01/31/2026
Some may still ask how the Spirit bears witness with our spirit, to exclude all doubt, and to convince us of the reality of our sonship? The answer should be clear by now. First, our spirit: It as clearly perceives when it loves God, as when it loves anything on earth. And it can no more doubt whether it loves or not, as whether it exists or not.
So:
(1) He who loves, delights, and rejoices in God is a child of God. (2) I love, delight, and rejoice in God. (3) Therefore, I am a child of God. A Christian cannot doubt being a child of God. He has full confidence in the first proposition, as it is based on scrip-ture, that he who loves God is a child of God. He has an inward proof, nothing short of selt-evident, in the second proposition, that he himself loves God. Thus, the testimony of his own spirit is manifested to his heart with such conviction, that he cannot doubt the logical conclusion, that he is indeed a child of God.
.. Second, God's Spirit: Exactly how his testimony is manifested to the heart, I cannot explain. Such knowledge is too high and wonderful for me! Like the wind blowing, I cannot tell where it comes from, or where it goes. As no one really knows what is in a man, but the man's own spirit; so, no one knows the things of God, but God's own Spirit. But this much we do know: The Spirit of God gives the believer such a testimony of his adoption, that while it is present in the soul, he can no more doubt the reality of his sonship, than he can doubt the shining of the sun, while standing in the full blaze of its glory.
John Wesley “The Witness of the Spirit”