This word has in the Old Testament a different application from that which it has in the New Testament In the former it is “confidence or trust,” and agrees with the hopes of God’s earthly people in connection with the security in which Israel will dwell when restored to their land, when all their enemies shall have been put down by divine power: the effect of righteousness will be “quietness and assurance forever,” (Isa. 32:17): whereas in their disobedience they should fear day and night and have no assurance of their life (Deut. 28:66).
In the New Testament the Greek word πληροφορἰα implies “full assurance” and refers to eternal salvation. The gospel reaches a soul in power, and in the Holy Ghost and in “much full assurance” (1 Thess. 1:5). We also meet with:
1. the full assurance of faith (Heb. 10:22); the reception of God’s testimony respecting the work of Christ and the glory He now enjoys:
2. the full assurance of hope (Heb. 6:11), issuing in continued diligence of the saints in their work and labor of love: and
3. the full assurance of understanding, (Col. 2:2), for full knowledge in the mystery of God.