Written for: Holiness Critical Issues
Date Written: 11/19/2008
The Witness of the Spirit
Perhaps few
doctrines in recent Christendom have delved as deep
into the murk and morass of confusion and subjectivity
as the doctrine of the witness of the Spirit. Some say
it is feelings, others faith. Some singular, others
plural. To add even more, the plethora of terms and
labels given to the various aspects of this topic has
resulted in a serious impediment to understanding the
doctrine. The quandary this doctrine currently resides
in has caused many current followers to nearly abandon
it all together.
It is for this reason that it is essential for us to
stop for a moment our feelings of utter ineptness, and
look again with a clear mind at the origin of this
doctrine, its history, and also current theologians
views on the topic. And thus is the purpose of this
paper, to view the history of this doctrine (through
the teaching of John Wesley), and its current
presentation by modern theologians (through the
teaching of Dr. Allan Brown).
I. John
Wesley’s View of the Witness of the Spirit
The first
matter to be discussed regarding this issue is its
development through the efforts of John Wesley, who was
a key player in its understanding and presentation. It
is helpful to break down the life of John Wesley into
three time frames which reflects his level of
theological and personal development: 1) The early
Wesley (1703-1744) 2) The middle Wesley (1745-1770) 3)
The mature Wesley (1770-1778) (Brown, n.d., Class
lecture).
John Wesley
was born in the year 1703 in Epworth, England. He was
the son of Samuel and Susannah Wesley (Brown, n.d., p.
1). The majority of his personal ministry was confined
to England, although he did minister in America for a
short time.
Wesley has
been called one of the most brilliant church leaders in
history, and that is a title he most probably deserves.
He received his Bachelor of Arts from Christ Church
College in Oxford, and continued on to get his Masters
at Lincoln College. He was early impacted by the
reading of Bishop Taylor’s Rules
and Exercises of Holy Living and
Dying. After
reading Taylor’s work, he began to show a new
dedication and discipline for Christian living. He
began to keep a journal in which he accounted for every
hour of his day. According to Outler, this was Wesley’s
first conversion to “seriousness” and “self-dedication”
(as cited in Brown, n.d., p. 1). It is also important
to note that Wesley believed himself to be a Christian
at this point (Brown, n.d., p. 1).
Another key event in the life of John Wesley occurred
in 1729 at the age of 26. It was in this year which he
began meeting with a group of men who came to be known
by their critics as “The Holy Club.” Brown describes
these men as “a small semi-monastic group designed for
systematic Bible study, mutual discipline in devotion
and frequent Communion” (Brown, n.d., p. 2). This event
will become important later in Wesley’s life as he
gains a fuller understanding of the means of salvation
and the witness of the Spirit.
1738 also proved to be a turning point in the life of
John Wesley. In March of this year he began “to preach
salvation by faith alone through an instantaneous
conversion rather than by faith and works” (Brown,
n.d., p. 3).
One of the
strongest influencers upon Wesley, and one of the key
people in his development, was a Moravian named Peter
Bohler. Watson recounts the following incident that
spurred on Wesley’s investigation into the doctrine of
assurance,
"John
Wesley had been questioning his own spiritual state
before he met Peter Bohler in 1938, on the way back
from Georgia to England. When Peter Bohler said true
faith in Christ ‘had those two fruits inseparably
attending it, ‘dominion over sin and constant peace
from a sense of forgiveness,’ ‘I [Wesley] was quite
amazed, and looked upon it as a new gospel. If there
was so, it was clear that I had not faith. But I was
not willing to be convinced of this. Therefore I
disputed with all my might, and laboured to prove that
faith might be where these were not; for all the
scriptures relating to this I had been long since
taught to construe away. Besides, I well saw that no
one could, in the nature of things, have such a sense
of forgiveness and not feel
it. But I
felt it not. If, then, there was no faith without this,
all my pretensions to faith dropped at once’…. John
Wesley was not convinced until near the end of April of
1938, just before the Aldersgate experience."
It was also
during this year that Wesley had his “Aldersgate
Experience.” Smith points out, “Before Aldersgate…John
Wesley believed he was saved by faith in Christ. Faith
in Christ in his day would mean an intellectual assent,
good works, going to church, reading the Bible,
receiving the sacraments, and keeping your baptismal
vows” (Smith, n.d, p. 3). It should be noted that after
Aldersgate he ceased to believe he was saved before the
experience; although he would change this view later in
life.
Smith
continues by asserting that, “Before [Wesley’s]
Aldersgate experience he had no clear understanding
that God would bring a clear assurance to Christian
believers. Wesley lived above outbroken sin and had an
orthodox faith, but a
trusting faith eluded him” (Smith,
n.d., p. 3).
During these early years of Wesley’s life he did not
explicitly write on the doctrine of the Witness of the
Spirit. However, from the experiences listed above we
can infer much about his views during this time. It
would appear that in Wesley’s early understanding much
confidence was placed in faith and
works for
the assurance of salvation (which is one of the main
purposes of the Witness of the Spirit). Evidence of
this would be his involvement with such organizations
as The Holy Club. However, the pendulum seemed to swing
in the other direction after his Aldersgate experience.
It was after this experience that he began to shift his
emphasis/confidence of salvation to faith
alone.
Wesley describes his experience as follows, “About a
quarter before nine, while he was describing the change
which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I
felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in
Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance
was given me that he had taken away my
sins,
even mine,
and saved me
from the
law of sin and death” (Watson, 1990, p. 6).
This shift in focus was very similar to the experience
of Martin Luther. In fact, it was the reading of Martin
Luther’s commentary on Romans during the Aldersgate
meeting that caused the truth of salvation by
grace through
faith alone to
actualize in his life. It was during this experience
that John Wesley first felt
the
assurance of salvation (what some call the Witness of
the Spirit). As stated earlier, this caused him to
negate any claim to salvation previous to this
experience (although this view would later change).
