Edwards on “Assurance”
“It is not God’s design that men should obtain assurance in any other way than by mortifying corruption, and increasing in grace, and obtaining the lively exercises of it” (Religious Affections, 123).
“Assurance is not to be obtained so much by self-examination as by action” (Religious Affections, 123).
What does it mean to “Walk by the Spirit”?
Two texts in particular inform my understanding of the biblical teaching, “Walk by the Spirit”: Romans 8:1-17 and Galatians 5:16-26. The apostle Paul in both texts clearly teaches that the believer’s fundamental relationship is not with the “flesh,” but with the “Spirit.” The believer’s primary modus operandi has shifted from the patterns of thought, behavior, and desire typical of humanity apart from God’s miraculous intervention (“the flesh”), and a new empowering presence has been placed within the believer. This supernatural transaction has its genesis in Christ’s cross, wherein the Law’s condemnation was born by the Son of God (Rom 8:1-4) and in his resurrection from death that signaled the dawning or “first fruits” of the promised new age of eternal life. This new reality was anticipated in Ezekiel 36:25-27, where the prophet announces that God will one day remove his people’s sin, place his Spirit within the hearts of his people, and cause them to walk according to his Law.
The imperative “walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5:16, 25) is related to yet distinct from the indicative “you live by the Spirit” (5:25). The latter indicates the aforementioned impartation of the gift of the new age, the Holy Spirit, by God to us who believe. This is the assumed basis for Paul’s imperative, according to the 1st class condition in 5:25, which I paraphrase: “Assuming we have been raised to life by the Spirit, let us live our lives in that Spirit-reality of the new age of God’s in-breaking power and authority.”
The text offers two primary purposes for us to “walk by the Spirit”: (1) we are to fulfill the righteous requirements of the Law (Rom 8:4) and (2) we are to please God (Rom 8:8-9). The penalty or curse of the law has been met and the enabling presence of God himself has been given us that we may (in increasing measure throughout our lifetime) please him in our obedience to his will by the Spirit. We in no way earn our standing before God through human effort, for the presence of God’s indwelling Spirit in us (Rom 8:4) is contingent on the prior satisfaction of God’s wrath against our sin at the cross (Rom 8:1-3).
Practically, then, how ought we believers obey Paul’s imperative in Gal 5:16 to “walk by the Spirit”? First, we must savor the freedom from the Law’s curse bought for us by Christ (Gal 5:18). Second, we must radically turn away from the behavior unpleasing to God that characterized our life in the “flesh” (Rom 8:13). Third, we must in humility pursue peace and harmony with other believers (Gal 5:26). Fourth, we must continually “set the mind on the Spirit” (Rom 8:6), which I take to mean a refocusing upon our conferred identity as blood-bought, Spirit-filled heirs of God’s promises and a prayerful seeking out of the Spirit’s power to do the things he requires of us in his Word. Such a life points to the in-breaking of God’s reign on this earth that awaits us in full measure on the last day, when the sons of God will be revealed (Rom 8:19) and it will thankfully no longer be an option to live according to the flesh.
