@Johann So, we’re chosen? God chose me? I have to tell you that I’m still shocked that He would choose someone like me. I don’t know the correct theological terms for this. All I DO know is that I’m forever grateful that He did.
Another question: how does one know that they’ve been chosen by God?
Thank you in advance.
11.16 AM Here @Joanne.1966, dear sorella, will answer you tomorrow.
Oh, wait…
The question of election is not meant to drive the soul to anxious speculation, but to establish it upon the Rock. The Puritans taught that assurance of election comes not by peering into God’s hidden decree, but by examining what He has made visible in the believer’s life through His Word and Spirit.
Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” Romans 8:29
Election is God’s eternal, free, and gracious choice. The believer does not look within to find the cause of election, but looks to Christ as the object of God’s choosing love. As the Westminster Confession teaches (3.5), God “did, from all eternity, decree to justify all the elect in Christ.” The ground of assurance is always extra nos, outside ourselves.
“Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” Romans 8:33
Scripture calls the Christian to self-examination, not to earn assurance, but to recognize what grace has wrought. The Puritans, following the apostles, identified these marks:
A. True Faith in Christ
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8–9
“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” 1 John 5:1
This is not mere intellectual assent, but fiducial trust, resting the whole weight of the soul upon Christ alone for salvation.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” Romans 1:16
B. Repentance Unto Life
“Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret.” 2 Corinthians 7:10
“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.” Acts 3:19
A true believer is one who has been turned from darkness to light, who hates sin not merely for its consequences but because it is against a holy God.
C. Love for God and His People
“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.” 1 John 3:14
“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” 1 John 4:20
John Owen writes that sincere love for the brethren is one of the surest evidences of regeneration. Where there is no love for God’s people, there is no indwelling of God’s Spirit.
D. Obedience and a New Principle of Holiness
“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” 1 John 2:3
“No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.” 1 John 3:9
The Puritans were careful here. They did not teach sinless perfection, but a new principle at work. The regenerate man sins, but he does not live in sin; he fights it, mourns over it, and flees to Christ for pardon and power.
“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:12–13
E. Perseverance in the Faith
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6
“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.” 1 John 2:19
The elect do not finally fall away. Temporary faith may wither, but true faith endures to the end. Thomas Watson called perseverance “the diamond of the Christian’s crown.”
“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Romans 8:16
“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance.” Ephesians 1:13–14
This testimony is not a mystical voice or extraordinary revelation. It is the Spirit’s work through the means of grace, the preached Word, the sacraments, prayer, confirming in the believer’s conscience what the Word declares objectively.
John Owen, in his treatise on the Holy Spirit, warns against seeking the Spirit’s witness apart from the Spirit’s Word.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105
The Puritans distinguished degrees of assurance, lest the weak believer despair:
Assurance of faith: that I do believe.
Assurance of hope: that I shall persevere.
Assurance of salvation: that I am elect and shall be saved.
One may possess the first without the full third.
Thomas Brooks warns against demanding full assurance as a condition of coming to Christ; rather, coming to Christ produces assurance.
William Perkins taught that “the weakest measure of true faith” is nonetheless true faith.
“For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” James 2:26
Yet James does not say that works create faith, but that they evidence it. The tree is known by its fruit (Matthew 7:20).
My pastoral word to you @Joanne.1966…ran out of characters…
Johann.
Thank you @Johann I’ll have more questions waiting for you 
I’m here, always.
J.
Romans 7:13–25 ESV
13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Introduction
Baptist Affirmation of Faith 1966 (9. Sanctification)
Believers are commanded to be filled with the Spirit. As responsible beings they ought, through the Holy Spirit, to put to death the deeds of the body and, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, they should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; yet in this life they are never completely freed from the corruption of sin and from this corruption there arise a continual warfare between the flesh and the spirit. Nevertheless through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ the new nature does overcome and so believers grow in grace, perfect holiness in the fear of God, pressing after a heavenly life, in obedience to all the commands of Christ.
Romans 8:13 ESV
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Colossians 3:5 ESV
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Titus 2:11–12 (ESV)
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
3. Corruption of Sin
Baptist Affirmation of Faith 1966 (9. Sanctification)
yet in this life they are never completely freed from the corruption of sin and from this corruption there arise a continual warfare between the flesh and the spirit.
Romans 7:18 (ESV)
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
Romans 7:23 ESV
23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Galatians 5:17 (ESV)
17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
4. Holiness
Baptist Affirmation of Faith 1966 (9. Sanctification)
Nevertheless through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ the new nature does overcome and so believers grow in grace, perfect holiness in the fear of God, pressing after a heavenly life, in obedience to all the commands of Christ.
1 Peter 2:11 (ESV)
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
Romans 6:14 (ESV)
14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV)
18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
2 Peter 3:18 (ESV)
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Conclusion
2 Corinthians 7:1 ESV
1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
J
