On the issue of Assurance of Salvation (part 3)

[continuing on from the previous posts here and here]

Now, knowing that the basis of our salvation is fully of God, and not by anything that we can or ever will do (since although we receive Christ by faith, yet we do so because he chose us first and the Holy Spirit regenerates us in order that we might have faith in Him), we cannot lose our salvation, since it is not our choice to begin with. In verses like Jn. 6:37, 40, 44 & 47, we can see that Jesus promises that whoever believes in Him will DEFINITELY have eternal life, and this promise is based on the unchangeability of God (and that is why open theism is heresy, but that's for another day). Of course, however, such promises have a condition attached, which is that of faith (which has similarly being purchased for us) and it is at this point that we come to the practical difficulties that we face in our everday lives, including all the part about bearing fruits, about not knowing if we are deceived when we claim to have faith etc. And to this we will turn to now.

Let us look at the area of bearing fruits. Now, the main passages to look at here are Mt. 7:19-20; 12:35, and Jn. 15:5-6, which are as follows:

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits (Mt. 7:19-20)

The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil (Mt. 12:35)

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I am him, he it is that bears much fruit, for aprt from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the brances are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. (Jn. 15:5-6)

As we can see, good trees bear good fruits and bad trees bear bad fruits, with those who are bad trees; bad branches destined for destruction. The worry for some Christians is obviously that there don't seem to be bearing fruit, or at least they don't think they are bearing fruit, and thus they worry they are bad trees/branches who may be destined for destruction. All the marvelous promises made to them who believe in Christ "loses its power" as doubt begins to be planted as to whether they are saved in the first place. Since Christians ought to bear good fruit, and they don't seem to be bearing good fruit, they reason that they couldn't possibly be Christians, or that there is something desperately wrong with their Christian life, since they are not producing fruit in conformity with the teachings of Scripture. Coupled with a realization that their hearts are desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9) doesn't exactly help things out either.

First of all, let us look at the issue of Jer. 17:9 first, followed by looking at what exactly are the fruits that Jesus is talking about, what exactly are the fruits of conversion, and thus the marks of a true Christian.

For Jer. 17:9, it is true that the heart is desperately wicked, and we do have the propensity to deceive even our ownselves. However, we do have a helper with us, even the Holy Spirit who dwells among us. Jesus promises ALL his disciples that the Holy Spirit would indwell us and guide us into all truth (Jn. 16:13), so therefore IF we are truly saved, then the Holy Spirit would be with us and would help us see through our deceitful heart, and thus we would not be deceived by it, if we follow Him. Of course, this leads us to the question that then could it be that one is not saved, without the Holy Spirit, and therefore the person could still thus be deceived into believing s/he is saved? Perhaps, but there is a test that the person would definitely fail, and even his deceitful heart would not be able to deceive him/herself. Such a test would look out for the marks of true Christians, which the false Christian could fake to a certain extent but never be able to fulfil them, seeing that such characteristics could only arise out of a regenerated nature (2 Cor. 5:17; Jn. 10:3-5).

So what are the marks of a true Christian, and how does that relate to the fruits mentioned by Jesus in the passages above?

[to be continued]