According to the Reformed faith, there are three things that are necessary in order for a person to be assured that he is elect and thus will with absolute certainty be saved forever:

1. He must be a believer and thus saved and effectually called.

2. He must know that he is a believer from the knowledge of his faith and its fruits.

3. He must then draw the conclusion that he is elect, since only the elect have saving faith.

This is a basic doctrine of the Calvinistic system. It has been enshrined in the official statement of Calvinism, the Canons of Dort. It says Head of Doctrine 1, Article 12:

Assurance of this eternal and unchangeable election to salvation is given to the chosen in due time, though by various stages and in differing measure. Such assurance comes not by inquisitive searching into the hidden and deep things of God, but by noticing within themselves, with spiritual joy and holy delight, the unmistakable fruits of election pointed out in God’s Word—such as a true faith in Christ, a childlike fear of God, a godly sorrow for their sins, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and so on.

This is a fundamental point of the Calvinistic faith. It is basic to our system of doctrine. To illustrate this, let me provide a quote from Moïse Amyraut. He is known as an innovator in the area of predestination, but he still held to the basic structure of the Calvinistic system. Notice what he says on this point in his Brief Traitté de la Predestination:

This is not a matter of climbing up to the heavens to see if their names are written there nor asking God to open up His books . . . [but] the believer, wanting to be assured of his election to spiritual life in Christ will examine . . . the pulse of his soul and recognizing in his understanding an extraordinary illumination, in his conscience a profound peace by the assurance of forgiveness, in his will and all his affections a vehement love toward the one who is the author of this peace and toward those who have similar characteristics, and all that mixed with a living and profound hope of another life than the earthly; finding, I say, in himself all the marks of the life of Christ, he will reason that since he cannot have these things from anywhere else but the grace of God, as Scripture teaches, and that this grace is not communicated except in virtue of election, it is necessarily true that he has a part in it and that God loved him before the foundation of the world. (155–156)

Amyraut believed that is someone was a believer, they would be able to discern the marks of the election. They could conclude from these marks that they were elect and thus would be saved forever. We see in Amyraut’s doctrine the same elements that are present in other Reformed presentations of the doctrine of assurance.

This doctrine of assurance is not only the Reformed view, it is also a helpful and beneficial doctrine:

1. It discourages presumption.

2. It is encouraging to believers because they can discern the marks of election and thus know that they are elect with all the joy and blessings that come with it.

3. It teaches that assurance is not easy but is possible.

4. It teaches us the true marks of godliness and encourages us to pursue them.

5. It encourages godliness because it instructs those who would desire to experience the joy of their salvation to avoid those things that would dim their sight of the marks of the Christian and pursue those things that would cause them to shine.

For all these reasons, we need to emphasize a careful preaching and teaching of the Reformed doctrine of assurance of salvation.

Wes White is a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. He is currently serving as the Pastor of New Covenant Spearfish Presbyterian Church, Spearfish, South Dakota. This article originally appeared on his web site http://weswhite.net and is used with permission.