But it must
not be overlooked that Wesley did not abandon any of
his ministry activity. Another truth that Wesley heard
that night from Luther’s commentary on Romans is, “it
is [as] impossible to separate works from faith as [it
is] impossible to separate heat and light from fire”
(Watson, 1990, p. 7). Wesley did not stop his
endeavors, but rather began them afresh with a new
focus. Works stopped being a subtle attempt to earn the
assurance of salvation, but rather the natural outflow
of a life securely founded by faith in the completed
work of Jesus Christ. As Watson states it, “John and
Charles Wesley now no longer merely hoped for
salvation; they had received it and were sure of it.
And they were sure, not on the basis of their own good
works and ‘best endeavours,’ not on the basis of their
own righteousness, but on the basis of God’s
righteousness, God’s work through Christ for them and
in them” (Watson, 1990, p. 7).
Another facet of this experience was Wesley’s stronger
emphasis on personal, experiential assurance. He would
later term this the “direct witness” as distinguished
form the “indirect witness” which Brown describes as
the fruit of the Spirit and works (n.d., p. 3). The
direct witness could be described in a nutshell as the
personal witness of the Holy Spirit to us through
internal “sense of God’s acceptance” assuring us that
we are a child of God (Brown, n.d., p. 3). This was in
essence what John Wesley experienced at Aldersgate.
This had both positive and negative repercussions.
Positive in that Wesley now had a more accurate
understanding of the doctrine of the witness of the
Spirit, but negative in that he tended to overemphasize
it to the point of necessitating the inward feeling
before one could claim salvation. As Smith puts it, for
a period of time “he (Wesley) believed that one must
have the direct witness of the Spirit before one can
claim to be saved” (Brown, n.d., p. 3). This would
later cause problems, as both he, and his people, would
suffer from doubts, and the lack of a
felt
assurance
from time to time.
We now move into what we have chose to call the “Middle
Wesley” when in the year 1746, at the age of
forty-three he wrote his first treatment of the
doctrine of the assurance in the form of a sermon
entitled The
Witness of the Spirit, Discourse
I. It is important to look closely at this sermon, as
it is one of the clearest examples we have of his
theological stance on the doctrine of assurance.
The main passage on which Wesley based his
understanding of the doctrine of assurance (and the
text of this sermon) can be found in Romans 8:16. He
begins by condemning those who have misinterpreted this
passage, and “have mistaken the voice of their own
imagination for this ‘witness of the Spirit’ of God,
and thence idly presumed they were the children of God
while they were doing the works of the devil!” He
further stated, “These are truly and properly
enthusiasts.”
It is nearly impossible to persuade this type of person
into the truth.
He then
contrasts this view with those who go to the other
“extreme” (because of what they see happing with the
enthusiasts) and say that it was only for those in the
apostolic age. Wesley, rather, “steer[s] a middle
course.” He states, “Keep a sufficient distance from
that spirit of error and enthusiasm without denying the
gift of God and giving up the great privilege of his
children.”
Wesley discerned from this passage a two-fold witness.
1) The witness of our own spirit, and 2) The witness of
God’s Spirit. He first deals with the witness of our
own spirit. However, it is clear that Wesley placed a
stronger weight on the witness of God’s Spirit when he
said, “I cannot but desire all those who are for
swallowing up the testimony of the Spirit of God in the
rational testimony of our own spirit to observe that in
this text the Apostle is so far from speaking of the
testimony of our own spirit only,
that it may be questioned whether he speaks of
it at
all—whether he
does not speak only
of the
testimony of God’s Spirit.” Wesley then takes us back
to the text and points out that the preposition
su,n
(sun)
only denotes that “he witnesses this
at the same time that he
enables us to cry, ‘Abba, Father!’”
A. The
Witness of our own spirit:
For Wesley
the witness of our own spirit involved two aspects,
“Thus if he know, first, ‘As many as are led by the
Spirit of God’ into all holy tempers and actions, ‘they
are the sons of God’ (for which he has the infallible
assurance of Holy Writ); secondly, I am thus ‘led by
the Spirit of God’—he will easily conclude, ‘Therefore
I am a ‘son of God.’”
He also
points out 1 John 2:3, “Hereby we know that we do know
him, if we keep his commandments.” Wesley further
points out that one of the key characteristics to
assess whether or not you are truly born of God is the
element of love that God will place in your heart.
Wesley states that the Apostles applied these truths
“to their own souls for the confirmation of their
faith.” But he states, “Yet all this is no other than
rational evidence: the ‘witness of our own spirit’, our
reason or understanding. It all resolves into this:
those who have these marks, they are the children of
God. But we have these marks: therefore we are children
of God.”
He then asks a very practical question (and I
paraphrase), ‘How do we know that we have these
characteristics of love, and that we’re keeping His
commandments’? He then rejoins, “How does it appear
to ourselves—not
to others.
I would ask him then that proposes this question, How
does it appear to you that you are alive? And that you
are now in ease and not in pain? Are you not
immediately conscious of it? By the same immediate
consciousness you will know if your soul is alive to
God; if you are saved from the pain of proud wrath, and
have the ease of a meek and quite spirit. By the same
means you cannot but perceive if you love, rejoice, and
delight in God.” He further lists several measurable
attitudes and actions. So, in essence what Wesley is
saying is, the testimony of our own spirit that we are
children of God is if we are keeping His commandments
(God’s Word), which is evidenced by measurable
attitudes and actions. These ‘measurable attitudes and
actions’ are many and varied. A few examples would
include; Do you love God? Do you love others? Are the
fruits of the Spirit evident in your life? etc..
A further definition is given in paragraph six, which
states, “Now this is properly the ‘testimony of our own
spirit’, even the testimony of our conscience, that God
hath given us to be holy of heart, and holy in outward
conversation.” So the conscience also plays an
important part in the testimony of our own spirit. We
must have a clear conscience that we are keeping His
commandments, and have measurable attitudes and actions
to prove so.
