Apostasy and Assurance

On this view of baptism which Leithart advances, we need to accept the reality of apostasy, in which the one who has been baptized and thus united with the historical body of Christ, the church, can then fall away, having experienced what can be described as saving benefits, belonging to the community of people who are priests and kings to God, who are involved in God’s global mission, who are gifted to build up the church, who share in the life of the communion of the saints and the community of the justified, and who are caught up in the work of the Spirit. It is by grasping this that we can pray truly to God with David and the old Prayer Book, “Take not your Holy Spirit from us” (Psalm 51.11).

This makes sense of a number of New Testament passages. There is the parable of the sower, in which the soil falls on rocky ground, representing the one who hears the word, receives it with joy, believes for a while, and in a time of testing falls away. It makes sense of the warnings against apostasy in Hebrews 6, which speaks of those who “have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come” and who then fall away. It also makes sense of 2 Peter 2, which describes the false teachers among the church who deny the Master who bought them as escaping the defilements of the world and know the Lord and Saviour and the way of righteousness. This is consistent with Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 10, who appeals to each member of the historical church at Corinth who “thinks that he stands” to “take heed lest he fall” and to “flee from idolatry” on the basis that all Israel were “baptised” and ate spiritual food and drank spiritual drink which was Christ, and were rescued from Egypt, that is, enjoyed real saving benefits, but many of whom were overthrown because they desired evil and were idolaters and put Christ to the test.

Leithart writes:

“All of these passages [including those referred to above] describe a real, although temporary, experience of favour, fellowship and knowledge of God. These reprobates really were joined to Christ, really were enlightened and fed, really shared in the Spirit, and yet they did not persevere and lost what they have been given. Ultimately, these blessings and gifts are no help… But the New Testament says pretty plainly that they have lost something real, which includes a relationship with the Spirit, union with Christ, and knowledge of the Saviour.” p. 91

Apostasy can take a variety of forms. Leithart takes us through the example of the villain who joins the church in order to disrupt it, Saul who refused to listen to the voice of the Lord’s prophet, and Judas, the son of perdition, the traitor. Each of these can be said to have experienced for a time a real relationship with Christ that cannot be merely described as external. The infiltrator hears Christ speaking to him in the word, shares a meal at the Lord’s Table, has contact with the Spirit through Spirit-filled people, and through his involvement in the work of the church participates in God’s saving action in history. Saul was given the Holy Spirit who changed his heart, for a while. Judas himself was given authority over demons and power to heal, heard Jesus in public and private, ate with Jesus, travelled with him, and was greeted as a friend by Jesus in Gethsemane.

As mentioned in a previous post, Leithart is quick to point out that this is not to contradict classical Reformed teaching:

“What’s at stake here is not, it must be emphasized, to doctrine of election or the Reformed insistence that God not only elects but reprobates all before the foundation of the world. I fully agree with the Reformed tradition on that point.” p. 97

What Leithart is saying is that not only does God ordain the end of every man’s life, he ordains the whole life-story of each and every human being, in the case of the apostate, the final end of death as well as experiencing all the benefits of receiving the word and belonging to the church. God relates to his people in time and God’s relationship with people changes with time as people change, all in accordance with what he has foreordained. As beings bound by time, it is the encounter with God who works in time that is most relevant to our experience, as his view and attitude towards us changes as our response to him changes. The apostate can come into God’s favour, respond with faith, then fall away, cease abiding and fall out of this favour. I would have thought this was obvious from, for example, Jeremiah 18.7-10, but clearly for some this is not.

Where is assurance to be found? Leithart insists, with the Bible that we can have assurance. He takes us through ways in which we might look for assurance – fruit in our own lives produced by the Spirit – joy, love, faith – but how do we know that our joy will last when persecution comes, our love so often falls short, and how do we know our faith is saving faith when it is so often weak? Do we look for some inner experience of the Spirit? How then can we distinguish this from mere self-deception? Looking at ourselves is a blind alley which will only serve to undermine assurance.

The Spirit works through means to assure us that we are God’s and that we are in his love. He promises this in baptism. He promises this when we hear the absolution of sins from Scripture. He promises this in sermons. He promises this at his table. Leithart writes:

“Through these the Spirit woos me, hugs me, encourages me, kisses me, visits me, clothes me, challenges me, rebukes me, convicts me, changes me. There is no doubt that the Spirit is addressing me. I can hear Him speak, though He uses human vocal cords or ink and paper. I have no doubt that I’m included in the “us” that is not separated from Christ, because I heard God include me in that “us.” p. 103

In response to the Spirit speaking in these ways, we are summoned to believe.  How can these things assure us, though, if some who receive the same baptism, hear the same words and eat at the same table fall away, if after believing for a while, believing strongly and believing with joy? Leithart admits that there is mystery here. Those who fall away so so because God determines to turn away from them, and they fail to keep faith. The response that we are called to it to keep faith. Having entered the body of Christ in baptism, we are to trust in and confess Jesus, hear his word, dine at his table, serve his people and seek to live obediently. If we do so, we have nothing to fear. God is kind and merciful even to those with the smallest grain of faith. We are reassured of God’s love every time we hear God address us in word and sacrament. This is not self-trust, since all these forms of abiding in Christ are God’s gifts which are effective by his Spirit. It is only then that we pay attention to God’s declaration that we are forgiven, because if we trusted outselves, we wouldn’t. It is by faith that eating bread and drinking wine achieves its purpose. Perseverance is perseverance and growth in faith. Faith has fruits and faith which alone justifies is never alone, but we never mature from trust to works. Faith, which is nourished and nurtured and grows as we “stick with Jesus”, is the way to assurance.

“Too often the Reformed tradition has degenerated into a morbid form of self-analysis that is actually much closer to medieval piety than to the first Reformers. We are trained to stand outside ourselves and adopt a stance of objectivity in order to examine our performance, the strength of our faith, the consistency of our obedience. If our life matches our profession, then we are assured of our standing in Christ. Then we “know that we know” (1 Jn 2:3). This is not, I think what the New Testament means when it talks about assurance. “Knowing that we know” means experiencing the assurance that we are in a relationship of love – a “knowing” relationship – with God in Christ through the Spirit. We come to this experience of assurance in the midst of our abiding in Christ, not by standing outside our relationship with Christ and evaluating it as outsiders. We come to that experience as we trustingly, believingly remember and improve our baptisms, hear the Word of our beloved Husband, and feast as His Bride at His table.” p. 106