Can we know for sure that someone is saved?

INTRODUCTION

This is one of those topics that I would never have thought to write about. During my interactions with fellow believers, many have expressed concern about whether a particular believer is actually saved. This begs the question:

Why are they contemplating this?
My guess is that they’ve been taught from the pulpit or gleaned from personal study that there are signs that evidence whether a person is a child of God. This book will discuss what these signs and evidence are and whether their confirmation substantiates a person’s salvation, i.e., whether their relationship with God is secure. Before we begin, I would like to leave you with an article about someone who provides various reasons to support the conjecture (the formation or expression of an opinion or theory without sufficient evidence for proof1) that she is a new creature in Christ. At the same time, her detractors might say that her basis for this belief is subjective.

WHAT EVIDENCES CONVINCED YOU THAT YOU WERE SAVED?
by Hugh Ross
January 21, 2022

Question of the week:
When you were first saved, what were some of the ways you grew in your newfound faith? What [evidence] helped to persuade you that you really were a forgiven, saved child of God?

My answer:
The ways I grew in the Christian faith also gave me the [evidence I needed to convince myself] that I really did receive forgiveness from all my sins by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. They also persuaded me that I indeed possessed an eternally secure relationship with Jesus Christ as my Creator, Lord, and Savior.

Before I became a Christian, I kept my studies of the Bible and my spiritual quest a secret from everybody, even my family and closest friends. After I became a Christian, I looked forward to opportunities to discuss the Christian faith and the Bible with others. I also noted that I was understanding biblical texts like I never had before. The insights I was gaining from the [Bible, the opportunities I was getting to share my faith,] and the responses to those opportunities convinced me that the Holy Spirit was working in my life.

Also, I was experiencing a desire to study and understand the Bible like I never had [before,] and to apply what I was learning in my life. It took me a while to find other Christians, but when I did, I discovered I enjoyed spending time with them, engaging them in deep spiritual conversations, and allowing them to point out and help me to correct and overcome character flaws in my life and misunderstandings I had about the Bible and the Christian life. The bottom line is that after I became a Christian, I began to experience Philippians 2:13, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

It is not uncommon for people who have committed their lives to Jesus Christ as their personal Creator, Lord, and Savior to later have doubts about their salvation. Experiencing God’s grace in one’s life as one ministers Christian love and truth to [others] and experiencing Philippians 2:13 operating in one’s life can be powerful sources of reassurance. It can also help to realize that one’s commitment to Jesus Christ is a two-way street. One of my favorite Bible passages that expresses this two-way commitment is 2 Timothy 1:12, “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”2

As the title of this book, BY THEIR FRUITS YOU SHALL KNOW THEM, conveys, there are fruits (indicators) as to whether someone can be identified as a believer in Christ. But before we discuss them, let’s take a closer look at the verse that talks about this.

Endnotes
1Dictionary. 4 December 2026
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2Hugh Ross. “What Evidences Convinced You That You Were Saved?” 3 December 2025
˂https://bit.ly/4p9vLWK>.