Is it a sin to lack assurance of salvation?

[RemovedbyRequest]

Luke 11:13:
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

James 1:6-7:
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

If a christian doubts their salvation, which God has promised to those who believe, should they expect to be saved?

OR is it the case that when a believer lacks assurance, they believe God's promise but aren't sure if they've truly believed (doubting themselves rather than doubting God's promise)?

 

[Ed Walsh]

If a christian doubts their salvation, which God has promised to those who believe, should they expect to be saved?

OR is it the case that when a believer lacks assurance, they believe God's promise but aren't sure if they've truly believed (doubting themselves rather than doubting God's promise)?

I know nothing better than the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 18, Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation I quoted it below what I want to say next.

Consider what John is saying in this verse.

1 John 5:13​

These things have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.​

Note that here John is addressing saints that "believe in the name of the Son of God." In other words,, True believers.
Note also that he is writing to them so they "may know that ye have eternal life."

So true saving faith can exist in a saint while they still have some doubts or assurance that they truly belong to the Lord Jesus.

There is a far worse condition that has permeated Christian culture. It is a deadly sin abhorred by the Lord.
This is a false presumption that you have assurance when there are no grounds for believing this.

I ask your pardon for this poor hasty post. I am completely out of time to do this subject justice.

CHAPTER XVIII. Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation

ALTHOUGH hypocrites, and other unregenerate men, may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favour of God and estate of salvation;a which hope of theirs shall perish;b yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity, endeavouring to walk in all good conscience before him, may in this life be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace,c and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God; which hope shall never make them ashamed.

II. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion, grounded upon a fallible hope;e but an infallible assurance of faith, founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation,f the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made,g the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God:h which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption.

III. This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties, before he be partaker of it:k yet, being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary revelation, in the right use of ordinary means, attain there unto.l And therefore it is the duty of every one to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure;m that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience,n the proper fruits of this assurance: so far is it from inclining men to looseness.

IV. True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving of it; by falling into some special sin, which woundeth the conscience, and grieveth the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation; by God’s withdrawing the light of his countenance, and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness, and to have no light yet are they never utterly destitute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may in due time be revived,q and by the which, in the mean time, they are supported from utter despair.r

Westminster Assembly. (1851). The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition (pp. 92–98). William S. Young.

 

[Apologia Christou]

It really depends. The first thing you would have to ask yourself is this: are there any reasons why you might be doubting and not having assurance of salvation? Because after all, we are commanded to make our election sure, and to walk in newness of life and in the Spirit. So this kind of life should lead a Christian to enjoy assurance of salvation.

 

[Ryan&Amber2013]

Luke 11:13:
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

James 1:6-7:
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

If a christian doubts their salvation, which God has promised to those who believe, should they expect to be saved?

OR is it the case that when a believer lacks assurance, they believe God's promise but aren't sure if they've truly believed (doubting themselves rather than doubting God's promise)?

Wow, this is a really lovely question to think about. There is such a sweet peace and rest when there is surety of salvation.

 

[jwithnell]

The scriptures also tell us to put on our armor, to press on in the faith and to endure to the end. The difficulties we have in our faith have been anticipated. As Ed already mentioned, the Westminster divines saw assurance as a topic to address fully, knowing that a sensitive conscience can be almost overwhelmed at times by self doubt. I truly believe our rest in the world to come will be, in part, a result of the accuser having been vanquished finally and forever.

 

[C4MERON]

Luke 11:13:
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

James 1:6-7:
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

If a christian doubts their salvation, which God has promised to those who believe, should they expect to be saved?

OR is it the case that when a believer lacks assurance, they believe God's promise but aren't sure if they've truly believed (doubting themselves rather than doubting God's promise)?

Well the sentiment expressed in the latter was experienced by the man who appealed to Jesus to heal his son with an evil spirit in Mark 9:24 and we know by the following verse that his son was healed.
A humble plea for increase of faith.

 

[CovenantPatriot87]

There is a Psalm with this condition, prescribed to the temple worship:

Psa 88:1-18 KJV 1 A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:
2 Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;
3 For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
5 Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.
6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.
8 Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
9 Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?
12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13 But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.
14 LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?
15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
16 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.
17 They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
18 Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.

 

[moral necessity]

I suppose it might depend on what they are actually doubting.

It is a sin to not believe the promises of God. Doubt and faith are opposites, and yet they are always mixed to some degree in us due to our weakness. Still, one can have faith, and it be little. "I believe...Lord help my unbelief."

In Christ, the Father has been reconciled to man. Whosoever will is invited to take refuge there. Those who don't might not believe the Father has been reconciled, or maybe that Christ is not a sufficient refuge. Some might seek to establish their own righteousness to support their doubts. Some might refuse to turn from other means of safety to Christ alone. Some become intent on trying to peer into the secret election of God, which Calvin warned was a labyrinth of despair. Satan is a master of getting our focus off of Christ. Do we believe God has fully been reconciled by Christ's work? Do we believe we are safe resting in Christ alone and abandoning all other options? Do we believe we are included in the invitation? If so, we can flee to Christ and be confident in our position there, and abandon all other doubts.

Blessings!

 

[inkling]

Luke 11:13:
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

James 1:6-7:
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

If a christian doubts their salvation, which God has promised to those who believe, should they expect to be saved?

OR is it the case that when a believer lacks assurance, they believe God's promise but aren't sure if they've truly believed (doubting themselves rather than doubting God's promise)?

I would agree that it certainly could be - we have all had conversations that seem like the hundredth time going over the matter and you wonder if someone is actually taking God at his word.

