by R. L. Morrison

Conversion is a New Testament subject that should challenge the heart of every thinking person. All men are subject to conversion. It matters not how rich, how poor, how learned, or how ignorant, how much or how little power one may have among his fellow men, every man is subject to conversion. He must be converted or be lost. However, no one should be expected to believe this until an examination of the word of God has been made. If the Bible so teaches, then all should accept and abide by it. Let us, then, examine the Lord's teaching on the subject of conversion.

Jesus said, "Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:13). "Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19). From these words of Jesus, we learn that to enter the kingdom of heaven, one must be converted. From the other passage, spoken by the apostle Peter, we learn that without conversion, there is no blotting out (forgiveness) of sins. Since one cannot be saved eternally unless his sin is forgiven, and because all have sinned, we can easily see and readily determine that every man must be converted or be lost.

There is, however, much controversy in the religious world of today on the subject of conversion. Some questions regarding it are: (1) What is conversion? (2) Is conversion wholly an act of God, or is man involved in it? (3) Or must a man act or do anything in conversion? We must already know that the answer to these questions can only be determined by an appeal to and a diligent study of the scriptures. All anyone knows about conversion is what God has revealed in the Bible. So let us now turn our attention to the Bible to learn what it teaches us and what we need to know about conversion.

The American Standard Version renders the words "be converted" as "turn again". "Repent ye, therefore, and turn again" (Acts 3:19). This will help one to understand what it means to be converted. Peter told those who came together on Solomon's porch in the temple, "Ye must repent. Ye must turn again." Now we have an answer to one of the questions asked concerning conversion. There is something man can do, indeed must do, in order to be converted. Every man who is converted must turn again.

Also, the idea of some, who think conversion is some mysterious, better-felt-than-told experience, is not found in the Bible. God does require men to be converted, to turn again. But, God does not obligate or require men to do something without telling what it is and who is to do it. So to be converted man must not only learn what it is, but must also determine that he will do as God directs him through the word.

If conversion is an act of God alone, man would not be responsible for being either saved or lost. If a man can be saved without responsibility and action on his part, then man can be lost without responsibility or action also. This would make God wholly responsible for the salvation or damnation of all humankind. But this is not in harmony with the scriptures, for Peter said: "The Lord is not willing that any should perish" (2 Peter 3:9). The idea then, that God acts alone in the conversion of a sinner, results in the doctrine of universal salvation. For since God desires all to be saved, if He converts men directly, then all will be saved. But Jesus said: "(some) ... shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal" (Matt. 25:46).

The Bible teaches that both God and man have a part in man's conversion. Hear Paul: "For by grace have ye been saved through faith: and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory" (Eph. 2:8-9). Three things are mentioned here which we must consider: (1) Grace; (2) Salvation; (3) Faith. These teach us there is both a Divine side and a human side in conversion. Grace is God's part; it is by His grace that man is provided salvation (Titus 2:11-12). But man must believe, or exercise faith (Heb. 11:6). By these things then, man obtains forgiveness of sins or is converted.

However, the Holy Spirit also operates in the conversion of the sinner. Let us now determine if this is true, and if so, how the Spirit operates. The Holy Spirit, through the apostles, revealed the gospel, by which we learn of God's grace, the sacrifice of Christ, and the conditions upon which God offers salvation to man (John 14:26; 16:13; 1 Cor. 2:12-13). Every conversion since the apostles began to speak by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4), has been accomplished in the same way. The gospel is preached, men hear it, believe it, and obey it. They are converted by so doing. God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the sinner all have a part in it.

Yet, in spite of all God has done and will do to save men, some will not be converted. While Jesus was on earth, He found those who refused to listen to His teaching. He said, concerning them, "For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest haply they should perceive with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should turn again and I should heal them" (Matt. 13:15). Jesus would have forgiven these people if they would have allowed Him to do so. But they hardened their hearts; they refused to hear or to see, that they might be led to turn again or to be converted. John records Jesus as saying: "Ye will not come to me that you might have life" (John 5:40). These people did not have life because the Lord could not provide it, but because they refused to come to Him. These people refused the Lord's blessings. Many do the same today. Although God's grace has appeared to all men (Titus 2:11), men close their eyes and ears, and with a hardened heart refuse the blessings God wishes to bestow upon them. God has not and will not fail to do His part when we will turn again or be converted.

