16. THEOLOGY AND POSITIVE ASSURANCE.

In the preceding chapter we pointed out the truism that the Christian theologian must be personally sure of the truth which he teaches. The question how this positive subjective assurance may be secured (erkenntnis-theoretische Frage) is being discussed with much vigor within both the conservative and the liberalistic camps. Quite commonly it is thought to be a problem involving most serious difficulties. These difficulties, however, appear only if the theologian surrenders the objective truth of Holy Scripture. As long as he accepts Scripture as the only source and norm of faith, the question is indeed a most simple one. Our divine Lord teaches emphatically both that personal Christian assurance exists and that it is obtained through faith in His Word. John 8, 31. 32: "If ye continue in My Word, ... ye shall know the truth." This faith, which in itself is perfect assurance, is effected through the Word of God by the Holy Ghost. 1 Cor. 2, 5: "That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Luther rightly says: "Man is certain passively, just as the Word of God is certain actively." (Homo est certus passive, sicut Verbum Dei est certum active.) That means according to Luther's own explanation : "Where this (God's) Word enters the heart with a true faith, it makes the heart as firm, sure, and certain as it is itself, so that it (the heart) becomes so absolutely firm and hard against every temptation, the devil, death, or whatever it may be that it boldly and proudly despises, and mocks at, everything that would doubt, tremble, be evil, or angry, for it knows that the Word of God cannot lie." St. L., III, 1887. This statement is truly Scriptural. Personal, or subjective, assurance is most certainly obtained through the Word of God, and only through the Word of God, as Holy Scripture testifies. On the other hand, every kind of subjective assurance which does not flow from God's Word through faith is self-made and hence nothing but ignorance and self-deception, 1 Tim. 6, 3. 4.

This is the Christian theologian's reply to the false claim of modern rationalistic theology, which asserts that the real personal, or subjective, assurance is "self-assurance" (Selbstgewissheit), or assurance which the theologian owes to his own regenerate self. This error, which was first proposed by Schleiermacher, has been quite generally adopted, even by theologians of the positive wing. This erroneous view rejects Holy Scripture as the only source and norm of faith; and so its advocates rely on their "Christian consciousness" or their "Christian experience" as the norm of their faith. Accordingly their "Christian theology" is built not exclusively on Holy Scripture, but on their "regenerate heart" or their own "sanctified ego"; and it is from this that they propose to derive their positive personal assurance of divine truth. But every assurance thus obtained must be rejected as false, since it is neither Christian nor scientific nor assurance at all. It is not Christian because it discards the specifically Christian foundation of faith; it is not scientific because it makes the human mind an authority in matters of which natural man is totally ignorant; it is, lastly, not assurance, but imagination, because the Christian theologian can know the divine truth only in so far as he continues in the Word of God. The unchristian character of modern rationalistic theology proves conclusively that it is impossible to draw the Christian faith from any other source than Holy Scripture; for this brand of theology does not only reject the specific doctrines of the Christian religion, but it also sets up contradictory teachings in opposition to Holy Scripture and the Christian faith. Thus modern rationalistic theology denies the Scriptural doctrine of justification by grace, through faith, and teaches in its place salvation by work-righteousness. Such "assurance" therefore rests upon grounds which God's Word positively condemns.

In short, divine truth can be known by men, or what is the same thing, the human mind is capable of personal assurance of the divine truth. But this assurance is actual only if the theologian clings to Holy Scripture and in simple faith believes what God has spoken in His written Word. It is the unique characteristic of the Word of God both that it is absolute truth and that it renders the believer absolutely certain of its being such. If this is denied, the possibility and actuality of faith must likewise be denied; for personal assurance is nothing else than personal faith.

Overview chap. 2