KNOWING & GROWING IN ASSURANCE OF
FAITH
By Joel R. Beeke
Christian Focus. 208 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 1 781 913 000
Joel R. Beeke has written Knowing and Growing in Assurance of Faith especially for believers who lack assurance.
He is convinced that God delights to convince his people that they are his children and, through a careful exposition and application of the biblical texts, here is a tool to this end. Beeke begins by explaining why assurance of faith is important and why many Christians lack it, then he provides a survey of the subject in the Old and New Testaments.
Westminster Confession
The rest of the book is devoted to a careful explanation of the 18th chapter of the Westminster Confession: assurance comes primarily from God’s promises, but also from evidences of grace, the ‘meat and potatoes’ of a believer’s assurance; these are complemented by a direct witness of the Holy Spirit. This reliance on the Puritans is justified, as he shows their invitation to each ‘Christian to pursue a deeper, fuller, more satisfying and more sanctified assurance of God’s smile upon his life.’
Whilst Beeke is clear on the real dangers of a false assurance, he brushes aside superficial confidences to open the way for a richer enjoyment of salvation. He writes directly to the reader: ‘Are you a true believer who consciously enjoys true assurance?’ He writes with a thoroughness to carefully examine the subject from all angles.
Help the whole way
‘Am I a real Christian?’ This is the question that all believers ask, and keep asking. This book can help us, at all stages of the Christian walk, to wrestle with this question. I think it would be a great book to read with others in the church family, to help encourage one another along the road to glory.
The dependence on the Bible through the lens of the Puritans gives this book its weight; the simplicity and practicality gives it accessibility; the preciousness of the subject gives it its importance.