B. The Witness of God’s Spirit:
Next,
Wesley shifts to the witness of God’s Spirit. He
emphasizes his struggle to define it by saying, “It is
hard to find words in the language of men to explain
‘the deep things of God.’” However, he did create a
statement, but prefaced it by saying that it was open
to critique. This statement is what many still quote
today. “the testimony of the Spirit is an inward
impression of the soul, whereby the Spirit of God
directly ‘witnesses to my spirit that I am a child of
God’; that Jesus Christ hath loved me, and given
himself for me; that all my sins are blotted out, and
I, even I, am reconciled to God.”
According
to Wesley, the witness of God’s Spirit must come before
the witness of our own spirit. He states, “That this
‘testimony of the Spirit of God’ must needs, in the
very nature of things, be antecedent to the ‘testimony
or our own spirit’ may appear from this single
consideration: we must be holy of heart and holy in
life before we can be conscious that we are so, before
we can have the ‘testimony of our spirit’ that we are
inwardly and outwardly holy.” He further states, “we
cannot know his pardoning love to us till his Spirit
witnesses it to our spirit. Since therefore this
‘testimony of his Spirit’ must precede the love of God
and all holiness, of consequence it must precede our
inward consciousness thereof, or the ‘testimony of our
spirit’ concerning them.” I digress here for a moment
to point out that Wesley would change his view on this
matter later in life.
Wesley further nuances this argument by stating, “And
of this we cannot but be conscious to ourselves: we
‘know the things that are freely given to us of God’;
we know that we love God and keep his commandments; and
hereby also ‘we know that we are of God.’ This is that
testimony of our own spirit which, so long as we
continue to love God and keep his commandments,
continues joined with the testimony of God’s Spirit,
‘that we are the children of God’. Thus he combines the
two witnesses.
Wesley then makes a rather bold dictum, “first, as to
the witness of our spirit: the souls as intimately and
evidently perceives when it loves, delights, and
rejoices in God, as when it loves and delights in
anything on earth; and it can no more doubt whether it
loves, delights, and rejoices, or no, than whether it
exists, or no. If therefore this be just
reasoning: He that
now loves God—that delights and rejoices in him with an
humble joy, and holy delight, and an obedient love—is a
child of God; but I
thus love, delight and rejoice in God; Therefore I am a
child of God; then a Christian can no wise doubt of his
being a child of God.”
As to the specific manner
in which
the witness of God’s Spirit is given, John Wesley
chooses to remain silent (“I do not take upon me to
explain.”). But he reaffirms that it does happen, “But
the fact we know: namely, that the Spirit of God does
give a believer such a testimony of his adoption that
while it is present to the soul he can no more doubt
the reality of his sonship than he can doubt of the
shining of the sun while he stands in the full blaze of
his beams.”
C. How to distinguish between testimony and
presumption:
Wesley clearly recognized the difficulty in
distinguishing between “the joint testimony of God’s
Spirit and our spirit” from “the presumption of a
natural mind, and from the delusion of the devil.”
The first difficulty John Wesley deals with is
distinguishing between the true testimonies, and the
presumption of our natural mind. Wesley responds by
giving Scripture which, he confidently asserts, will
keep the believer from deceiving himself. He points out
that in Scripture, repentance always precedes the
assurance of salvation (Matt. 3:2; Mark 1:15; Acts
2:38, 3:19). He further states, “the Scriptures
describe the being born of God, which must precede the
witness that we are his children, as a vast and mighty
change, a change ‘from darkness to light’, as well as
‘from the power of Satan unto God’; as a ‘passing from
death unto life’, a resurrection from the dead.” So, in
essence, one of the key convincers that you are not
deceiving yourself, is the fact that there has been a
dramatic change in your life, and you can evidently see
the difference.
Wesley also gives another method to guard against
self-deception. “But waiving the consideration of
whatever he has or has not experienced in the past, by
the present marks may we easily distinguish a child of
God from a presumptuous self-deceiver.” Wesley believed
this to be the “joy in the Lord which accompanies the
witness of his Spirit.” He believed that there would be
several attitudes that were evident in the believer’s
life. For example, “meekness, patience, gentleness,
long-suffering…a soft yielding spirit, a mildness and
sweetness, a tenderness of soul which words cannot
express.” Wesley strongly believed that these
attributes were not
evident in
the life of someone who was deceiving themselves. In
fact, he believed that just the opposite was true in
their life.
Wesley also points out again that, “This is the love of
God’ (the sure mark thereof) ‘that we keep his
commandments.’” So, a true Christian will keep God’s
commandments and hasten to do His will. However, Wesley
acknowledges that “Perhaps when he [the self-deceiver]
was in fear of the wrath of God he did labour to do his
will. But now, looking on himself as ‘not under the
law’, he thinks he is no longer obliged to observe it.”
In summation, a self-deceiver will lack many of the
godly characteristics, such as love, meekness,
patience, gentleness, long-suffering, etc, and will
instead be quick to speak and slow to listen, etc.
Wesley’s final comment on this topic is to state that
the difference between the two is inherently, innately
distinguishable to someone if their “spiritual senses
are rightly disposed.” He further comments, “To require
a more minute and philosophical account of the
manner
whereby we
distinguish these, and of the criteria
or
intrinsic marks whereby we know the voice of God, it so
make a demand which can never be answered.”
He concludes the sermon by dealing with how to know
that your senses are “rightly disposed.” “And how am I
assured that this is not my case [that I’m deceiving
myself]; and that I do not mistake the voice of the
Spirit? Even by the ‘testimony of your own spirit’; by
‘the answer of a good conscience toward God’ [1 Pet.
3:21]. Hereby you shall know that you are in no
delusion; that you have not deceived your own soul.’
We now jump
ahead to the year 1767, in which Wesley published his
second major treatment on the doctrine of assurance
entitled, appropriately, The
Witness of the Spirit, Discourse
2. It is essentially identical to his first treatment
in Discourse 1, although he does flesh it out somewhat.
A brief summary would be beneficial on this point.
Wesley begins by reaffirming the importance of the
doctrine of assurance, while stating the dangers “on
the right hand and on the left.” “If we deny it, there
is a danger lest our religion degenerate into mere
formality…If we allow it, but do not understand what we
allow, we are liable to run into all the wildness of
enthusiasm.”
