Because God Says So

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. 1 JOHN 5:13

If there is one phrase that sums up Torrey, it is because God says so. Nowhere is it more at home than in his teaching on assurance. He believed that a Christian may know — not hope, not suppose, but know — that his sins are forgiven and that he has eternal life. And he believed that the ground of that knowledge is not feeling but the plain testimony of God in His Word.

Can a believer know

Torrey knew the objection well: no one can know he is saved until he stands before God at the judgement. He answered it with 1 John 5:13. John wrote his letter for the express purpose that believers might know that they have eternal life. To deny that they can, Torrey said in How to Succeed in the Christian Life, is to say the letter was written in vain.

Feelings and facts

How, then, does anyone know? Torrey’s answer was always the same: on the best ground of knowledge there is, the testimony of God Himself.

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. JOHN 3:36

Anyone can know whether he believes on the Son. If he does, he has God’s written word that he has everlasting life. He may feel forgiven or he may not. “It is not a question of what we feel but of what God says,” Torrey wrote. God’s Word is always to be believed. Our feelings are often to be doubted.

He illustrated it with a pardon. Suppose you were in prison and your friends obtained a pardon for you. The document is handed to you, and the news is so sudden that you are dazed; you do not feel pardoned. Someone asks, Are you pardoned? You say yes. Do you feel pardoned? No, not yet. Then how do you know? You hold up the document: This says so. In time, after reading it over and over, you will feel it too. The Bible, Torrey said, is God’s document declaring that everyone who believes in Jesus is justified.

God’s word as good as mine

In How to Bring Men to Christ he told a story that makes the point better than any argument. A young man had come forward in deep distress two nights running. He professed to have accepted Christ but had no assurance. Torrey showed him John 3:36 and the young man still saw nothing. As he turned to leave, he asked Torrey to pray for him. Torrey said he would. Then he called him back down the aisle and asked: Do you believe I will pray for you? The young man was astonished — of course. Why? Because you said so. “Isn’t God’s word as good as mine?” Torrey asked. The young man saw it at once. He had been willing to take a man’s word and not God’s. He received assurance on the spot.

He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 1 JOHN 5:10–11

Torrey drew the uncomfortable conclusion John draws. For a believer to doubt that he has eternal life is, in effect, to make God a liar. It is not humility. It is unbelief dressed as humility.

Dealing with the doubting

In How to Bring Men to Christ Torrey gave practical counsel for helping those who lack assurance. He divided them into two groups. Some lack it through ignorance: they have simply never been told that the Bible says believers may know. For them he used verses such as John 1:12, John 3:36, John 5:24 and Acts 13:39, and he would take the inquirer through a verse with questions until the inquirer said for himself what God said.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. JOHN 5:24

Others lack assurance because of sin, and for them the remedy is not more verses but confession and a return to obedience. Torrey was careful to distinguish the two. Assurance cannot be talked into someone who is living in known disobedience, and should not be.

Looking unto Jesus

Torrey connected assurance to a habit he commended in How to Succeed in the Christian Life: keep looking at Jesus. Satan, he said, will try again and again to discourage believers by bringing up their sins. If he can get us brooding over them, he will soon have us discouraged, and discouragement means failure. The answer is to look where God looks — at the death of Christ in our place.

For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. 2 TIMOTHY 1:12

“It is an act of base ingratitude to God,” he wrote, “to brood over sins that He in His infinite love has cancelled.” That sentence has freed many a tender conscience.

Where care is needed

Torrey’s method has helped thousands of genuinely anxious believers, and it rests on firm ground. God’s Word is the foundation of assurance.

But there is a danger, and Torrey knew it, because he wrote a whole chapter in the same book on those who entertain false hopes. Leading someone to say the words I have everlasting life because God says so is powerful when that person truly believes. It can also produce false assurance in someone who has given only a verbal assent, especially when an eager worker presses for the words. Scripture itself tells us to examine ourselves.

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? 2 CORINTHIANS 13:5

The same letter John wrote so that believers might know gives marks of new life: obedience, love for the brethren, belief that Jesus is the Christ. These do not replace the promise; they confirm it. The best counsel is Torrey’s, held with a little more care than he sometimes showed: rest your assurance on what God says about Christ, and let the fruit of new life, over time, confirm that your faith is real.

We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. 1 JOHN 3:14

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Answer honestly: do you know that you have eternal life? On what ground — your feelings, your record, or what God says?

2. Read John 3:36 and 1 John 5:10–13 aloud. Ask yourself Torrey’s questions: who has everlasting life? do I believe on the Son? what, then, do I have?

3. If you are troubled by past sin that you have already confessed, stop brooding over it. Thank God that it is cancelled.

4. If you lack assurance because of known disobedience, deal with that first. Confess it and return.

5. Think of someone who doubts their salvation. Ask God for an opportunity to show them what He says.

A PRAYER

Faithful God, You have written these things so that I may know that I have eternal life. Forgive me for trusting my feelings more than Your Word.

I believe on Your Son. You say that whoever believes on the Son has everlasting life. I take You at Your word.

When Satan brings up my sins, turn my eyes to the cross, where they were borne and settled.

And let the life You have given show itself in obedience and love, to Your glory. Amen.