The Witness of the Spirit

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. ROMANS 8:16

The thing Wesley received at Aldersgate was not a new doctrine but assurance: he felt that he did trust in Christ, and an assurance was given him that his sins were taken away. It is no surprise, then, that the witness of the Spirit became one of the characteristic teachings of the Methodist revival. Wesley preached on it more than once, and late in life he returned to the subject in a second discourse, saying that after twenty years’ further consideration he saw no cause to retract any part of what he had said. He called it one grand part of the testimony which God had given the Methodists to bear to all mankind.

Between two extremes

Wesley knew the doctrine was dangerous. He opens his sermon The Witness of the Spirit by lamenting how many vain people have wrested this very text to their own destruction, mistaking the voice of their own imagination for the witness of God’s Spirit and presuming they were God’s children while doing the works of the devil. These, he says, are enthusiasts in the worst sense of the word. But others, afraid of fanaticism, had explained the witness away altogether. Wesley asks whether we may not steer a middle course, keeping clear of enthusiasm without giving up the great privilege of God’s children. Surely we may.

Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. GALATIANS 4:6

Two witnesses

Wesley notices that Paul speaks of two witnesses: the Spirit Himself, and our spirit. The testimony of our own spirit is the testimony of conscience. We know from Scripture what the marks of God’s children are — love for God and our neighbour, obedience to His commandments — and when we find these in ourselves, our conscience bears witness that we are His. Wesley has a lovely way of putting how we know this. How do you know that you are alive, or that you are at ease and not in pain? You are immediately conscious of it. In the same way you may know that your soul is alive to God.

And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 1 JOHN 2:3

But Paul says more than this. He says the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit. And Wesley insists that this is a direct testimony of God, not merely an inference we draw. His definition, which he offers with characteristic modesty, desiring any who are taught of God to correct or strengthen it, is this: “an inward impression on the soul, whereby the Spirit of God directly witnesses to my spirit, that I am a child of God; that Jesus Christ hath loved me, and given himself for me”, and that all my sins are blotted out and I am reconciled to God.

Why the Spirit’s witness comes first

Wesley argues that the witness of God’s Spirit must come before the witness of our own spirit, and his reasoning is simple and searching. We must be holy in heart and life before we can be conscious that we are. But we cannot be holy until we love God, and we cannot love God until we know that He loves us. And we cannot know His love for us until His Spirit witnesses it to our spirit.

We love him, because he first loved us. 1 JOHN 4:19

This is the pastoral heart of the doctrine. Wesley did not want people to build their assurance on their own progress in holiness, because that way lies either pride or despair. He wanted them to know first that they were loved, and then to love in return. The order matters, and it is the order of the gospel.

Telling the true from the false

How then can the true witness be distinguished from presumption and delusion? Wesley answers carefully, from Scripture.

First, Scripture describes repentance, or conviction of sin, as always going before the witness of pardon. The presumptuous person has never known a broken and contrite heart. Second, Scripture describes a great change as accompanying the new birth, from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Third, the joy that accompanies the true witness is a humble joy, one that abases a pardoned sinner to the dust; the proud spirit that cannot be humbled before God has not received the Spirit of Jesus. Fourth, it leads to obedience. The one who says he knows God and does not keep His commandments is a liar.

He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 1 JOHN 2:4

But how may one who has the real witness know it is not presumption? Wesley answers with a question. How do you distinguish day from night, or the light of a candle from the light of the noonday sun? There is an essential difference, and it is immediately perceived if our senses are rightly disposed. So it is with spiritual light. And the way to know that our spiritual senses are rightly disposed is by the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness and the rest.

No witness without fruit

In the second discourse Wesley draws two inferences that summarise the whole teaching. The first is a warning: “let none ever presume to rest in any supposed testimony of the Spirit which is separate from the fruit of it.” If the Spirit of God truly witnesses that we are His children, the fruit of the Spirit will follow. The second is an encouragement: let none rest in any supposed fruit of the Spirit without the witness. There may be real foretastes of joy, peace and love, truly from God, long before a person is accepted in the Beloved; such a person should not rest in them until the Spirit witnesses with his spirit that his sins are forgiven.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. GALATIANS 5:22–23

Where to read with care

Wesley’s teaching on assurance was one of the most contested parts of his ministry, and some of the controversy was fair. In the early years he sometimes spoke as though no one could be justified without a clear, felt assurance, and he later softened this, recognising that many true believers have only a faint or intermittent sense of God’s witness. Readers who have never had a vivid experience of assurance should not conclude that they are not God’s children. Wesley himself came to distinguish the faith of a servant from the faith of a son, and to say that the former is accepted, though it should press on to the latter.

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. On what do you rest your assurance that you are a child of God? Your feelings, your conduct, or the witness of God’s Spirit to His promises?

2. Read Romans 8:14–17 slowly, and ask the Spirit to bear witness with your spirit that you are God’s child.

3. Test your assurance by Wesley’s marks: repentance, a real change, humility, obedience and the fruit of the Spirit.

4. If you have only a faint sense of God’s love, do not despair; ask Him to make it clearer, and go on in obedience while you wait.

5. If you know someone troubled by doubt, share with them Wesley’s order: we love Him because He first loved us.

A PRAYER

Abba, Father, thank You that You have sent the Spirit of Your Son into the hearts of Your children.

Let Your Spirit bear witness with my spirit that I am Your child, that Jesus loved me and gave Himself for me, and that my sins are blotted out.

Keep me from mistaking my own imagination for Your voice. Let the fruit of Your Spirit prove that the witness is true.

And because You first loved me, let me love You, and keep Your commandments with a glad heart. Amen.