Core Convictions II: We Can Know We Are Saved by Maxie Dunnam

In my last article, I sought to make the case that the Christian faith is all about salvation. John Wesley summarized the goal of Christian religion: The end is, in one word, salvation.

The British Methodist historian, William B. Fitzgerald, summarized Wesley’s theology of salvation with this fourfold dictum: All people need to be saved from sin, all people may be saved from sin, all people may know they are saved from sin, and all people may be saved to the uttermost.

I will refer to these assertions as we continue our reflection on Methodist Wesleyan Core Convictions. Consider now the claim: all people may know they are saved from sin.

Wrestling with Assurance of Salvation

Early in my Christian walk, I often fell into a chasm of doubt about my personal salvation. In all my years as a pastor, this has been one of the spiritual issues with which I have seen people wrestling most: knowing they are saved from sin.

The apostle Paul knew Christians struggled with this. He wrote to them:

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:15-17 NIV)

John Wesley’s Struggle for Assurance

The founder of our Methodist Wesleyan tradition of the Christian faith, John Wesley, is a dramatic witness to this struggle of knowing and claiming salvation.

John Wesley was nurtured by his mother, Susanna, and his father, Samuel, a priest in the Church of England. In 1725, while a student at Oxford University, he had a conversion to the ideal of holy living. Few examples in history show a more disciplined religious person: he rose at 4 a.m., read the New Testament in Greek for an hour, then prayed with his brother Charles and others in what was derisively called the “Holy Club.”

He spent time visiting prisons and gave to the poor all money he received except for what was absolutely necessary for his own living. Wesley was relentlessly driven to achieve salvation and assurance, yet he remained haunted by doubt.

The Aldersgate Experience: Wesley’s Breakthrough

After much religious striving, even going to the American colonies as a missionary and feeling like a failure, Wesley experienced a breakthrough. On May 24, 1738, during a prayer meeting on Aldersgate Street in London, a layperson read Martin Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. Wesley later described the moment:

“I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for my 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.”

This was the turning point for Wesley, giving him the assurance of salvation he had long sought. No wonder this became one of the four “alls” in Fitzgerald’s summary of Wesley’s understanding of salvation: all can know they are saved.

The Aldersgate experience transformed Wesley from a slave to a son. He knew that, in his words, “Christ had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” The apostle Paul might say that Wesley “did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but the spirit of sonship that would enable him to cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15).

How Christians Can Know They Are Saved

Assurance is the privilege of all Christians. It is a gift that we must accept and embrace. This witness of assurance is continually verified in at least four ways:

1. Repentance: We know that we’ve repented of our sins and continue to repent daily.
2. Spiritual Growth: Assurance grows within us as we see continual changes in our lives.
3. Character Development: Assurance is ours if we are aware of a new character being produced in us, as the fruits of the Spirit grow in our lives.
4. Joy in Service: We find joy in the service of God, and this joy confirms our assurance.

Two Challenges to Keep Your Assurance Alive

I close with two challenges to keep your assurance alive:

• Rejoice Daily: This day, and every day, rejoice in the salvation that is yours.
• Repent Continually: This day, and every day, repent of every sin and renew your faith commitment to Christ.

And the Holy Spirit of peace “will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).