Berkhof:
"Among Reformed theologians there is a difference of opinion. Many Presbyterians deny that faith itself includes assurance; and in Reformed circles some share this denial. Kuyper, Bavinck, and Vos, however, correctly hold that true faith, as including trust, carries with it a sense of security, which may vary in degree. There is also an assurance of faith, however, that is the fruit of reflection. It is possible to make faith itself an object of reflection, and thus to arrive at a subjective assurance that does not belong to the essence of faith. In that case we conclude from what we experience in our own life to the presence of the work of the Holy Spirit within us, cf. 1 John 2:9–11; 3:9, 10, 18, 19; 4:7, 20." (L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing co., 1938), 508–509.)

Some will struggle more than others, and this seems consistent with the Apostle, "And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all." 1 Th 5:14

 

[davejonescue]

Of what I have read of the Puritans, they would not consider lack of assurance a sin, but an immaturity; i.e. a babe characteristic. To the Puritans, assurance is a grace, a chief grace, a grace to be strived for and obtained; something not to be taken or assumed lightly. While I got 300 or so works in Puritan Search with numerous results for "assurance of salvation," I think some of the firsts ones from Thomas Fuller and Willem Teellinck sums it up pretty good. To the Puritans, it doesn't seem assurance is as simple as simple belief:

"This Grace of Assurance is not attainable with [ V] ease and idleness. Christianity is a laborious Profession. Observe God's servants clean through the Scripture, resembled to men of painful vocations: To Racers, who must stretch every sinew to get first to the Goale: to Wrestlers, a troublesome employment; so that I am unresolved whether to recount it amongst Toiles, or Exercises, (at the best it is but a toilsome Exercise.) To Soldiers, who are in constant Service and daily Duty, always on the Guard against their Enemies. Besides, we Ministers are compared to Shepherds, a painful and dangerous profession amongst the Jews; to Watchmen, which continually wake for the good of others: so that besides the difficulties of our Christian calling, we are encumbered with others, which attend our Ministerial function. Let none therefore conceit, that Salvation with the Graces accompanying it (whereof this Assurance we treat of is a Principal) is to be compassed with facility, without constant care and endeavor to obtain it. How easily was the man in the Gospel let down to our Savior in the house, whilst four men for him uncovering the roof thereof, let him down with cords lying quietly on his couch? Some may suppose that with as little hardship they may be lifted up to heaven, and that whilst they lazily lie snorting on their beds of security, (never mortifying their lusts, never striving for grace, never struggling against their corruptions) they shall be drawn up to happiness, or it let down to them, merely by the cords of God's mercy, and Christ's merits. Such men without amendment will one day find themselves dangerously deceived, and that it is a laborious task, to gain either the sureness, or assurance of salvation, wherein, according to the Apostles prescription, we must give diligence.

To make your [Each Christian is principally [ VI] to endeavor the Assurance of his own Calling and Election.] Indeed it were to be wished, that Parents, besides themselves, were assured of the true sanctity (so by consequence of their Calling and Election) of themselves multiplied, the children God hath given them, of the second part of their selves lying in their bosom, their wives, of true grace in their friends and family. How comfortable were it, if Ministers were ascertained of true grace and piety in the breasts and bosoms of the people committed to their charge. But the best way to pass a rational verdict, on the sincerity of sanctity in another, is first to find an experimental Evidence thereof in ones own heart. A Philosopher complained, that it was an exceeding hard thing to find a wise man; true, said another, for he must be a wise man that seeks him, and knows when he hath found him; and hence ariseth the difficulty, because two wise men in effect must meet together, the Seeker, and the Finder. It is a hard thing in like manner to be assured of unfeigned faith, and undissembled Devotion in another man's heart. Because first, that party must have a feeling of the operation of grace in his own soul (otherwise blind men are incompetent Judges of colors) before he can make his presumptions of holiness in another, from those sacred symptoms and fruits of piety, which he finds in his own Conscience. Let it therefore be every man's main work, first to make a scrutiny in his own soul, to make his own Calling and Election sure."

Thomas Fuller - A Sermon of Assurance


"Now come we to the Uses that may be made of this that hath been spoken; and the first shall be for Examination, and trial: for, by this Doctrine may every man prove, and try himself whether he be a child of God, or not; in which the most part of men are wanting, suffering themselves to be deceived in the case of assurance of salvation; but it must not be so; for, would a man be willing without proof, and trial of himself to go along merrily, and laughing, with a hope of inheriting eternal life, and at last thorough want of trial, and examination, find himself deceived in his expectation, and be cast into eternal damnation, without hope of ever being delivered? Verily, I think not: therefore enery one must take the pains to prove and examine himself.

Now, here is an infallible Rule, for proof, and trial: See how thou art minded concerning sin; is it so, that when thou hast thoroughly considered thy whole estate, and condition, and weighed in thy heart how everything standeth with thee, thou findest nothing that troubleth, and grieveth thee so much as sin: and canst thou, having all things at will, sit down with the Apostle and mourn because of thy sins, and cry out unfeignedly, O miserable man, who shall deliver me? Wishing above all things to be delivered from the body of sin, and to be freed from the power thereof; oh that is a good sign that there is spiritual life in thee; that thou hast a spiritual eye open to see the hatefulness of sin: that thou thyself hatest sin, and judgest thereof according to the word of God, denying thine own carnal conceit therein: and that sin being in thee, is not in its proper place."

Willem Teellinck - Pauls Complaint Against His Natural Corruption

 

[timfost]

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mk. 9:24)