Testing The Test - Part 3 Conclusion

Maybe assurance should be tested for
using a 'Bell Curve'? 

Here's the conclusion to this three part series discussing the reliability, and therefore the validity of the John MacArthur organization's test of a person's salvation. This test can be found at his Grace To You website.

In Part 1 I made the applicable introduction to the subject and found some of the test, the objective part of it, was actually valid and trustworthy. In Part 2 I began to look at the subjective portion of the test. There's an important note about subjective testing in that part - just because a test is subjective doesn't mean it is invalid or unreliable. However, reliability decreases with any increase in subjectivity.

This time I'll pick up where I left off in Part 2, and cover the rest of the MacArthur test - questions 3 through 7. I will then offer a conclusion and a closing thought.

Just as before, each individual test question will be evaluated by three standards that it must meet in order to be trustworthy:

1. Be in accordance with the Scriptures. If it does not explicitly come from the Scriptures then it is man’s wisdom and cannot be relied upon, and is therefore invalid.

2. Be passable by every single saved person, at every moment, in any situation. If it could give a false indication of an unsaved state to a person who actually is saved then the test is invalid.

3. Be impossible to pass for every single non-saved person, at every moment, in any situation. If it could give a false indication of salvation to an unsaved person then the test is invalid.

NOTE: Unless otherwise noted MacArthur is referencing chapters and verses from the book of 1st John.

Question 3 reads:

• True believers keep His commandments (2:3-4; 5:2-3). The term here refers to a watchful, observant obedience. Here the believer desires to obey truths he deems precious. It involves a proactive approach to obedience-the Christian studies Scripture in order to understand and obey it.

1. Does this explicitly come from the Scriptures? NO.  Mature believers keep His commandments. Hereby we know that we experience Him deeply – ginosko -  Not that we know we are saved. This is well explained in ‘But’ Theology series. However, it is also clear from the passage. 1Jn 2:5 in particular. Being “in Him” is not in the Pauline usage of being baptised into Christ, but in the Johannine usage of “abiding in” Christ, as we see in 1Jn 2:6.  The “test question” falls apart dramatically when the second cited passage is examined. 1Jn 5:2-3 follows after 1Jn 5:1 (as though this needs to be explained…) The test question is invalidated by 1Jn 5:1 where we find that everyone who believes is saved. Then we see that additionally those who love Him, will love other saved people. This is again, birth and then maturity.
2. Can every saved person pass this test in every situation? NO. The immature, many of whom John wrote to in 1Jn, and those who are failing in their walk or who have simply not come to maturity yet, such as illustrated in 2Peter 1:5-9 will not pass this test. Yet as Peter states, they have had their sins cleansed.
3. Is it impossible for an unsaved person to pass this test? NO. Many will say “Lord, Lord….” And will have done mighty works… and yet not be saved. Though they will believe they have been obediently following His commandments. 

Question 3 is therefore unreliable and invalid.

Question 4 reads:

• True believers love the brethren (2:9-11; 3:10, 14-15; 5:2). Ask yourself the question, "Do I love God's people and desire to be around them?"

1. Does this explicitly come from the Scriptures? NO. While there are things in this question which come from Scripture, as we have seen in the last question, this is about being in fellowship and maturing not simply if you are saved or not. 2Peter 1:5-9 shows that brotherly love is a fairly high point of maturity. However, the Lord did say that the world would know that we are His disciples by our love for each other. In this way, our maturity and our following are made “manifest” to the world. Not that we are saved so much, as we are maturing followers of Him. Careful examination of 1Jn 3 shows more than a simple test of Salvation. He who does not love His brother abides in death. The person who does not do all the things listed in 1Peter 1:5-9 will abide in death - that is they will be dwelling in darkness and not experiencing the abundant life of Christ. 
2. Can every saved person pass this test in every situation? NO. Immature Believers may struggle with this. Every Believer may go through periods where they don’t want to be around other people, for various reasons.
3. Is it impossible for an unsaved person to pass this test? NO. Many people following various religions of the world love the people that also follow their own religions. They see their religion as from God and the other followers as “God’s people.”

Question 4 is therefore unreliable and invalid.

Question 5 reads:

• True believers affirm sound doctrine (2:20-23; 4:2,6). John here teaches that no true believer will fall into any serious, Christ-denying error or heresy.