D. What
is the witness of the Spirit?
Wesley
states, “The testimony now under consideration is given
by the Spirit of God to and with our spirit. He is the
person testifying. What he testifies to us is ‘that we
are the children of God’. The immediate result of this
testimony is ‘the fruit of the Spirit’; namely, ‘love,
joy, peace; longsuffering, gentleness, goodness’. And
without these the testimony itself cannot continue.” It
is also important to note that Wesley believed the
witness of the Spirit to be contingent on obedience to
God’s will. He states, “For it [the witness] is
inevitably destroyed, not only by the commission of any
outward sin, or the omission of known duty, but by
giving way to any inward sin—in a word, by whatever
grieves the Holy Spirit of God.”
He further defines the method of this assurance by
saying, “I do not mean hereby that the Spirit of God
testifies this by any outward voice; no, nor always by
an inward voice, although he may do this sometimes.
Neither do I suppose that he always applies to the
heart (though he often may) one or more texts of
Scripture. But he so works upon the soul by his
immediate influence, and by a strong though
inexplicable operation, that the stormy wind and
troubled waves subside, and there is a sweet calm; the
heart resting as in the arms of Jesus, and the sinner
being clearly satisfied that God is reconciled, that
all his ‘iniquities are forgiven, and his sins
covered’.”
Very few people actually deny that there is a witness
of the Spirit, and Wesley claims that to do so would
contradict Scripture. Wesley writes of the “indirect”
witness, “it is a conclusion drawn partly from the Word
of God, and partly from our own experience. The Word of
God says everyone who has the fruit of the Spirit is a
child of God. Experience, or inward consciousness,
tells me that I have the fruit of the Spirit. And hence
I rationally conclude: therefore I am a child of God.”
For Wesley, the witness of the Spirit, and the fruit of
the Spirit must always go hand in hand. He states, “the
fruit of the Spirit immediately springs from this
testimony [witness of the Spirit].” He later adds,
“When our spirit is conscious of this—of love, joy,
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness—it easily
infers from these premises that we are the children of
God.”
Wesley then reasserts his position that the witness of
the Spirit must be antecedent to the witness of our own
spirit, “That this ‘testimony of the Spirit of God’
must needs, in the very nature of things, be antecedent
to the ‘testimony or our own spirit’ may appear from
this single consideration: we must be holy of heart and
holy in life before we can be conscious that we are so,
before we can have the ‘testimony of our spirit’ that
we are inwardly and outwardly holy.” He further states,
“we cannot know his pardoning love to us till his
Spirit witnesses it to our spirit. Since therefore this
‘testimony of his Spirit’ must precede the love of God
and all holiness, of consequence it must precede our
inward consciousness thereof, or the ‘testimony of our
spirit’ concerning them.”
In
conclusion, Wesley states, “it is not questioned
whether there is a testimony of the Spirit, but whether
there is any direct
testimony, whether
there is any other than that which arises from a
consciousness of the fruit of the Spirit. We believe
there is.” And to the claim that people have abused
this doctrine, and thus, called into question its
veracity, Wesley states, “(1). Experience is sufficient
to confirm
a doctrine
which is grounded in Scripture. (2). Though many fancy
they experience what they do not, this is no prejudice
to real experience. (3). The design of that witness is
to assure us we are children of God; and this design it
does answer. (4). The true witness of the Spirit is
known by its fruit—love, peace, joy—not indeed
preceding, but following it. (5). It cannot be proved
that the direct as well as the indirect witness is not
referred to in that very text, ‘Know ye not your own
selves…that Jesus Christ is in you?’ (6). The Spirit of
God, ‘witnessing with our spirit’, does not secure us
from all delusion. And, lastly, we are all liable to
trials wherein the testimony of our own spirit is not
sufficient, wherein nothing less than the direct
testimony of God’s Spirit can assure us we are his
children.” Wesley further states that we should not
rest in any assurance of the Spirit that is apart from
the fruits of the Spirit. But he affirms, “this fruit
may be clouded for a while during the time of strong
temptation, so that it does not appear to the tempted
person while ‘Satan is sifting him as wheat’.” Second,
conversely, don’t rest in the fruit of the Spirit
without the Spirit’s witness.
John Wesley presented his third intensive treatment on
the doctrine of assurance in the year 1771 with his
sermon, The
Witness of Our Own Spirit (Wesley,
John., Wesley’s 52 Standard Sermons, p. 109). This
discourse comes properly after Wesley’s other
discourses over the witness of the Spirit. Those dealt
more with the witness of God’s Spirit, while this
discourse focuses on the witness of our own spirit. The
key text is taken from 2 Corinthians 1:12.
For Wesley, the witness of our own spirit was
multi-faceted. First, it was vital to have a clear
conscience (Acts 24:16). Wesley clarified the term
“conscience” by stating, “Its main business is to
excuse or accuse, to approve or disapprove, to acquit
or condemn.”
Wesley also
points out where the origin or source of the conscience
comes from. For the “heathen”, their conscience is, as
Romans 2:14-15 says, “the law written in their hearts.”
But for the Christian, their moral compass is the Word
of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
But, second, there must also be a “true knowledge of
ourselves; a knowledge both of our hearts and lives, of
our inward tempers and outward conversation.” Third,
there must be “an agreement of our hearts and lives, of
our tempers and conversation, of our thoughts and words
and works.” Fourth, there must be “an inward perception
of this agreement with our rule. And this habitual
perception, this inward consciousness itself, is
properly a ‘good conscience’.”
Wesley digresses at this point to reaffirm that the
only way you can have “a conscience void of offence” is
through Jesus Christ. This is the “foundation” for your
conscience. The drawing agent that will pull the needle
of your moral compass (conscience) in the God-ward
direction.
