Everything that God’s Word says about salvation conveys the thought of the eternal assurance of those who believe in the Lord Jesus and His work. If it weren’t for this certainty, we couldn’t trust the Word of God. God’s firm promises about His own actions would then have to be called into question. But the Word of God is the revealed truth, of which the Lord Jesus says:
“Your word is truth” (John 17:17).
Let us now look at some biblical passages which testify to the perfect and eternal certainty of the redeemed, in order to substantiate what has been said so far.
Shepherd and sheep
In John 10 the Son of God presents Himself as the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep, that is, for those who believe in Him. He says of them:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them life eternal; and they will never perish, and no one will seize them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one can seize out of the hand of my Father” (John 10:27-29).
Let us note: These words of the Lord Jesus do not contain a single condition, exhortation or warning, but on the contrary establish seven incontrovertible facts:
They hear the voice of the Good Shepherd because they are His property.
The Good Shepherd knows His sheep who believe in Him.
The sheep follow the Good Shepherd because this corresponds to their new nature.
He gives them eternal life.
They will not be lost for all eternity, for He does not let them go.
No one can take them out of His hand.
No one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The last two points are sometimes explained as saying that while no other power can steal the sheep from the hands of the Good Shepherd and the Father, they themselves can very well ‘tear themselves away’. Would this not be incomparably worse than a person saved from a burning house who escapes the arms of his saviour and plunges once more into the deadly flames? Much more significant, however, is that someone who ‘tears himself loose’ from the Father’s hand must have greater power than He does, as Romans 8:38–39 shows. For there we are told that no creature can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Christ, our life
“Your life is hid with the Christ in God. When the Christ is manifested, who is our life, then will you also be manifested with him in glory.” (Col. 3:3–4)
As this passage shows, not only are we made alive with Christ, but He Himself is our life, and He is inviolably situated at the right hand of God in heaven. With Him our life is hidden in God. So too our life in Christ is secure and untouchable. If we could lose this life, He must lose it too! If we were to be lost, He – which is unthinkable – would also have to be lost!
No condemnation
“There is then now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesusa” (Rom. 8:1).
Through faith, Christ is not only in us, but we are also in Him – inseparably united to Him – as though wrapped up in His perfection and glory. If there were any damnation for us now, it would have to be for Christ! But that is impossible. This is why Paul closes the chapter with the words:
“For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38–39).
a The KJV adds: “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
To summarise the thoughts of the highly respected Bible teacher William Kelly (1821-1906) in his Notes on the Epistle of Paul, the Apostle, to the Romans:
Romans 8 gives a summary and conclusion to Paul’s previous reasoning from chapter 5:12 to the close of chapter 7. It continues to develop the revelation of the truth, but alludes to and builds on the points already covered. Nothing is more striking than the explicit, distinct, and comprehensive affirmation of verse 1. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus.” The truth is here clearly stated for all those who are in this new place of acceptance — “in Christ Jesus.” For these he could not say more and he would not say less. What he says is absolute and decisive. He purposely leaves no loophole for modifying or weakening the deliverance.
Some claim that it makes no difference to accept the clause added into the second half of the verse, as in the KJV. I cannot agree. The best manuscript authority proves it to be spurious. To understand the force of the passage it is essential that the added clause should be rejected. These words belong in verse 4, where they are of immense importance. They are completely misleading in verse 1, where they would act as a qualifying clause, casting the soul upon an examination of its walk as the means of certifying that one is in Christ Jesus. I freely admit the duty of self-judgment as to my heart and ways; but this is not the way to ascertain that I am in Christ. If it were my walk and demeanour that gave me assurance, it would be completely self-righteous and presumptuous. A man who gets assurance based on his own estimate of his inward and outward ways should be pitied, not envied. Christian self-judgment has an important place. But to introduce it here would dislocate all truth, impair all grace, and actually destroy the source of power for a Christian walk.
The passage in its true form denies all condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. It views Christians as being in an altogether new place, in Christ Jesus; where condemnation is not, and cannot be. It is not a question of degree but an absolute fact, true of all real Christians. To suggest that in proportion as he displays the Spirit of Christ he is free from condemnation is to miss the truth here revealed. I repeat, it is a question of the place grace gives them in Christ and not of their measure of making it good in feeling and ways. “In Christ” rightly understood precludes all question of degree or doubt.
The precious principle of ‘no condemnation’ was first introduced in the latter half of Romans 5. Here it is re-asserted with even greater strength and absoluteness. Not only are we not condemned, but there is no condemnation. We are in Christ, and no possible condemnation can reach us there.
We know
In many passages of the New Testament there is mention of a believing ‘knowledge’. I am only quoting a few of them here:
Romans 8:28: “But we do know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to purpose.”
2 Corinthians 4:14: “Knowing that he who has raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will present us with you.”
2 Corinthians 5:1: “We know that if our earthly tabernacle house be destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
1 John 3:2: “We know that if it is manifested we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.”
1 John 5:19: “We know that we are of God.”
1 John 5:20: “We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding that we should know him that is true.”
It expressly does not say here “believe” but “know”. On a human level there is a difference between ‘believing’ and ‘knowing’: ‘to believe is not to know’ is a saying. You can believe something today and not believe it tomorrow because you are not really convinced of it. However knowledge goes further: it is based on facts or on experience. In our relationship with God, “faith” is such a firm conviction of the irrefutable facts of salvation, brought about by God’s Spirit, that it is put on a par with “knowledge” in the Word of God. Here everything is not only guaranteed by God, but as believers we are knowledgeable and can therefore live in perfect security and certainty.
