In a book recently published by Hope Publishing Co., Edmund McDavid, III said it again. In answer to his own question, “Does God’s Spirit testify to me that I am a Christian?” he quoted Romans 8:16: “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” Then, on the basis of this quotation, he went on to ask the reader, “Do you have promptings from the Holy Spirit that convince you that he indwells you—that you are a Christian?” Without further discussion or explanation of the verse (he assumes that one will agree that it teaches the Spirit not only prompts a Christian, but thereby assures him of his salvation) he goes on to another point, seemingly thinking that mere citation is sufficient to verify his view.
There are serious problems with this all-too-frequent misuse of Paul’s words. Let me mention two:
Neither the term “prompt,” nor anything like it, ever occurs in the Scriptures as a means of assurance. The Bible allows for no such personal, individual revelation. People may have what they think are hunches, promptings, and the like, that originate from the Holy Spirit, but they have no biblical basis for interpreting these inner feelings as such. In
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