Assurance of Salvation?

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UnworthyApostle

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1 John 5:13 “These things I write to you, that you may know that you have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God”

I know the church does not teach assurance of salvation in the fundamentalist sense, but this verse has at least some sort of assuring sense. I mean, I do not believe in accept Christ,poof your saved, but I am wondering if one can have some sort of assurance. I know that this verse was addressed to a specific people in a specific context, so it probably only aplies to them in the most literal sense. I wonder what others on here may think.

Also, I have studied verses in John 6 which are intriguing and mysterious.

44 No man can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up in the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets: And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me.
66And he said: Therefore did I say to you, that no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father.

I have tried to see what sense these verses can be read in, that is, in a Thomistic sense or more of a Arminian/Molinist sense. On one hand it seems that God gives grace to some and passes over the hardened of heart, verses 44 and 65 have a very Thomistic sound. Verse 45 although has a different sound; it says that people shall be taught of God and it is these teachings which draw a man to God, through grace of course, and it seems that one may be drawn to God by teachings and then come to know Him. What I am getting at is that of the question that asks if faith comes before grace or grace after faith. The first of the afromentioned scenarios carries a Thomistic view while the second carries more of Molinist view that stresses the free will more. I also wonder what is everyone’s take on these verses.
 
Hi Unw,

All the controversies that have arisen stem from the relationship between free will and the grace of God.

Not getting into the various schools of thought. one thing is clear : we cannot do anything good unless we are helped to it by God. And God does not withhold his grace from us. Here is what the Council of Trent says :
CANON XVII.-If any one saith, that the grace of Justification is only attained to by those who are predestined unto life; but that all others who are called, are called indeed, but receive not grace, as being, by the divine power, predestined unto evil; let him be anathema.
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history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct06.html

In short, everyone has access to God’s grace for salvation.

What do you think?

Verbum
 
He who aknowledges that Jesus is the son of God but does not obey or put into practice his precepts does not truly “believe”. It’s all about faith in motion (works).
 
As a Catholic, I have a certain assurance of eternal life. But it’s still *conditional *and in any case, I don’t possess the kind of knowledge that only God can have on these matters-so humility is called for. The virtue of Hope is a gift that allows us to put confidence in Gods promises but not the “vain confidence” that heretics profess, according to Trent. The Catholic position is balanced, IMO.
 
One does not take one verse or a few verses of scripture ‘by themselves’…

many are there too that are a warning not to fall away…

We must take them all together and understood within the Church.

But yes wonderful verses regarding the life …the true life…we have in Christ Jesus!

That is part of the very joy of the Gospel!

Let us proclaim the Gospel so others may find life in Christ and have him raise them up on the last day! 🙂
 
We have God’s assurance that salvation is offered to us through the life, death and resurrection of Christ. We do not have assurance that any given soul, on any given day, will believe and act so as to accept that gift. We have been handed the coupon to heaven. It is up to our efforts to redeem that coupon.
 
UnworthyApostle said:
1 John 5:13 “These things I write to you, that you may know that you have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God”

I know the church does not teach assurance of salvation in the fundamentalist sense, but this verse has at least some sort of assuring sense. I mean, I do not believe in accept Christ,poof your saved, but I am wondering if one can have some sort of assurance. I know that this verse was addressed to a specific people in a specific context, so it probably only aplies to them in the most literal sense. I wonder what others on here may think.

Also, I have studied verses in John 6 which are intriguing and mysterious.

44 No man can come to me, except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up in the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets: And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me.
66And he said: Therefore did I say to you, that no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father.

I have tried to see what sense these verses can be read in, that is, in a Thomistic sense or more of a Arminian/Molinist sense. On one hand it seems that God gives grace to some and passes over the hardened of heart, verses 44 and 65 have a very Thomistic sound. Verse 45 although has a different sound; it says that people shall be taught of God and it is these teachings which draw a man to God, through grace of course, and it seems that one may be drawn to God by teachings and then come to know Him. What I am getting at is that of the question that asks if faith comes before grace or grace after faith. The first of the afromentioned scenarios carries a Thomistic view while the second carries more of Molinist view that stresses the free will more. I also wonder what is everyone’s take on these verses.
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In my opinion, you recieve grace after faith. First you must accept Jesus in your life and live his commandments. The commandments of God are light and if you are in the light, then you will recieve or experience the benefits of being in the light. That is how blessing are recieved; staying close to God and Jesus for they are the source of all hapiness, knowledge, joy, blessings and many other things. Stick to the source (God) that gives you everything and you will recieve many graces in your life.

As for just accepting Christ in your life and it giving you some sort of assurance is true. You wont go to hell but it doesn’t mean you will go to heaven. You must have good deeds and a pure heart in order to gain entrance in heaven. An individual cannot have faith and do whatever he wishes; it doesn’t work that way. To be more precise, if you have faith in Jesus then you’re are more likely going to follow what is necessary to go to heaven. I’m wondering if by saying salvation you’ll go to heaven or simply be saved and not go to hell? I’m not sure if that is what you’re trying to say.

For the the verses, it’s simply trying to imply that no one can come to Jesus unless the father tries to attract him to his son. The father always looks on ways on how to attract us to Jesus and communicates to us through various ways. As we all know, if no one mentioned to us about Jesus, then obiously we would never be interested in him because we would never know about him. The father always wishes to show is son to everybody. That is what I think of those versus, to be honest. I hope I dont confuse you. God bless you.🙂
 
I love how the Catholic church teaches that you can have moral certitude knowing that God is faithful to fulfill his promises and if you do your best to follow Christ you can know that he will keep his promises, but to declare yourself saved which some protestants do is like being the judge deciding who gets into heaven when the bible and the church clearly teach that its up to God to have the final say who gets in and who doesn’t. Jesus separates the sheep from the goats. I remember being shocked as an evangelical when I heard this teaching but to me it makes perfect sense.
 
mamaof9 said:
I love how the Catholic church teaches that you can have moral certitude knowing that God is faithful to fulfill his promises and if you do your best to follow Christ you can know that he will keep his promises, but to declare yourself saved which some protestants do is like being the judge deciding who gets into heaven when the bible and the church clearly teach that its up to God to have the final say who gets in and who doesn’t. Jesus separates the sheep from the goats. I remember being shocked as an evangelical when I heard this teaching but to me it makes perfect sense.
Click to expand...
It does make perfect sense the the God Who decided that we would exist in time is also capable of determining where we exist in eternity. For us to believe that we have no chance of failure is a prideful or naive attempt to usurp God’s sovereign authority. Adam and Eve also pridefully or naively assumed that their quest to “be like gods” was within their sole authority, did they not?
 
I think some of the best assurances of salvation are absolution and anointing of the sick given by a priest as part of the sacramental life. I recommed to Protestants who seek confidence in the mercy of the Lord to become Catholic.
 
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