Description
Joel R. Beeke analyzes the doctrine of assurance of faith in the theology of Calvin and the Reformed tradition after him. His conclusion is that Calvin and post-Reformation Reformed theologians substantially share the teaching on assurance, differing only in matters of degree. Therefore, the teachings of 17th century Reformed theology, as characterized in chapter 18 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, is an advancement of the 16th century Reformers rather than a departure. Beeke deals with English Puritanism, and well as its Dutch counterpart known as the Nadere Reformatie (Second or Further Reformation).
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
Part One: Assurance Prior to the Westminster Assembly
2. The Early and Medieval Church
3. The Reformation From Luther to Bullinger
Martin Luther
Philip Melanchthon
Huldrych Zwingli
Heinrich Bullinger
4. Reformed Development in Calvin and Beza
John Calvin
Nature and Definition of Faith
Assurance of the Essence of Faith
Qualifying Statements
Making Sense of Apparent Contradictions
Faith and Experience
Flesh versus Spirit
Germ of Faith versus Consciousness of Faith
Trinitarian Framework
The Practical Syllogism
Theodore Beza
Comparison with Calvin
The Grounds of Assurance
5. The Fathers of English Puritanism and the Dutch Second Reformation
William Perkins
Structuring Principles
The Grounds of Assurance
Conversion’s Steps
Step #1: Humiliation
Step #2: Faith in Christ
Step #3-4: Repentance and New Obedience
William Teellinck
Assurance by Faith Working Through Love
Assurance by the Promises of God
Assurance by the Immediate Witness of the Holy Spirit
Part Two: Assurance From the Westminster Assembly to Alexander Comrie
6. English Puritanism and the Westminster Confession, Chapter 18
Puritan Thought on Assurance by the 1640s
18.1: Threefold Possibility
False Assurance
True Assurance
Lacking the Consciousness of Assurance
18.2: The Foundations of Personal Assurance
Divine Promises in Christ
Inward Evidences of Saving Grace
The Seat of Assurance: Christ’s Internal Presence
The Method of Assurance
The Witnessing Testimony of the Spirit
18.3: The Cultivation of Assurance
The Organic Relation of Faith to Assurance
The Time Element in Faith’s Maturation
The Means of Attaining Assurance
The Duty of Seeking Assurance
The Fruit of Assurance
18.4: Assurance Lost and Renewed
The Causes of an ‘Unreachable’ Assurance
Causes in the Believer: Sin and Backsliding
Causes in God: Withdrawing and ‘Tempting’
The Revival of Assurance
7. John Owen
Two Short Catechism (1645)
The Doctrine of the Saint’s Perseverance (1654)
Polemical Response to John Goodwin
Setting the Stage for Elaboration on Assurance
Communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Communion with the Father: Love
Communion with the Son: Grace,
Conjugal Relationship
Adoption
Communion with the Spirit: Comfort
Witnessing in the Court of Conscience
The Believer’s ‘Earnest’
The Savoy Declaration of Faith and Order
An Exposition upon Psalm 130
Personal Crises
Enlargement Upon the Westminster Confession
The Attainability of Assurance
Assurance Normative but not Common
How Assurance is Obtained
Retaining, Renewing, and Improving Assurance
Pneumatologia: A Discourse on the Holy Spirit
The Sealing of the Spirit
The Unction of the Spirit
The Doctrine of Justification by Faith
An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebews
8. Alexander Comrie
Historical and Biographical Context
Saving Faith
The Habit and Act of Faith
Unity and Oneness (eenheid) of Faith
Three Faculties of Faith
Spiritual Knowledge
Spiritual Assent
Spiritual Trust
Assurance of Faith
The Direct and Reflex Acts of Faith
Assurance of the Uprightness of Faith and of Adoption
Assurance of Faith and Assurance of Sense
Conditional and Unconditional Promises
Faith and Justification
Part Three: Comparison of English Puritanism and the Dutch Second Reformation on Assurance
9. Thomas Goodwin: The Merging of English-Dutch Thinking of Assurance
Goodwin and Owen
Spiritual Experience and Dutch Influence
Faith’s Relation to Assurance
Assurance and Knowledge of the Divine Persons
Discursive and Intuitive Assurance
Goodwin and Comrie
10. Conclusion
Appendix: The Dutch Second Reformation
The Term Nadere Reformatie
The Essence of the Dutch Second Reformation
Assessment in Secondary Sources
Endorsements
“The first extensive essay on this important topic to appear in the English language…[it offers a positive] historical assessment of the internal development of post-Reformation Reformed theology.” – Richard A. Muller, Calvin Theological Seminary
“A long-needed and outstanding work on the subject of assurance…of permanent importance for preachers and students.” – Iain H. Murray, Edinburgh
“Of great significance…is Dr. Beeke’s recognition that the development of classic Reformed thinking in the Puritan period was in fact an advance in its Trinitarian character…a valuable study in pastoral theology.” – Sinclair B. Ferguson, St. George’s – Tron, Glasgow.
Author
Joel R. Beeke (PhD, Westminster Seminary) is president and professor of systematic theology and homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary; a pastor of the Heritage Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan; editor of Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth; editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books; and a prolific author.
Joel R. Beeke, David W. Hall, and Michael A. G. Haykin
Beeke, Joel R.
Beeke, Joel R. & Williams, Garry J.