Assurance (Hastings' Dictionary)

The religions and moral value of linn conviction is fully recognised in Scripture. It is the very aim and object of the divine message in whatever form it conies to produce it. Without it there cannot be that peace and joy in the soul wliiili constitute the highest blessing of religion, nor that inward strengtli which alone can fit man for moral conquest. The want of it makes the 'double-minded man,' who is compared to the •surge of the sea, driven by the wiml and tossed' (Ja 1").

Even in OT times it was realised, as shown in the beautiful description of Isaiali (32"), where for AV ' quietness and assurance' RV reads * quiet, nesii and caiijidence,' the original word denoting 'to hang u|i<>ii something,' hence fig. 'to trust.' A word by which St. Paul expresses this state of mind is -ri-rtiap.ai, ' I am ner.suaded,' whether he refers to the certainty of God's love in Christ (Ho 8"), or to that which he had committed to hi^" Lord (2 Ti 1'^).

The term, however, most fri'- i|ui'ntly used for A. in NT and also in patristic writers is Tr\ripo<popia. I'rom the fact tliat tliu cognate verb appears probably for the first tiiue iu 176 ASSURBANIPAL ASSYRIA the LXX of Eo 8'i, where it is a tr" of the Heb. x?7, Cremer (^liib. I'heol. Lex.) infers that it was of Alex, origin. It means ' to be fully persuaded, to be fixed and iirm ' (Ko 14^ Col. 4'-). The noun occurs in Col 2-, ttA.. rijs <rvyeixfus, ' full a.

of understanding' ; 1 Th I'' tV ttA. TroWfi ; He 6" jrA. Trjs Mir/Sos ; He 10, ttA. nUrews. In the last two passages RV (also Westcott in loc.) renders ttA. by the simpler word /«?)ess rather than/uH assurance (as AV), ' the full measure or development of hope,' ' faith which has reached its mature vigour.' A. Stewart.