How can I have an infallible assurance of faith (WCF 18.2) if I am in constant danger of apostasy?
Our attitude should be like that of Paul, who knew he belonged to the Lord (e.g., 2 Tim. 1, 4:6ff), and yet lived in healthy fear of the danger of falling away (1 Cor. 9:24-27). Assurance must never lead to presumption, complacency, or carelessness. Part of the reason for pushing the envelope and formulating things provocatively is not simply to be faithful to Scripture (which uses deliberately provocative formulations), but to shock us out of our spiritual doldrums. Our Calvinistic pre-occupation with the decrees tends to make us rather complacent (the frozen chosen!). There is a fine line between biblically-based assurance and presumption. When Ive talked to people who have had their assurance shaken by this kind of teaching, in virtually every case, after conversation with the person, it came out that the basis of their assurance was flawed. They had grounded their assurance on a past experience, perhaps, with the result that they became overly introspective: Did I really mean that