1. Does this explicitly come from the Scriptures? NO.  Though 1Jn 2:20-23 is cited as support, it speaks those who deny Jesus is the Christ – not ‘falling into serious error’. The language used in the question is objectionable because it is unclear. The intent of the question is to bring other “errors” into what John wrote under the guise of being a “Christ-denying error” but John is talking about denying Jesus is the Christ – not some related error. Further 1Jn 4:2,6 are also cited in support. However, 1Jn 4:1 is clear that John is writing to saved people, instructing them not to believe every spirit but to test them. Obviously true believers may believe false doctrine.
2. Can every saved person pass this test in every situation? NO. The Corinthians were taught that there was no resurrection to be expected, long after they had believed the Gospel and had been saved. Acts 18:5-8. They had to be reminded of what they had believed, and have it explained to them all over again. 1Cor 15:1-58. The Galatians were taught that they had to obey Mosaic Law and other things in order to be saved after they had believed the Gospel and received the Spirit by the hearing of faith. They also would have failed this test before they were corrected by Paul, though they were indeed saved.
3. Is it impossible for an unsaved person to pass this test? NO.  Many unsaved people believe true doctrines, and are ignorant of false doctrines. Depending on the questions asked it is very easy for an unsaved person to pass this test.

Question 5 is therefore unreliable and invalid.

Question 6 reads:

• True believers follow after holiness (2:29; 3:3-4, 6-9). These verses certainly aren't talking about sinless perfection, or even the frequency or duration of sin. The term sin in these verses describes one who lives an immoral, ungodly, unrighteous life as a matter of continual practice, and carries the attitude of hardened hate for God's righteousness.

1. Does this explicitly come from the Scriptures? NO. The author of the test imagines what these verses mean. These tell us that as we walk in the Spirit (or abide in Christ in the Johannine sense) we will not sin. Gal 5:16 also explains how this happens.
2. Can every saved person pass this test in every situation? NO.  Most obviously every assembly of Believers written to in the NT (including any who read these letters today) are taught and discipled into living holy lives with varying degrees of success.  
3. Is it impossible for an unsaved person to pass this test? NO.  Many followers of false religions “follow after holiness.”

Question 6 is therefore unreliable and invalid.

Question 7 reads;

• True believers have the Holy Spirit (4:13; 5:10-11). This is an over-arching test summing up all the others. Is there evidence that the fruit of the Spirit is present in your life (Galatians 5:22-23)?

1. Does this explicitly come from the Scriptures? NO. While it is true that Believers have the Holy Spirit, the author of the test leaves out very valuable information from Galatians 5. Gal 5:16 being the proposed solution to the problem stated in Gal 5:17. Paul’s exhortation is not that those who do not bare the fruits of the Spirit are not saved (or that they don't have the Spirit) – but that those who do not walk in the Spirit – though they LIVE in the Spirit – are being exhorted TO walk in the spirit. Gal 5:25. Most obviously if one believes they DO have the Spirit; Who is our guarantee of future resurrection. 2Cor 1:22, 5:5 and Eph 1:14 However, using our walk as a subjective test is not at all helpful. Because though we have the Spirit we don't always walk in the Spirit. Instead we ought to trust that the Spirit will bare witness to our spirit. Rom 8:16
2. Can every saved person pass this test in every situation? NO. Those who, like the ones Paul was correcting in Galatians, are not walking in the Spirit will not be displaying the fruits of the Spirit.
3. Is it impossible for an unsaved person to pass this test? NO. Many followers of false religions have these characteristics at times, some of them for their whole lives.

Question 7 is therefore unreliable and invalid.

The MacArthur test closes with the following paragraph:

In summary, one's assurance of salvation does not need to be based on a past decision or an experience. It should rest first of all on one's faith in the objective truth of God's Word, Jesus Christ, and the gospel. Secondly, it should rest on the reality of a changed life marked by obedience, a love for Christ and His righteousness, and a hatred for sin. Take heart if these things are true in your life, and trust God to continue to work out His salvation in your life.

If God cannot lie, if He is not like a man that He should lie and go back on His word, if He is faithful and just – then we ought to have assurance in His promise alone. There is nothing higher we can hang our assurance on. There is nothing lower worthy of our trust.

Faith alone in Christ alone; anything other than this gives only false assurance. 

Testing The Test - Part 2

What do you see?

In Part 1 we introduced the topic and looked at the objective portion of the test of Salvation, that the MacArthur organization’s website suggests to readers. This test can be found at the Grace To You website.

A Note About Subjective Testing: That a test is “subjective” does not invalidate the test, but it does reduce reliability to the same degree as it is subjective. Subjectivity increases in direct relation to at least two factors which are relevant to our discussion; the relational closeness of the evaluator to the evaluated and the value of a result to the evaluator.  In our discussion the evaluator is examining his or her own self to determine if they indeed posses Eternal Salvation or are condemned to Eternal Wrath. The relationship couldn’t be closer or the result more important.

