I appreciate this theological perspective on assurance of salvation. Here, Sproul encourages us to peer into our soul to discover if we have any love at all for Jesus as encountered in scripture. Not the Jesus that we have manufactured in our minds through clever Sunday School stories… but the true Jesus as revealed to us in God’s word. Having a love for him is impossible without conversion.
Read: Can I Be Sure I’m Saved? by R.C. Sproul | Ligonier Ministries Blog
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This one is difficult for me. I agree with him theologically that an unconverted person cannot love Jesus as he is presented in scripture but for me it is so hard to know this. Am I deceiving myself? I want a test to know if I truly love him. Something to give me assurance of my love.
Well this is the million dollar question isn’t it? I think Rob is right. I thought for the longest time that I loved the Jesus of the Bible but I’m finding now that I neither knew him nor loved him. It was much easier to love him when he bowed to my piety but I’m finding that the Jesus of the New Testament doesn’t do much bowing at all. Instead he asks me to humble myself and bow to him.
Well said Lenette!
The test Rob is John 14. If you love Christ you will obey his commandments. Also loving one another is a sign that you know and love God (1 John 4). If you do those then you know you love the God of the Bible and that is assurance.
Good point Ryan. Our ultimate test is whether we are obeying the Jesus of the bible. Though to Sproul’s point, we do so imperfectly and so even that can cause doubt.