--- title: 'Doubt is not a Virtue' type: text hasMedia: true requiresPurchase: false authors: - 'Stephen Spinnenweber' date: 2026-08-10 collection: 'Articles' subcollection: '2026' topics: - 'Personal Piety' - 'Gospel' - 'Sin' scriptures: - 'Jeremiah 17' - 'John 3' - 'Isaiah 53' - '2 Corinthians 12' url: https://confessional.org/articles/2026/doubt-is-not-a-virtue --- # Doubt is not a Virtue Many Christians feel that doubting salvation is part of being humble. However, Spinnenweber explains how God is most pleased by humble faith in the finished work of Christ.  Many Christians don’t know what to do with doubt. In some circles, doubting one’s salvation is treated almost like a virtue—a rejection of presumption and a mark of serious spirituality. Many who doubt their salvation do so under the false impression that they must be doubtful in order to be humble. “Doesn’t Scripture say, ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?’ How do I know I haven’t deceived myself? Doesn’t God want me to be watchful over my soul?” Indeed, He does. But it is at precisely this point that many sincere believers go wrong—being doubtful is not the same thing as being watchful. In his soul-searching and soul-stirring work, *Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul,* Octavius Winslow identifies several evidences of spiritual decline in the believer’s soul, and shows how God remains the keeper and restorer of His people. Among the various signs of spiritual declension, Winslow explores declensions in love, faith, and prayer. In his chapter on the declension of faith, Winslow argues that it is not humility that causes us to doubt our salvation in Christ, but humility’s opposite: pride. As he puts it, “Doubt is ever the offspring of pride: humility is ever the handmaid of faith.”1 These words may feel jarring, especially to those who have been striving, by their self-doubt, to crucify the sins of pride and presumption! And yet, Winslow explains how doubt is indeed the fruit of pride because it doubts the veracity of God’s promise and the sufficiency of Christ’s finished work upon the cross. Doubt assumes that we know better than God. Winslow writes, There is much *spurious* humility among many dear saints of God. It is thought by some, that to be always doubting one’s pardon and acceptance, is the evidence of a lowly spirit. It is, allow us to say, the mark of the very opposite of a lowly and humble mind. That is true humility that credits the testimony of God,—that believes because he has spoken it,—that rests in the blood, and righteousness, and all-sufficiency of Jesus, because he has declared that “whosoever believeth in him shall be saved” (emphasis mine).2 How then does the believer keep from sliding into this spurious form of humility? In the same way a sick patient is cured of a life-threatening illness. Picture for a moment that a close friend or family member has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Which course of action would you recommend they take? That they spend their remaining days bemoaning their condition and despairing that they’ll never get better, or that they schedule a follow-up appointment with the physician and begin treatment immediately? The latter, of course. Because it is the only option that provides *healing*. The former understands well the severity of the illness, but because it does not involve the patient applying himself to the remedy, it is, in fact, a death sentence. The same is true of our spiritual ailments. Believers who doubt their salvation are not unlike this sick patient who refuses the help of a physician. Sometimes, it may be because they’re so overwhelmed by the enormity of their sin that they’ve begun to doubt Christ’s ability to bear the burden of their guilt, which isan affront to the work of Christ. Other times, and more subtly, it may be because they’ve mistakenly believed that their zeal and their tears are what wipe away the stain of sin, or at least qualify them to receive forgiveness. But our wounds will not be healed by ruminating on them; it is only by *Christ’s* wounds that we are healed (Isa. 53:5). Biblical conviction leads not to morbid introspection but to right action—it drives us out of ourselves and to the person and work of Christ for the healing that we need. The doubtful believer must remember Winslow’s comforting reminder: “The immutability of God keeps him,—the covenant of grace keeps him,—the finished work of Christ keeps him,—the indwelling of the Spirit keeps him, and keeps him to eternal glory.”3 Take God at His word; His promise is true. His grace is still sufficient for you; trust in the work of the Son. Believe and doubt no more.