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Romans 8:14–17
“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (vv. 16–17).
Assurance of salvation is God’s gift to us, mediated through a combination of objective and subjective factors. Scripture objectively gives us the right doctrine to believe and the right ethics to practice (1 John 2:18–25; 3:4–10), and true assurance of salvation requires our believing and doing the correct things. The third mark of the true Christian, right love (4:7–12), is both objective and subjective, for Scripture defines objective acts of love (e.g., James 2:14–26) and commends to us the subjective experience of brotherly affection (e.g., Rom. 12:10).
The final component through which we find true assurance of salvation is the inner witness or testimony of the Holy Spirit. Here we have a subjective indicator, for we hear, as it were, the Spirit’s witness internally as God testifies to our own spirits. The Apostle Paul teaches us about the inner witness of the Spirit in today’s passage.
How does the Holy Spirit assure us that our faith is real and that we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ? By confirming to us that we are children of God, that God is our Father, and that we are heirs with Christ of all the promises of God (Rom. 8:16–17). When the Holy Spirit speaks to our spirits, we recognize that we are sons and daughters of God, and we call on Him in love just as earthly children call on their earthly fathers in love. John Calvin writes that “the Spirit of God gives us such a testimony, that when he is our guide and teacher, our spirit is made assured of the adoption of God.” Assurance of salvation entails assurance that God is our Father personally as individuals and collectively as the church.
While the witness of the Holy Spirit is subjective, it is not pure subjectivism. Robert Letham says that the testimony of the Spirit to our spirits “is no mystical experience unchecked by any objective criterion. His testimony is rooted in Scripture, the ministry of the Word, and the sacraments.” The Holy Spirit bears witness to us through the preaching and teaching of Scripture and through the display of scriptural truth in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Moreover, His inner testimony works in conjunction with our efforts at mortifying sin and vivifying righteousness. Letham writes, “The Holy Spirit provides a joint witness with our spirit that we belong to God, as he enables us to put to death the deeds of the flesh.” The Holy Spirit, after all, is not the spirit of slavery to sin but the Spirit of adoption and holiness (Rom. 8:12–15).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of adoption, He must be conforming us to the character of our heavenly Father. Those who believe that the Spirit is assuring them that they belong to God but who have no desire for holiness should not think that they are hearing from the Holy Spirit. Those who attend to the Word and sacraments and seek to practice holiness, on the other hand, can trust that the testimony that they are God’s children is of the Holy Spirit.
For further study
- Psalm 89:26
- 1 Corinthians 2:6–16
- Galatians 4:6
- 1 John 5:6
The bible in a year
- Jeremiah 27–28
- Titus 1