He then moves on to deal with the last half of the
passage of Scripture. He first deals with the phrase,
“in simplicity”. According to Wesley, “This is what our
Lord recommends under the name of a ‘single eye’”
(Matt. 6:22). He further defines it, “We are then
simple of heart when the eye of our mind is singly
fixed on God; when in all things we aim at God alone,
as our God, our portion, our strength, our happiness,
our exceeding great reward…. This is simplicity: when a
steady view, a single intention of promoting his glory,
or doing and suffering his blessed will, runs through
our whole soul, fills all our heart, and is the
constant spring of all our thoughts, desires, and
purposes.”
Secondly, he deals with the phrase, “in godly
sincerity.” He concisely states, “The difference
between simplicity and sincerity seems to be chiefly
this: simplicity regards the intention itself,
sincerity the execution of it.” He further adds, “And
this sincerity relates not barely to our words, but to
our whole conversation [life]…”
Wesley also adds that all of this is a supernatural
gift of God, and not something we can accomplish on our
own, “We cannot gain this simplicity or practice this
sincerity by the force either of good sense, good
nature, or good breeding.”
At this point Wesley shifts his focus to that of joy.
He states that the “ground of a Christian’s joy” is the
supernatural gift of God that enables us to “have…our
conversation in the world” in a manner of “simplicity
[intention] and godly sincerity [execution].” Second,
he adds, “the joy of a Christian does not arise from
any blindness
of conscience, from…not
being able to discern good from evil.” On the contrary,
Wesley asserts that you cannot know this joy until your
eyes have been opened and, “As a mote is visible in the
sunbeam, so to him who is walking in the light, in the
beams of the uncreated sun, every mote of sin is
visible. Nor does he close the eyes of his conscience
any more.” Finally, “Neither does the joy of a
Christian arise…from any dullness
or
callousness
of conscience.”
As was stated earlier, Wesley’s views did mature with
time. One of the best examples we have is his sermon
“On Faith,” which was written in 1788 at the age of 85.
An introduction to this sermon, and found in The
Centennial Edition of the Words of John Wesley,
summarizes the sermon as “Wesley’s gradual but decisive
move away from his early, stark disjunctions between
the conscious assurance of God’s favor and its total
absence. Here, we find a sort of tacit retraction of
his earlier harsh judgments against ‘lower degrees of
faith’” (Vol. 3, p. 491).
In this sermon, faith obviously plays a key role. He
defines it as, “such a divine conviction of God, and
the things of God, as, even in its infant state,
enables every one that possess it to ‘fear God and work
righteousness.’” He continues, “And whosoever, in every
nation, believes thus far, the Apostle declares, is
accepted of him. He actually is, at that very moment,
in a state of acceptance. But he
is at present only a servant of God, not properly
a son.”
This is a
key facet of Wesley’s mature view on the doctrine of
assurance. Where before he claimed that you could not
claim to be saved until you had the direct witness of
the Spirit in your life, he now altered that view to
state that you could still be justified (saved) prior
to the direct witness of the Spirit in your life, if
the witness of your own spirit was being clearly
evidenced and you were exercising biblical faith. The
distinction he made was that a person who did not have
the witness of the Spirit in their life, but feared God
and worked righteousness could claim salvation, but
their office was that of a servant, instead of a son.
They were justified, yes, but they had not fully
obtained all that the Father had to offer them. They
were to press on until they received the witness of the
Spirit, and then they could claim the office of
sonship.
Wesley admitted that misunderstandings regarding this
doctrine has caused many early Methodist preachers to
“make sad the hearts of those whom God had not made
sad.” The following scenario was the cause of this
sadness, “For they frequently asked those who feared
God, ‘Do you know that your sins are forgiven?’ And
upon their answering, ‘No,’ immediately replied, ‘Then
you are a child of the devil.’” However, Wesley
recapitulated as follows, “No; that does not follow. It
might have been said, … ‘Hitherto you are only a
servant,
you are not a child
of God. You
have already great reason to praise God that he has
called you to his honorable service. Fear not. Continue
crying unto him, ‘and you shall see greater things than
these.’”
Wesley believed that, “unless the servants of God halt
by the way [get sidetracked spiritually], they will
receive the adoption of sons.” Speaking of the office
of servant, Wesley states, “Indeed, if you have
received this, you ought not to cast it away; you ought
not in anywise to undervalue it; but to be truly
thankful for it. Yet, in the mean time, beware how you
rest here: Press on
till you receive the Spirit of adoption: Rest not, till
that Spirit clearly witnesses with your spirit, that
you are a child of God.”
He concludes by exhorting those in each stage of
development (servant or son). To the servant he says,
“First, flee from all sin… and to work righteousness,
to the utmost power you now have; to abound in works
both of piety and mercy: And, Secondly, continually to
cry to God, that he would reveal his Son in your
hearts, to the intent you may be no more
servants
but sons;
having his love shed abroad in your hearts and walking
in ‘the glorious liberty of the children of God.’”
To the son he exhorts, “Walk in all good works
whereunto ye are created in Christ Jesus. And then…go
on to perfection.” He continues, “You cannot stand
still; you must either rise of fall.”
In summation, Smith states, “The mature Wesley…believed
in stages of awareness/appropriation. He contrasted
the faith of
a servant with
the faith of
a son, both [of]
whom he believed [were] saved….He [Wesley] said, God
graciously wants to give the witness of the Spirit to
the believer, but it was not a prerequisite to one
being justified” (Smith, n.d., p. 3). In Wesley’s own
words, “We preach assurance as we always did, as a
common privilege of the children of God, but we do not
enforce it under pain of damnation denounced on all who
enjoy it not.” According to Smith, “Wesley’s mature
view can be summed up in 4 points: 1) all need to be
saved; 2) all can be saved; 3) all can know they are
saved; 4) all can be saved to the uttermost” (Smith,
n.d., p. 3).
II.
Dr. Allan Brown’s View on the Witness of the Spirit:
We will now
shift our focus to a modern theologian’s view on the
witness of the Spirit. Perhaps few men have shaped the
modern understanding and presentation of the doctrine
of assurance in the American Conservative Holiness
Movement as Dr. Allan P. Brown, who is currently the
Ministerial Division Chair at God’s Bible School and
College in Cincinnati, Ohio. In understanding his
views, we will find his four-part sermon series
entitled The
Witness of the Spirit, to be
most helpful. We will briefly look at the key features
of each sermon, and then consolidate the information
from the entire series into a concise explanation of
his view.