As we progress through the subjective tests I will use examples of how particular factors related to subjectivity can affect the results. I will not say that because the test is subjective it is invalid. In many cases I will however show how a particular person or people group could fail or pass the test because of a specific item of subjectivity that they possess.

The second portion of the MacAthur website test is acknowledged to be subjective, and is introduced this way:

Second is the subjective or experiential test of assurance in which you ask yourself, "Is my faith real?" The apostle John's purpose in writing the epistle of 1 John was to give true believers assurance of their salvation (1 John 5:13). In that small epistle John gives several marks to distinguish a true believer.

As I introduced in Part 1 the very first test of validity for these tests is for me to determine if they come explicitly from Scripture. So here we see that the question being addressed - “Is my faith real?” Then 1Jn 5:13 is cited as the reason the author will use the 1^st Epistle of John as the basis for their test. Now the language used in the introduction paragraph is tricky. “Is my faith real?” is a question asked as though it matches the intent  of 1st John; which the article states as being “to give true believers assurance.” However we’ll see that this is not an accurate equation, or even an entirely accurate representation of what the Apostle John wrote.

1Jn 5:13 reads:

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

Notice that these things are written to those who believe in the Name of the Son of God. This is written to people who believe, not to people who may or may not really believe. John goes on to state the purpose. “That you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the Name of the Son of God.” His purpose is to assure them, not to give them a test to see if they should have assurance.

You can find the Greek text examined on this page.   

He is telling those who believe that they have Eternal Life, not giving them a test to see IF they have Eternal Life. Clearly this matches the tender character of this whole chapter written to “my dear little children.” 

1. Does this explicitly come from the Scriptures? NO.
2. Can every saved person pass this test in every situation? NO.
3. Is it impossible for an unsaved person to pass this test? NO.

Since it does not come explicitly from the Scriptures we can know that it is not a valid test. Not every saved person can “pass this test” (it’s not actually a test so I’m straining the language to meet the demands of the article). We know this because as the verse continues it is possible that truly saved people can stop believing. Also an unsaved person could potentially "pass" the test. For example an unsaved person may think that believing in the Jesus of the Mormons is the same as believing in the Name of the Son of God.  

The test question “Is my faith real” is therefore unreliable and invalid. So by testing the introduction to this subjective test we find a failure at the very start. 


Nonetheless I will continue examining each individual subjective test question the MacArthur article asks because their own validity is not necessarily excluded just because the reasoning behind using them is invalid.

Question 1 reads;

• True believers walk in the light (1 John 1:6-7). The light here means both intellectual and moral truth. Ask, "Do I affirm the truths of Scripture, and desire to obey them?"

The question offers a definition of what it means to walk in the light as being “Do I affirm the truths of Scripture and desire to obey them?”

And 1Jn 1:6-7 reads as follows

⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

It is obvious through our first light reading that this passage does not bring up affirming the truths of Scripture and desiring to obey them. One can examine the deeper meanings of these words at these following links. Verse 6 and Verse 7.   

That being the case, John gives us an explanation of what it means to “walk in the light” himself; If we read the entire passage the meaning becomes most obvious.

⁵ This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

Hiding our sin, or claiming we have none is walking in darkness, or what we think is darkness. Such would have us calling God a liar for He has said that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. So His word is not in us, which is what “His truth” is not in us means. This is Jn 8:31-32, and Jn 15:1-8 in action. It is about discipleship, maturity and fruitfulness not IF one is saved or not. 

Eternal Salvation is not in view here, but fellowship and usefulness is. If we walk in the light we have fellowship. If we walk in the light, confessing our sin, then we are “cleansed.” This doesn’t mean saved, it is a cleansing in the same way that articles used in the Temple had to be cleansed in order to be used. This is the same teaching that the Lord gave to His Disciples when He washed their feet. They have already been washed, now they must only be cleansed.

If you are cleansed you can be used by God and therefore be fruitful, and have fellowship. If you are not cleansed, then you cannot be.

Therefore, as with the introduction we see this test question fails immediately upon inspection, but I will ask all three questions for the sake of being consistent and complete.  

