“Doubts About Assurance” -- Article Eleven, The Fifth Point of Doctrine, Canons of Dort

Article 11: Doubts Concerning This Assurance

Meanwhile, Scripture testifies that believers have to contend in this life with various doubts of the flesh and that under severe temptation they do not always experience this full assurance of faith and certainty of perseverance. But God, the Father of all comfort, “does not let them be tempted beyond what they can bear, but with the temptation he also provides a way out” (1 Cor. 10:13), and by the Holy Spirit revives in them the assurance of their perseverance.

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In this article, the Canons address the reality of doubt in the Christian life. In making this assertion, the authors are likely drawing upon several comments about doubt made by John Calvin, which are widely known and quoted throughout the Reformed tradition. In his influential Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin noted that “believers are never so established as not to be subject to some doubt.” (Institutes 3.2.17). And in his commentary on Mark’s gospel (Mark 9:24), when encountering a man with a demon-possessed child, Jesus told the man to believe the power and promises of God to deliver his child, and the man cried out to Jesus, “I believe, help my unbelief,” Calvin notes that “for since no perfect faith exists anywhere, it follows that we are in part unbelievers; nevertheless, God in his indulgence forgives us, and from even a small measure of faith counts us as believers” (Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, on Mark 9:24).

The article focuses upon the severe temptations believers often experience, but does not explain or address the specific reasons why true believers find themselves doubting whether or not the promises God makes to save sinners apply to them personally. The Canons state the reality of times of doubt without giving many specifics.

Indwelling sin is a fact of the Christian life—the temptation to sin is both an inward pull and an external foe. So too is the carelessness of many who neglect the means of grace (the preaching of the Word and the sacraments). In effect, such people cut themselves off from the primary way in which our assurance is strengthened: hearing the promises of God, being convicted of sin, confessing those sins, and then being assured by the pastor (or in the church’s liturgy) of the reality promised to us in 1 John 1:7–2:2.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Then, there are some who must deal with all sorts of difficult circumstances (the so-called “hard providences”): the death of loved ones, or chronic illnesses of both mind and body which sap our strength and confidence in God, severe loss and times of great hardship, all of which make life difficult for Christians, and cause us to question God’s favor to us in Christ.

All of these things can work in our lives to undermine the comfort of God’s favor and the assurance of our salvation. Article eleven reminds us, “Scripture testifies that believers have to contend in this life with various doubts of the flesh and that under severe temptation they do not always experience this full assurance of faith and certainty of perseverance.” This implies a distinction between doubt, which is the questioning of the assurance God has promised us, and unbelief, which is a self-conscious rejection of the promises of God associated with apostasy, the embrace of false doctrine, and the desire to leave behind the persecution or ridicule Christians often face from non-Christians.

But the article goes on to remind us of God's grace—that “the Father of all comfort, `does not let his own be tempted beyond what they can bear, but with the temptation he also provides a way out’ (1 Cor. 10:13), and by the Holy Spirit revives in them the assurance of their perseverance.” The Spirit does this through participation in the means of grace, through heartfelt prayer and confession of our doubts (as in the case of the man who cried out to Jesus, “I believe, help my unbelief,”) and through fellowship with other Christian believers who come to our aid and who both support and pray for us during such times.