How Do I Know I’m Elect? Faith as Evidence, Not a Loophole

Genuine faith is the evidence that I was predestined for salvation. Calvin also emphasizes that assurance of salvation should not produce moral negligence. On the contrary, it should produce a life of gratitude and pursuit of holiness because I am secure in my salvation because I know that I am loved eternally by God. I am motivated to please the one who loved me. Gratitude for election produces a genuine desire to live in conformity with God’s will, to mortify sin, and to grow in holiness. Assurance also has implications for how we face persecution and suffering. During the turbulent times of the Reformation, many Christians face torture, imprisonment, and death for their faith. The certainty that they were chosen by God, that their salvation could not be taken by any earthly persecution, provided them extraordinary strength to stand firm even in the face of death. The assurance of election produced martyrs who could die with peace and joy, trusting that their death was not the end, but the passage to eternal glory with God. Calvin also observes that assurance of salvation transforms the nature of Christian hope. Hope is not a mere uncertain aspiration about what might happen. It is a confidence founded on God’s immutable will.