Waters and Assurance
1) GpW
says based on the fact that all of the blessings are given to the believer in Christ, if perseverance is not one of those graces, then there is no assurance for the believer. But this is simply not the case. B/c of the nature of the sacraments, any time, every time, all the times a person looks in faith to the sacraments—to the visual proclamation of the mercy of God in Christ, he is assured of grace. The same is said of the preaching of the word. If there is no eucharist but merely the preaching of the word, if a person hears and embraces that message with faith, assurance happens. Faith is the key. The sacraments are only positively experienced by faith. Both sacraments, however, can be experienced negatively as well. In the absence of faith, the unworthy receiver is assured of condemnation. So it is not true that the lack of perseverance nullifies assurance, Mr. Waters, I assure you.
2) GpW
says that Wilkins admits that not all who are baptised persevere and that this doctrine nullifies assurance. But does this follow? For those who persevere in faith by looking to the waters of baptism as God’s avowal to them in Christ, baptism functions as a means of grace. This is the issue of the truncated view of baptism. This view says that an apostate person cannot receive any assurance from baptism. If baptism were so narrow this would be true. But is baptism so curtailed? This remains to be seen. How then does baptism function as an assuring grace for the wayward Christian? Positively, it calls him back in faith to Christ. Negatively, it condemns him to the waters of judgement. If he remains in disbelief, his baptism becomes Noah’s flood; his baptism becomes the Egyptian’s Red Sea. If he remains in disbelief, he does not nullify the promises of God. No. Indeed, baptism holds out two promises of God to the plebe. It holds out the promise of love, mercy, and forgiveness in the positive and it holds out the promise of justice, retribution and condemnation in the negative. Again, disbelief does not invalidate baptism. It [merely] ushers in its adverse effect and no one wants that.