A. The
Definition of Biblical Faith: (Brown,
Allan P., The
Necessity of Biblical Faith, Audio CD)
One of the key emphases that Brown asserts is the
absolute necessity of biblical faith. He draws his
definition of faith from Hebrews 11:6 from which he
gives the following definition of faith: Faith 1)
Believes what God says; 2) Commits to do what God
requires; 3) Trusts in and rests on God’s promises.
Brown calls these the “3 elements of faith.”
Brown gives a helpful illustration for this definition;
he calls it the “cathedral of faith.” He begins by
stating, “The foundation stone for the cathedral of
faith…is built upon the faith that there is a God. You
must believe that He exists.” He then proceeds to erect
the “three pillars of faith.”
The first element (pillar number one) is that “you must
believe what God says.” Brown then describes how we
know “what God says” by pointing out Romans 10:17 which
states that, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by
the Word of God.” He states, “This is God’s Book. You
must believe what this book says.”
He then pauses here to establish the authority of this
book (the Bible). He bases his belief in the
inspiration of Scripture on the historical fact of the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In his words,
“And the reason why I know Jesus rose from the dead is
not by faith. It’s by fact. Eyewitness testimony of
multitudes of people who were so convinced that they
would even give their life for it.”
Brown summarizes this first element of faith as
follows, “So, consequently, faith has to believe what
God says. And in our passage, Hebrews 11:6, I’m going
to have to believe that He will reward me if I
diligently seek Him. How do I know He will? I have to
believe what He says. So, the first element of faith
says you must believe what God says.”
He then moves on to element number two (pillar number
two). He states, “you have to not only believe what God
says, but you must commit to do what God requires. You
must ‘diligently seek Him.’” This is not to be a
half-hearted seeking. This is not a ‘take it or leave
it’ endeavor. As Brown states, “You can’t be, ‘Hey,
when He’s ready, I’m ready.’ ‘Well, God knows where to
find me.’ No, that’s not what the Scripture says. It
says, ‘in the day when you seek me with your whole
heart I shall be found of you.”
Brown also points out that repentance will be a
necessary step here. He defines repentance as,
“A change
of mind demonstrated by a change of
behavior. It’s more
than just saying some words. When you repent you stop
doing what you know is wrong, and you start doing what
is right.”
The third
element (third pillar) is that you must also, “trust in
and rest on God’s promises.” It is at this point that
many people stumble. Brown states, “People get confused
about the witness of the Spirit and an emotional
experience.” He continues, “God did not say that if you
come to get saved I will give you a certain feeling
[e.g. tears, joy, ecstasy]. He says that I will forgive
you.”
But just what does it mean to “rest on”? He uses the
illustration of sitting in a chair. There may be a time
when you circle the chair, and become assured of its
structural soundness, but there comes a time when you
simply have to sit in it. That’s the way it is in our
Christian walk. There comes a time when we simply have
to “rest” our faith in Jesus Christ. Brown asserts,
“That element of trust in and rest on doesn’t mean I
believe God can do it. A lot of people say, ‘I believe
the Lord can save me’…. That’s good, that’s trusting
in, but you have to go farther than that. There comes a
rest of faith once you do. You’re not trying to rest,
but you are resting.”
But feelings do play a part in it. As Brown states, “It
depends on what God wants to do in reference to you
individually” as to just when these feelings occur. He
says, “For some it’s simultaneously…. For some it’s
after…. Does it matter when? No, just as long as sooner
or later you do have an assurance from the Lord in
addition to faith. The point is, you don’t build a
relationship upon your feelings.”
Brown summarizes the structure of faith as follows;
Foundation = Believe that there is a God; Pillar One =
Believe what God says; Pillar Two = Commit to do what
God requires; Pillar Three = Trust in and rest on God’s
promises; Roof (proof) = 1 John 2:4. Brown says of 1
John 2:4, “The proof that you have saving faith is that
you are walking in the light and you are obeying what
you know God said…. It’s faith from start to finish.
And as you believe God, and walk in the light, feelings
will come and go. Enjoy them while they’re there, but
don’t build your faith on it.”
B.
How to Know that you Know: (Brown,
Allan P., How to
Know that You Know, Audio CD)
In this sermon Brown uses 1 John 5:13, and other
supporting Scriptures, to assert that you can “Know
that You Know” you are saved (justified) through three
means: 1) The Word of God; 2) Measurable attitudes and
actions; and 3) By the inner presence of the Holy
Spirit in our life.
First, the Word of God. He begins by stating, “There
are some things we would know no other way except
through the Bible… We simply have to accept the
testimony of God’s Word.” He then emphasizes the
importance of living by the truth that God has revealed
to you through His Word. He says of Matthew 7:23-24,
“notice our obligation to depart from iniquity.
Iniquity is anything in our life that the Spirit of God
has put His finger on and told us that He doesn’t want
us doing.” He then summarizes the previous paragraph
as, “Basically that means that we have to walk in the
light, and when God talks to us about something, our
response should be, ‘Yes, Lord.’”
Second, by measurable attitudes and actions in our own
life. Brown begins by pointing out that, “Out of all of
the passages that John uses the word ‘know’ in, there’s
only one passage that I can classify as fitting the
category number one (because the Bible says so). That’s
not the normal way we know. This second classification
is where the majority of these, ‘We know that we know’
passages fit in. We know by measurable attitudes and
actions in our own life.”
He then proceeds to give several examples of measurable
attitudes and actions, citing various passages of
Scripture.
One of
these “measurable attitudes and actions” can be found
in 1 John 2:3-5, which states “we do know that we know
him, if we keep his commandments.” Brown states, “We
can know that we know him if we check our lives and
say, ‘Lord, is there any knowledgeable disobedience?’
If there is, then you’re right to have question marks.