Safety and Certainty
Everything that God’s Word says about salvation conveys the thought of the eternal assurance of those who believe in the Lord Jesus and His work. If it weren’t for this certainty, we couldn’t trust the Word of God. God’s firm promises about His own actions would then have to be called into question. But the Word of God is the revealed truth, of which the Lord Jesus says:
“Your word is truth” (John 17:17).
Let us now look at some biblical passages which testify to the perfect and eternal certainty of the redeemed, in order to substantiate what has been said so far.
Shepherd and sheep
In John 10 the Son of God presents Himself as the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep, that is, for those who believe in Him. He says of them:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them life eternal; and they will never perish, and no one will seize them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one can seize out of the hand of my Father” (John 10:27-29).
Let us note: These words of the Lord Jesus do not contain a single condition, exhortation or warning, but on the contrary establish seven incontrovertible facts:
The last two points are sometimes explained as saying that while no other power can steal the sheep from the hands of the Good Shepherd and the Father, they themselves can very well ‘tear themselves away’. Would this not be incomparably worse than a person saved from a burning house who escapes the arms of his saviour and plunges once more into the deadly flames? Much more significant, however, is that someone who ‘tears himself loose’ from the Father’s hand must have greater power than He does, as Romans 8:38–39 shows. For there we are told that no creature can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Christ, our life
“Your life is hid with the Christ in God. When the Christ is manifested, who is our life, then will you also be manifested with him in glory.” (Col. 3:3–4)
As this passage shows, not only are we made alive with Christ, but He Himself is our life, and He is inviolably situated at the right hand of God in heaven. With Him our life is hidden in God. So too our life in Christ is secure and untouchable. If we could lose this life, He must lose it too! If we were to be lost, He – which is unthinkable – would also have to be lost!
No condemnation
“There is then now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesusa” (Rom. 8:1).
Through faith, Christ is not only in us, but we are also in Him – inseparably united to Him – as though wrapped up in His perfection and glory. If there were any damnation for us now, it would have to be for Christ! But that is impossible. This is why Paul closes the chapter with the words:
“For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38–39).
a The KJV adds: “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
To summarise the thoughts of the highly respected Bible teacher William Kelly (1821-1906) in his Notes on the Epistle of Paul, the Apostle, to the Romans:
Romans 8 gives a summary and conclusion to Paul’s previous reasoning from chapter 5:12 to the close of chapter 7. It continues to develop the revelation of the truth, but alludes to and builds on the points already covered. Nothing is more striking than the explicit, distinct, and comprehensive affirmation of verse 1. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus.” The truth is here clearly stated for all those who are in this new place of acceptance — “in Christ Jesus.” For these he could not say more and he would not say less. What he says is absolute and decisive. He purposely leaves no loophole for modifying or weakening the deliverance.
Some claim that it makes no difference to accept the clause added into the second half of the verse, as in the KJV. I cannot agree. The best manuscript authority proves it to be spurious. To understand the force of the passage it is essential that the added clause should be rejected. These words belong in verse 4, where they are of immense importance. They are completely misleading in verse 1, where they would act as a qualifying clause, casting the soul upon an examination of its walk as the means of certifying that one is in Christ Jesus. I freely admit the duty of self-judgment as to my heart and ways; but this is not the way to ascertain that I am in Christ. If it were my walk and demeanour that gave me assurance, it would be completely self-righteous and presumptuous. A man who gets assurance based on his own estimate of his inward and outward ways should be pitied, not envied. Christian self-judgment has an important place. But to introduce it here would dislocate all truth, impair all grace, and actually destroy the source of power for a Christian walk.
The passage in its true form denies all condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. It views Christians as being in an altogether new place, in Christ Jesus; where condemnation is not, and cannot be. It is not a question of degree but an absolute fact, true of all real Christians. To suggest that in proportion as he displays the Spirit of Christ he is free from condemnation is to miss the truth here revealed. I repeat, it is a question of the place grace gives them in Christ and not of their measure of making it good in feeling and ways. “In Christ” rightly understood precludes all question of degree or doubt.
The precious principle of ‘no condemnation’ was first introduced in the latter half of Romans 5. Here it is re-asserted with even greater strength and absoluteness. Not only are we not condemned, but there is no condemnation. We are in Christ, and no possible condemnation can reach us there.
We know
In many passages of the New Testament there is mention of a believing ‘knowledge’. I am only quoting a few of them here:
It expressly does not say here “believe” but “know”. On a human level there is a difference between ‘believing’ and ‘knowing’: ‘to believe is not to know’ is a saying. You can believe something today and not believe it tomorrow because you are not really convinced of it. However knowledge goes further: it is based on facts or on experience. In our relationship with God, “faith” is such a firm conviction of the irrefutable facts of salvation, brought about by God’s Spirit, that it is put on a par with “knowledge” in the Word of God. Here everything is not only guaranteed by God, but as believers we are knowledgeable and can therefore live in perfect security and certainty.
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