1. Does this explicitly come from the Scriptures? NO.
2. Can every saved person pass this test in every situation? NO. Believers who are in rebellion, or are fearful about their sin (such as the ones that John is writing to in this Epistle) are not able to pass the test IAW with either the MacArthur’s version or what the Apostle John wrote (if it could be construed as a test of Salvation). Saved people in 1Cor 15:1, also came to deny the Resurrection, which is what Paul was correcting them on. The saved people in Heb 5:12-14 would not have passed this test. Therefore the test is invalid.
3. Is it impossible for an unsaved person to pass this test? NO. An unsaved but religious person, such as a Catholic, can say that they affirm the truths of Scripture (as they understand them) and desire to obey them. In fact every religion in the world has these tenants, so followers of any religion could pass this test as worded by MacArthur’s website.  If we read the passage the way it was written, (not the way the MacArthur article uses it) then clearly we see that it is about fellowship and usefulness, not about Eternal Salvation. Understood as it is written in the Scripture I can say that no unsaved person could pass it (as if it were a test of Salvation). In which case we could say that YES it is true that no unsaved person can pass the test of qualifying for fellowship and usefulness. But this “yes” does not help the validity of the test question.

Question 1 is therefore unreliable, and invalid. 


Question 2 reads:

• True believers confess their sin (1:8-2:1) Confess here doesn't mean to recite every wrong that we have ever done. Rather, it means to agree with God about our sin. That means that true believers hate their sin; they don't love it. They acknowledge they are sinful, and yet they know they are forgiven.

1. Does this explicitly come from the Scriptures? NO. The word “confess” is in the Present Active Subjunctive form. This means it’s something that the true believers that John is writing to may or may not do. The result if we do is being cleansed and this conditional statement is clearly seen even in the English. Confessing our sins is something we may or may not do and reap the results of or not. MacArthur would have us see that this is a mark of a true belief verses false belief. However, 1Jn2:1 (even cited by MacArthur) makes it clear that this is written to “My dear little children” saved true Believers.
2. Can every saved person pass this test in every situation? NO. As the verse says itself; this is something true believers may or may not do at any given time. Peter would have failed this test as he played the hypocrite.  
3. Is it impossible for an unsaved person to pass this test? NO. As I have witnessed to many people over the years, on the street, on the radio, in churches, in coffee shops, at work…. I have found there is a percentage of people who will admit their sin but who will not believe that God has been satisfied by Christ’s death burial and resurrection. These people agree with God, to a point, about their sin but have not faith in Jesus Christ.

Question 2 is therefore unreliable and invalid. 

The subjective portion of the MacArthur test of salvation isn't fairing very well so far. We'll see how the remaining questions stand up in Part 3. 

Genesis 15:6 tells us that Abram was assured by God's word and this was accounted as righteousness. 

Testing The Test - Part 1

Does it come from the Bible or not?

Lordship Salvation(LS) theology is an over-zealous response to the nebulous concept of “Easy Believism.” For the most part, the average person who follows teachers of LS theology desires to glorify God and have lost people be truly, or rather “soundly” saved. The unintended result though is that a false and unsaving message is presented instead of the Gospel and the lost are encouraged to do many other things than put their faith simply in the Christ Who has died for our sins in accordance to the Scriptures, was buried and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures and who was then seen alive in the flesh by many people over many days before He ascended to Heaven.

As if the result of lost people not being saved is not bad enough, truly saved people are given logical but invalid reasons to doubt their salvation. The message given instead of the Gospel is a call to discipleship and because discipleship is a life long process that will never comes to a perfect result in this life; there can never be true assurance of Salvation.

It is argued: All soundly saved Christians are Disciples. Being saved is invisible, but the works of Disciples are visible. Therefore, since all Christians are Disciples, if we test for the visible works of Disciples we’ll be able to test for the invisible Salvation. Therefore if one is able to fail a test of Discipleship they must have reason to doubt their Salvation. Discipleship is a process of growing. The more we grow the more accurately we see ourselves and so it is a process by which we become more and more aware of our shortcomings. Christ (and His sacrifice on the Cross) is magnified as we see more clearly both ourselves and Him. The LS theology proponent however would have us believe that Discipleship is a path of victory and triumph where our Salvation is confirmed by how good we become; If we are saved we will become good, if we are not saved we will continue doing evil works.

John MacArthur, a leading proponent of LS theology, offers a test to see if one is saved on his Grace To You website.   

I’m going to evaluate this test to determine if it is reliable and valid or not. In order for me to consider a test of one’s Salvation as valid it must meet all of the three following criteria:

1. Be in accordance with the Scriptures. If it does not explicitly come from the Scriptures then it is man’s wisdom and cannot be relied upon, and is therefore invalid.

2. Be passable by every single saved person, at every moment, in any situation. If it could give a false indication of an unsaved state to a person who actually is saved then the test is invalid.

