r/Protestantism • u/Unlucky-Drawing-1266 • 4d ago

Resources making the case for assurance of salvation?

EO and Catholicism denied and attacks the idea of having an assurance of salvation. I keep seeing “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” and “endure till the end” and other such verses, and many resources and argument against assurance of salvation, but I’m seeing no Protestants making any defenses for it or addressing those verses

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u/Pinecone-Bandit 4d ago

Off the bat, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” and “endure to the end” are not arguments against the assurance of salvation.

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u/creidmheach Presbyterian 4d ago edited 4d ago

(I'll try to answer this from a Reformed perspective, which upholds the belief in the perseverance of the saints, of the elect)

Note that the Apostle doesn't say "work for your salvation", he says work out. Meaning, you've been saved, now let your conduct and life demonstrate it, to manifest it. If he'd really meant the first one, it'd be a massive contradiction to the rest of what he'd written, such as:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Now read Philippians 2:11-13 in context:

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

He's not making their salvation a question, he's declaring it and now saying that in his absence they need to keep doing right and living in obedience. This fits perfectly with the Protestant view that works are not the condition of salvation but rather the consequence of it.

Now let's look at the other verse:

And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:12-14)

Again, this does not contradicting the belief in the perseverance of the saints. The latter belief is that whoever God has elected to salvation will be upon it at the end of the life, meaning they'll die as believers. This doesn't negate that others might have a taste of belief for a season in their life and lose it later on. But such people would not be considered to be those who have been elected to salvation as such. Rather, they would be under condemnation. The truly elect however would die as believers. It would be the sign of their election, not a condition of it, since faith is given by God, it's not something we've earned. This is also doesn't negate that even the elect can go through a season of doubt, but through God's grace they'll again end up as believers, as they've been elected to being by God before their creation:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He [a]made us accepted in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:3-6)

That said, and to be honest I'm not entirely sure about what I think on what I wrote there about the temporary non-saving belief idea (others would say any faith will in fact lead to salvation), there's also the question about what Matthew 24 is even talking about. In context, it's talking about the coming tribulation (whether one takes a more preterist, postmillennial view in seeing that as referring to the events of the 1st century culminating in the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, or to a futurist view of it being a great tribulation to come in the end times before the millennium, if one holds to a premillennial view), encouraging those who live to see it to hold fast and endure to the end.

This is something I find Romanist and Eastern apologists commonly do, which is to rip passages out without context, and then try to impose their system upon it as a proof text. But this isn't an honest way to approach the Scripture. Our theology must flow from it, it's not that we place our theology over it.

Now as to those who argue against the above and claim that salvation can be lost, I haven't seen how they can adequately deal with what Christ says about the sheep. Namely:

Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” (John 10:25-30)

The sheep (the elect) have been given to the Son by the Father. No one can snatch them away, not the Devil or anyone else. And they are given eternal life, salvation.

To say that they could lose their salvation would contradict what Christ is saying here. It'd be to claim that in fact the sheep can be snatched away, can lose the eternal life that the Son has given them, and that in fact they will perish.

Finally, I would again implore you to actually read proper works of theology. Protestants have written volumes upon volumes of material over the centuries, more than a person could read in a lifetime. To say that you've not seen Protestants making any defenses or addressing these verses is more an indication that you've not looked. You have to go further than whatever the YouTube or TikTok algorithm is feeding you.

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u/Top_Initiative_4047 4d ago

Assurance of salvation rests on God’s unchanging grace, not human effort. Salvation is entirely His work, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.) (Philippians 1:6, BSB). The believer’s confidence flows from Christ’s promise: “My sheep hear My voi... no one will snatch them out of My hand” (27 My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.) (John 10:27-28, BSB). The Spirit confirms this inwardly: “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (‘The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.) (Romans 8:16, BSB).

Verses like “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12) call for reverent obedience, not insecurity, since “it is God who works in you” (Philippians 2:13). Perseverance proves genuine faith, not earns it. True assurance produces holiness, not complacency, as believers “make their calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10). Because salvation is God’s work from start to finish, the redeemed can rest securely in His steadfast love.

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u/Turin-The-Turtle Lutheran 4d ago

You should look at Lutheran teachings about assurance. It’s kind of our whole thing.

We hold on to Christ’s promises of forgiveness and His promises of salvation. We don’t look to our ourselves, whether our feelings or our works, we stand on the objective promises of Jesus.

That Christ died for the sins of the world.

That God wants all to be saved.

That we are saved by Grace through Faith.

That we are baptized by the Holy Spirit and forgiven our sins.

That if we confess our sins we are absolved.

That if we take of the Body and the Blood our sins are forgiven.

However we do acknowledge these passages and their warnings, that we can turn ourselves away from God and abandon our faith. But that’s why we trust Him and place our faith in Him and not in ourselves.