But if you can say to the Lord, ‘I’m walking in all the
light you’ve given me. As far as I know, Lord, there’s
nothing in my life that is displeasing to you, and I’m
yours, and you’re mine.’ That’s one of the checks how
you can know that you know.”
Another
measurable action is found in 1 John 2:29 which states,
“…ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is
born of him.” Brown describes righteousness as a
“measuring tape.” He continues, “The word righteousness
means measuring up to God’s standard. The person, who
is living by this book, is a person who is born of God,
because you can’t live according to Scripture without
the Holy Spirit living in your heart enabling you to
live according to Scripture.”
Brown also gives an example from 1 John 3:6, “Whosoever
abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not
seen him, neither known him.” He explains that, “John
uses a present tense, and should be literally
translated, ‘is not practicing sin’ or ‘is not making
known/willful/disobedien[ce] a normal pattern of his
life.” The reason for this is found in the second half
of the verse, “whosever sinneth [present tense] hath
not seen him.”
He then draws a connection between this verse and
Matthew 7:21, and states that the people in Matthew
7:21 “knew there was iniquity in their life, but
evidently their theology allowed for sin.” According to
Brown, you can in no wise be in a continual state of
sinful living and still call yourself a Christian.
The final illustration he gives is found in 1 John
3:14-15. In essence, you must forgive. He states, “You
can’t be loving, and say, ‘I love you’ in the biblical
sense of the term if you don’t forgive their trespasses
as He has forgiven you your trespasses.” He concludes
by defining love as, “a volitional choice of the mind
demonstrated by active seeking of the other persons
higher good as God’s grace enables you to make that
choice and be kind to them as Christ was kind to you…”
So, you must not hold grudges, and must grant
forgiveness to others which is evidenced by the love
that you show them.
He then moves on to the third way we can “know that we
know”, by the inner presence of the Holy Spirit in our
life. He uses 1 John 2:20, 27 to aid in the
understanding of this concept. According to Brown, “the
Holy Spirit has been given to help us recognize truth,
and help us test the truth of what is taught by human
teachers.”
He then gives a brief warning concerning the
application of this principle. He points out that 1
John 4:1 is the immediately following verse, which
warns us by saying, “believe not every spirit, but try
the spirits whether they are of God.” Brown adds, “You
can’t trust your feelings without checking the source
of those impressions/feelings. If the experience is
truly of God, then that experience will help you line
up with the Word of God.”
Brown concludes with the following helpful summary,
"The
unshakable foundation for checking when the enemy is
attacking you, and you have no sense of God’s
presence/blessing, is the written Word of God, so that
we who do believe on the Son of God may know that we
have eternal life, and we begin to check. Lord, am I
walking in the light? Am I loving the brethren? Am I
practicing righteousness? Do I have these measurable
attitudes and actions? And the answer comes back, yes,
everything’s clear, then you say, Lord, I would love to
feel your presence, and sense you, but I’ll trust you
in these desert days. I know in Whom I have believed
and I’m going to stand on the solid Word of God, and as
I evaluate the evidence and factors in my life that I’m
walking in all the light and He is my Lord, and I’m
going to stand solid upon the written Word of God. And
when the times of feeling come about again, I will be
glad, but I will recognize that those times come and
go. What God expects is that we walk a steadfast,
ethical, obedient, careful walk every day."
C. What
is the Witness of the Spirit?: (Brown,
Allan P., What is
the Witness of the Spirit?, Audio CD)
This is Brown’s most focused treatment of the doctrine
of assurance. He uses the same text as John Wesley did
for his two sermons, Romans 8:16. Like Wesley, Brown
points out that there are two sources of witnessing, 1)
Our own spirit; and 2) The Holy Spirit. He asserts that
the need for having two witnesses can be found in
Deuteronomy 19:15, “at the mouth of two witnesses, or
at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be
established.” Brown adds, “We have the witness of the
Holy Spirit, and we have the witness of our spirit, the
human spirit, and these two must testify to the same
fact that we are the children of God.”
He first deals with the witness of our own spirit. He
gives the following definition for the witness of our
own spirit, “Our human spirit bears witness that we’re
a child of God through means of the testimony of a
continually clear conscience, a conscience enlightened
by the Holy Spirit that we are fully obeying God.” He
draws this definition from 1 Timothy 1:18-19.
He derives the necessity of having a
“continually” clear
conscience from Acts 24:16, which states, “And herein
do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void
of offence toward God, and toward
men.” He
later adds concerning this point in connection with 1
John 2:3, “What’s the purpose of a continually clear
conscience enlightened by the Holy Spirit? That we’re
fully obeying God.”
Brown further defines the method of keeping a
continually clear conscience by using Romans 3:23 to
prove that, “To keep our conscience clear biblically,
Paul says that we must stop all doubtful doings.”
He then proceeds to the next witness, that of the Holy
Spirit. According to Brown, the Holy Spirit witnesses
to us in two ways: 1) through Scripture; and 2) through
feelings.
He uses Hebrews 10:15, 16 to support his assertion that
the Holy Spirit witnesses to us through Scripture.
However, Brown admits that, “His [the Holy Spirit’s]
witness to us by means of Scripture will not save you.”
He then uses Hebrews 4:2 to explain that “we must
exercise faith in his witness to us through Scripture
if we want that witness to us to be effective.”
The second way the Spirit witnesses to us, according to
Brown, is through feelings. He states, “The Holy
Spirit, when He takes up His residence in the life of a
believer will sooner or later, sometimes it’s
simultaneous, other times it’s sequential, but will
sooner or later manifest His presence in our heart in
an unmistakable way to us.”
However,
there is a real danger in over-emphasizing feelings.
Brown answers this danger by asking, “Why do we
encourage people not to take God at His Word, and
encourage people to make their feelings the Supreme
Court and keep seeking until your feelings are
satisfied? What is the biblical basis for doing that
when very clearly one of the ways and the primary way
that the Holy Spirit witnesses to us is through the
Scriptures as we exercise faith?” He concludes by
explaining that the feelings, which the Holy Spirit
gives to us, are not always constant, and will vary at
times, but we can hold fast to our assurance by faith.
D.
