Whether or not a person could know with certainty that he or she was saved from divine judgment and divine wrath has been a controversial issue in the history of the church.
The New Testament writers assume that it is part and parcel of the normal Christian experience (see, for example, 1 John 3:14). During the Middle Ages, however, Thomas Aquinas bracketed this experience as extraordinary, and argued that only a special revelation from God could give assurance.
At the time of the 16th-century Reformation, Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin sought to return to the position of the New Testament. They maintained that assurance is a blessed dimension and privilege of authentic Christian experience. But they soon found themselves immersed in controversy with theologians who adhered to the view of Aquinas.
The Jewishness of the Gospels proves they're true
When speaking to Jewish and Gentile friends you might have heard the accusation that the Gospel accounts were written centuries …