FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH
November, 1883

By Rev. A. G. Daniels

     The time has been when the doctrine of the assurance of faith was ridiculed as a doctrine held only by fanatics. Anything approaching faith has been looked upon disrespectfully. Some good people have even thought it blasphemous.

     In the time of Wesley, an earnest Christian was cast into prison “because he had the audacity to assert that his sins were forgiven.” No one would advocate imprisonment as a penalty for assurance of faith today. But probably few Christians, comparatively, have very much positivism in their faith. Indeed, it is to be feared there are those who even think it a kind of virtue to doubt their acceptance with God – an evidence of humility that is pleasing to God, and this same hesitancy in their faith they carry with them into all the details of the Christian life.

     Of this we may be very sure – doubting can never be accounted for by the presence of humility. That our faith is hesitating in its character is no evidence that we are humble.
On the other hand, the truth is this: A hesitating faith is only another name for doubt; and doubting what God authorizes as a matter of faith is always sinful and blameworthy.
Faith, as distinguished from presumption, is founded upon the word of the Lord. “To take God at His word,” is a good definition.

     To believe one’s self a Christian, when God’s word does not authorize such belief (as in the case of the impenitent), is not to exercise faith. It is presumption. God declares the penitent and believing one to be His child, and that Christian’s faith in regard to his acceptance with God is simply his belief of God’s word. To pray in faith is simply to pray in the firm belief that God’s word is trustworthy – that He will fulfill His promises. And thus always, faith is simply the recognition of some utterance of God as true. This ought always to be kept in mind when we speak of the “assurance of faith.”

     This expression is found in Heb. 10:22. In the Revised Version it is “fullness of faith.” “Assurance of faith,” then, is simply “fullness of faith” in what God declares. It is faith unmixed with doubt. Now, if we have any faith in the Lord Jesus, it ought to be a strong faith, an unwavering faith. If we believe God at all when He speaks, we ought to believe Him implicitly. If we think we are the children of God through faith, we ought to be sure of it. The plan of salvation is not made up of uncertainties, and the life of God’s children should not consist in a bundle of doubts. If we draw near to the Throne of Grace with any faith at all, it should be “in full assurance of faith.” If it is reasonable to have any faith in God, it is most reasonable to have perfect faith in Him. If it is our privilege to have faith at all in our Redeemer, it is our privilege to have perfect faith in Him – a faith that casteth out all fear. If it is our duty to have any faith at all in God’s providence, it is our duty to have absolute faith in that providence. Anything less than full assurance of faith in the Christian life is unreasonable, beneath our privilege and a failure in duty.

     A professing Christian is in doubt as to his acceptance with God. He need not continue long in uncertainty. He may be sure of it, and he ought to be. Turn to Acts 19:2 (New Version), and ask yourself the question that Paul put to the disciples at Ephesus: “Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?” Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Marvel not that I said unto you, ye must be born again.” Regeneration is just as necessary to spiritual life as birth is to natural life. Did the Holy Spirit give you a new nature that at once began war with your old disposition – a war of extermination? Did He implant within you a love for God and for a holy life, and a hatred of the sin that is in you?

     If so, you have been born again. God tells you so in His Word many times. Put the same question in another form: Do you entrust yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ, taking him as your Prophet, Priest and King? “He that believeth hath everlasting life.” “There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” If you believe this word of God at all, believe it with all your might, and every moment of your life. God is not a man that He should lie. To believe Him implicitly is to have the full assurance of faith. We should be ashamed of anything less.

     But it is in reference to prayer that the expression “full assurance of faith,” is used in the Scriptures. “Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith.” – (Heb. 10:22.) With the many promises of the Lord in reference to the prayers of His children, the readers of this periodical are familiar. Every one of them is just as trustworthy as the statement that “God is love.” We cannot believe them too fully. A hesitating faith here is especially dishonoring to God. To take one of these solemn promises on our lips and approach the Throne of Grace with it, all the time doubting its truth in our secret mind, is only to say to our Father that we cannot trust Him. The prayer of faith takes God at His word without the shadow of doubt.