The Security of the Believer: (Brown,
Allan P., The
Security of the Believer, Audio CD)
The text for this sermon comes from Jude 1:20-25. Brown
sees from this passage a “two-fold responsibility”: 1)
An ongoing responsibility toward God; and 2) An ongoing
responsibility toward our fellow man.
Our responsibility toward God can be found in vs. 21,
“Keep yourselves in the love of God.” This is done by:
1) Building ourselves up in the faith; 2) Praying
continually in the Holy Ghost; and 3) Looking for the
mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
He then warns that, although God has promised to never
leave us or forsake use, we can leave and forsake Him.
In Brown’s words, “But you can walk away from your
relationship with the Lord, and choose not to serve
Him. God will let you do that, but you cannot remain a
Christian and do that. Why? Because you’re not keeping
yourself in the love of God.”
However, he later states, “Do you have to fear and be
wearied about walking away from the Lord? That’s a
choice; nobody walks away from the Lord accidentally.
You only walk away purposefully and deliberately by
self-centered choosing…. [It] will never happen that
you somehow just loose salvation. You would have to
reject it.
He then moves on to our ongoing man-word
responsibility. As Brown exhorts from Jude 1:22, “Be
compassionate to those who doubt and waver and are
unsteady in their Christian life.” He also uses v. 23
to assert that we should be actively seeking to “rescue
the perishing.”
Finally, he adds concerning God’s ongoing, keeping
grace Jude 1:24, “Now unto him that is able to keep you
from falling, and to present you
faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.”
He comments, “God is able to keep you from falling.
This is going to necessitate that you keep your
conscience clear; a clear conscience in genuine faith.
We need to examine ourselves. And if we’re walking in
the light, and keeping our conscience clear, and we’re
building ourselves in the most holy faith, continuing
and pray[ing]…. He will keep you from falling.”
E.
Summary:
I believe Brown’s view on the doctrine of assurance
(the witness of the Spirit) could be summarized as
follows:
First, all
can have the assurance of salvation. Without this
understanding, it is nearly pointless to even discuss
the matter.
Second, this assurance is given through two witnesses:
1) The witness of our human spirit; and 2) The witness
of the Holy Spirit.
One of the main characteristics of the witness of our
human spirit is that of a continually clear conscience
(according to Acts 24:16). Another key characteristic
is that of measurable attitudes and actions in our life
that evidence the fact that we are being conformed and
molded into alignment with Gods’ Word. The very fact
that our lives are in conformity to Scripture evidences
the fact that the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives.
The Holy Spirit, however, witnesses to us through
Scripture, and feelings, although Scriptures is the
primary means. Brown would be quick to point out the
danger and error in making your feelings the “Supreme
Court,” and not accepting the work of grace being
sought until you “feel” it.
Third, faith plays a key role in the process. He uses
Hebrews 11:6 which states, “without faith
it
is impossible
to please him.”
You must believe that God said He would justify you.
Commit to any conditions that He set forth as a
prerequisite for justification (e.g. repentance). And
finally, trust in and rest on the fact that God will do
what He said He would do. He would again warn against
making feelings a prerequisite for the assurance of
justification.
Finally, Brown would assure the believer that they do
not need to fear accidentally falling from grace, or
‘loosing’ their salvation. He would explain to them
that it is a commitment to a person, and while it may
suffer or cease to exist if you neglect it, this is not
necessary, and God can keep you from falling (Jude
1:24).
III. My
View on the Witness of the Spirit:
My current
understanding of the witness of the Spirit is
summarized as follows.
One, this assurance is for all believers.
Two, this assurance comes in two parts: 1) The witness
of our own spirit; and 2) The witness of the Holy
Spirit.
The witness of our own spirit comes in the form of a
continually clear conscience, and measurable attitudes
and actions that our lives are aligned with Scripture.
The witness of the Holy Spirit comes in the form of His
ministration to us through God’s Word, and inner
feelings. However, I understand that feelings come and
go, and that this should not be the sole source of my
assurance. Faith plays an important role in this
regard, in that I can objectively look at the
situation, and ask, 1) Do I believe what God said He
would do for me? 2) Am I currently walking in all the
light I have (1 John 1:7), and seeking to meet all the
requirements listed for salvation (or, by extension,
entire sanctification) listed in Scripture? And 3) If I
have answered yes to the previous questions, then I
must now trust that God will do what He said He would,
and then rest on what He promises by ceasing from
worrying, and fretting over the situation.
As long as I do the things mentioned above, and I
maintain a vibrant relationship with God, I can rest
assured that I am in no danger of ‘falling from grace’
(Jude 1:24). I do not need to fear ‘loosing’ my
salvation.
Reference
Brown,
Allan. (2007). The
definition and nature of biblical
faith. On
The
witness of the Spirit: how to know that you
know [CD].
Cincinnati, OH: God’s Bible School & College.
(recording date unknown).
Brown, Allan. (2007). How to
“know that you know” – John on
assurance. On
The
witness of the Spirit: how to know that you
know [CD].
Cincinnati, OH: God’s Bible School & College.
(recording date unknown).
Brown, Allan. (2007). What is
the “witness of the Spirit”?. On
The
witness of the Spirit: how to know that you
know [CD].
Cincinnati, OH: God’s Bible School & College.
(recording date unknown).
Brown, Allan. (2007). The
security of the believer. On
The
witness of the Spirit: how to know that you
know [CD].
Cincinnati, OH: God’s Bible School & College.
(recording date unknown).
Brown, Allan. (n.d.). Key
events in the life of John
Wesley. In class
material
Smith, Larry. (n.d.). John
Wesley on the witness of the
Spirit. In class
material.
Watson, Philip. (1990). Anatomy
of a conversion. Grand
Rapid, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
Wesley, John. (1746). The
witness of the Spirit, discourse
I.
Wesley, John. (1767). The
witness of the Spirit, discourse
II.
Wesley, John. (1771). The
witness of our own Spirit.
Wesley,
John. (1788). On
faith. Salem,
OH: Schmul Publishing Company Incorporated.