FV and Assurance

An X post from November 2024:

A comment on FV and assurance: Assurance is not found through a process of introspection, making sure I have a really regenerated heart (the human heart is too much of a labyrinth for that, and we are all too easily prone to self-serving forms of self-deception). Rather, assurance is found by looking away from ourselves, and looking outside of ourselves, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith. Assurance is primarily extraspective, not introspective.

One of the ways I “look” to Jesus is by resting in the promises he makes to me in his Word, personalized at the baptismal font. Recovering Calvin’s pastoral use of baptism was a major plank in the FV project. The Christians I’ve seen struggle with assurance the most either have a highly introspective piety, constantly examining their inward desires and experiences to make sure they “really meant it” when they had a conversion experience, OR they are hyper-Calvinists, constantly turning inward to assess whether or not God *really* regenerated them at some point in the past. Both of these ways of seeking assurance turn the Christian in on himself.

FV is a very simple, straightforward antidote to both. True, I can derive assurance from the reality of my obedience (eg, 1 John), but that obedience is outward/external fruit that can be publicly/ecclesially assessed so it’s not just a matter of examining myself in isolation but in community. It’s also an obedience that grows out of faith in Christ, so the obedience test is inseparable from the doctrinal tests in 1 John, and the whole point of the doctrine John has in view is to point me away from myself to Christ.