparably connected to faith. True faith does not rest upon anything of man but upon the firm Word of God and the completed merits of Christ. Therein it finds its firmness and assurance.

The certainty outside of us

The Reformation has emphasized two things: on the one hand, it emphasized the total depravity of man, and on the other hand, the completeness of the merits of Christ. Nothing from us but everything from Him! That expresses the heart of the Reformation. Because being saved is only out of free grace and rests alone upon the merits of Christ, it lies so rock solid. When there is spoken of merits before God, nothing of the sinner needs to be added to it. If I had to add even one sigh to my salvation, all would be lost, but it is neither possible nor necessary, for it all lies outside of me in Christ.

Blessed are they who have come to know this secret of salvation through faith. Therein lies the heart of the justification of a sinner through faith. Through faith a sinner learns, as an ungodly one—and nothing more than that—to cast himself upon Christ as He reveals Himself in the gospel. The certainty of salvation as the Reformation has emphasized it out of the Word of God is, therefore, also closely connected with the justification of the ungodly. That does not lie in our experiences but in God and in Christ and in the certainty of His promises. To this, faith firmly attaches itself. “Only he who is firmly convinced that God is for him a gracious and good-doing Father is a true believer” (Calvin). This very strongly emphasizes the assurance of faith.

The Second Reformation

We want to heartily agree not only with the doctrines of the Reformation but also with those of the Second Reformation. Now it is alleged that when persons of the Second Reformation speak of the assurance of faith, there is a divergence from the Reformation. It is said of the men of the Second Reformation that they move the trust from the essence of faith to the quintessence of faith. With the essence of faith we understand the knowledge and trust of faith. With the quintessence we speak of the full assurance of faith.

The charge was made against the men of the Second Reformation that they no longer regarded the certainty to be inseparably bound to faith, but following upon it Johannes Teellinck (±1623-1674) speaks of promises and fulfillment. The first phase of faith, then, is the promise, and the second phase, the fulfillment. Wilhelmus a Brakel (1635-1711) in his Reasonable Service speaks of a refugetaking faith which belongs to the essence of faith. He also speaks of assured trust being a fruit of faith; thus, it belongs to the quintessence of faith.

In connection with this, Alexander Comrie (1706-1774) speaks of the habitus and the actus of faith or the possession and the nearness. The habitus (that is, the possession) is the substance of faith which is worked in the heart in regeneration, and the actus is the act of faith which flows therefrom. According to Comrie, there can be faith without the full assurance.

According to many, all of this discussion about essence and quintessence of faith is nothing more than a diminishing and erosion of the assurance of faith. What should our response be to such comments?

During the lifetime of the authors mentioned above, a national church had evolved with all types of superficiality and outward display as its result. Over against these phenomena men of the Second Reformation with great emphasis called for the necessity of a true faith and of a personal experience of faith in the heart. This led to a discerning preaching which warned against self-deceit and wherein the distinguishing marks of faith were brought to the foreground so that the hearers could examine themselves thereby. So it is said of the Second Reformation teaching that by discerning preaching the foundation of salvation has been moved from the merits of Christ to the distinguishing marks.

Preaching of the distinguishing marks of grace and the pastoral aspect thereof

As an example of discerning preaching Rev. Bernardus Smijtegelt (1665-1739) is sometimes mentioned. In his series called “The Bruised Reed” (Het gekrookte riet), he mentions numerous marks of spiritual life. We should, of course, realize that we can go in the wrong direction with this and be satisfied with less than the assurance of faith which rests upon Christ. “I am sometimes in a good frame; I have at times experienced a heartfelt weeping; I have at times had a blessed church service,” and one can go on in this vein. With these things a person begins to find his rest outside of Christ. That is, of course, a life-threatening danger; however, that is not, when you read closely, what the men of the Second Reformation meant. Smijtegelt did not mean that either. On the contrary, I would like to speak positively and emphatically about the Second Reformation. I do not see the Second Reformation as a departure from the path of the Reformation but as a further development of the same.That is something quite different. Rev. P. deVries speaks about a difference in accent and approach. According to him the Reformers emphasized more the objective assurance that there is salvation for me in Christ, while the men of the Second Reformation have emphasized more the subjective assurance in that I may personally share in this salvation and that I am a child of the Lord. That is quite different from a departure and erosion of faith.

In connection with this, I would like to point to the fact that along with the speaking of the men of the Second Reformation could be found a pastoral sentiment. They met so many people who struggled with the certainty of faith. These they wished to support as an under shepherd from the Word of God. While the Reformers were much more didactic in their writings, the men of the Second Reformation were more pastoral.

We must remember that in days of the Reformation, it had only been a short time since men had left the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church; therefore, much instruction in the true doctrine was necessary. In the first place, it was necessary to bring the objective preaching of the doctrine of free grace; the congregations had to be instructed and founded in this doctrine.

In the days of the Second Reformation there was a further development necessary of the early fundamentals of the Reformation, especially when it came to the pastoral aspect. Because of pastoral reasons, the Second Reformation comes into closer contact with wrestling and afflicted souls. It is for this reason that more attention was focused on the marks of spiritual life and the strife with respect to the appropriation of salvation. The preachers of the Second Reformation stood close to those anxious souls who feared to appropriate Christ and the salvation found in Him.

How close Rev. Wilhelmus a Brakel comes to fearful sinners when he calls out to them, “Let no one lose courage, for there is an abundant fullness of grace in Christ! Only this is postulated, that such are tired of sinning, and they are filled with sorrow over their former abominations, and that with their whole heart they are desirous of reconciliation with God and for a holy life, and without which frame no one will come.”

But how does a sinner come to the assurance of his portion in Christ? In a subsequent article we will delve into that somewhat more deeply.

(to be continued)

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