3. Be impossible to pass for every single non-saved person, at every moment, in any situation. If it could give a false indication of salvation to an unsaved person then the test is invalid.

MacArthur’s website tells us that there are “two important tests in Scripture to determine whether or not he or she is a true believer.”

One objective, the other is subjective;

There is first of all an objective test, which asks, "Do I believe?" Ask yourself if you affirm the Scripture's record of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that He is God manifest in the flesh? Do you believe that God saves sinners solely through the merits of Jesus Christ's obedient life and substitutionary death on the cross?

This first objective test is simply, do you believe the Gospel? The Gospel can be found explicitly stated in 1Cor 15:1-11. Although objective test above does not state the full Gospel the intent is recognizable. For the sake of argument I will concede that the intent is to believe that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures, was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures and was seen over many days to be alive by many witnesses. That this is the basis by which God saves sinners, and it directly provided for one’s own Salvation.

1. Does this explicitly come from the Scriptures? YES.
2. Can every saved person pass this test in every situation? YES.
3. Is it impossible for an unsaved person to pass this test? YES.

Three yeses mean this IS an accurate and valid test of the reality of one’s salvation, given that God is faithful to save all those who believe. The fact is that if God truly is faithful, if He is worthy of our trust then there is no further test required. Either His word on the matter is good enough or it is not.

However, assurance based on God’s faithfulness to do exactly what He says is not deemed as enough for assurance by the MacArthur website article. For it continues on now to talk about the believer’s performance, which of course is counter to the above test question - “Do you believe that God saves sinners solely through the merits of Jesus Christ’s obedient life and substitutionary death on the cross?” If that is the “sole” basis, then that is also the end of the test. Has that happened? Then the test is passed. Has that not happened? Then the test is failed. The results are clear and straight forward.

I will close Part 1 of this series with this very serious and I believe solemn statement. If a person is not assured of their salvation based on the faithfulness of God alone (that is to say that God saves those who believe in Him just as He has said) then they do not have saving faith. I do make allowance for the fact of saved people being led astray by false teachers after they have been saved. For example the Corinthians and Galatians were led astray after they were saved and went on to doubt the provision that they had originally received by believing the Gospel. So to state this plainly, if one has not received the Gospel, that Christ has provided for our salvation fully as our full, final and only hope, then they have not had saving faith.

To seek assurance of salvation outside of, or along side of, the provision of Christ and His just propitiation of God’s wrath is to call God a liar. 1Jn 5:10, Jn 3:33, Jn 1:29, Rom 3:21-26, 1Jn 2:2

We will pick up with the subjective tests that the MacArthur website suggests to readers in the next instalment of this series. 

Assurance of Salvation and 1st John

I've been reading and listening to "tests" of people's salvation based on 1st John for years... like many of you no doubt have. Right now I'm working on an article for On My Walk about these tests. However, recently Glenn of the Wisdom and Knowledge blog emailed me to say hi. Our short conversation has born great fruit!!! For I found a wonderful article about this trendy subject at a website linked from his blog.

Pastor Jeremy M. Thomas of Fredricksburg Bible Church has written a wonderful article about the assurance of our Salvation that the Apostle John offers in his 1st Epistle. You can read the full thing here.

The full article is most worthy of study, but here is a bit of what you'll read;

1Jn 5:13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

The words these things have been taken as referring to many different sections of the epistle (1:1-5:12, 5:1-12; 5:6-12). A very popular view, and the way you have probably been taught, is to see these things as referring back to the entire contents of the epistle. Those who hold this view imagine that this one verse gives the entire purpose of John’s epistle. The reason they do this is because they are confused about what John’s argument is so they resort to comparing 1 John to John’s gospel to help them find the argument. When scholars do this they read the Gospel of John and fasten in on John 20:31 as the purpose of John’s gospel, “…these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” Then they say that John’s 1^st epistle is like John’s gospel in that the purpose of John’s first epistle is found at the end of 1 John in chapter 5:13. “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” So, they use this supposed correlation of John putting his purpose at the end of his letters to stake their case for John’s entire purpose of 1^st John. And they interpret 5:13 to mean “I have written to you who CLAIM to BELIEVE”. Maybe you do believe maybe you don’t believe but these things are written “in order that you may find out if you really believe or not.” In other words the first epistle of John is full of “Tests for Salvation”. That is, tests to see whether you really have eternal life? And that’s what 1 John is supposedly all about. Are you really a believer? Do you really have eternal life? If you pass these tests then you are a true believer. If not your not really a believer. So, these people are saying that John’s intention was to write a letter to a mixed group of believers and unbelievers so they could find out by going through these tests if they were believers or not.