There is another idea in the world today on this subject which is not to be found in the word, either. This is the idea that the sinner must mourn or pray, seeking in agony at times, in an effort to move the Lord into a proper frame of mind to save him. Instead, God is willing, ready and able to save now! The sinner does not have to go to some mourner's bench, prayer board, altar, or out in the woods somewhere, to be converted. Nor does he need to plead with God to save him. God is longsuffering toward man. He finds no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God wants all men to repent and escape destruction. This was exactly His purpose in sending the apostles of Jesus out into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature. When these apostles preached that gospel, they were not pleading with God to save men. They told men what to do to be saved. They were trying, by the preaching of the gospel, to reconcile men to God, not God to man (2 Cor. 5:20).

But now what is conversion? The answer to this question is important. We must be willing to accept only the Bible answer. If we learn what God says about it, we will know all we ever need to know about it.

As has already been stated, the word "conversion" means "a change; a turning about". This use of the word is generally accepted in every day life and its affairs. It has no different meaning in the Bible. When the Lord said: "Except ye be converted ...", He simply said there must be a change, a turning in a person's life. In conversion there are three changes brought about: (1) A change of heart. (2) A change of conduct or manner of life. (3) A change of state or relationship.

To understand the change of heart that takes place in conversion, we must first learn something about the heart of man. The Bible teaches that man: thinks (Matt. 9:4); reasons (Mk. 2:8); understands (Matt. 15:15); desires (Rom. 10:1); loves (Mk 12:30); and obeys (Rom. 6:17), in or with the heart. The heart, then, of which the Bible speaks, and which is changed in conversion, is not the physical heart, the blood pump of the body. If your physical heart is normal and functions perfectly, you should hope that it does not change. It is not a change such as would affect the physical heart the Lord requires in conversion. The "Bible heart" which must be changed is the part of man that thinks, reasons, loves, desires, understands, and obeys. There can be no change in man without a consideration of these things.

One man needs a change of heart which another does not need. If a man believes in God, that heart need not, indeed, could not be changed to unbelief, and God be pleased. If a man loves the Lord, he neither wants nor needs that change of heart which would result in his hating the Lord. But he who neither believes or loves, needs the change of heart that will result in his both believing and loving the Lord. In conversion, this is exactly what must take place, what the sinner must do. If he learns to love the Lord, he will desire to serve Him, and will obey all the Lord's commandments. When a man turns from unbelief to faith in God and the Lord Jesus Christ, from hatred of, to love of God and Christ, and is willing to do whatever the Lord tells him to do, that man's heart has been changed. This is the first change brought about by conversion.

Then, the sinner's conduct, or action in life, is also changed. Previously he did not love God. He made no effort to serve God or do His will. Now, with both faith and love in his heart, he seeks to do the things that are pleasing to God. His manner of life is brought into subjection to God's plan for man's redemption. His attitude is, "Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth." He puts out of his life the sinful things which he had formerly practiced. In them, he no longer finds pleasure. Faith has made a change in his heart and the changed heart has resulted in a changed manner or way of life. He has repented. Repentance brings about just such a change in one's life. This is the second change brought into one's life by conversion.

However, conversion is not yet complete, even though two changes have already been made. Another change must take place in the life of the sinner who is to be converted. His heart has been changed by faith, his life has been changed by repentance, but his state or spiritual condition must also be changed before conversion is complete.

The sinner must leave the world, or Satan's kingdom, and enter, or come into the kingdom of God, which is the church of the Lord. Paul wrote: "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:13-14). This final change takes place in or is brought about by baptism.

Although many may disagree, teach to the contrary, and refuse to obey this command, this final step or change in the process of conversion can be made or brought about in no other way. Let us now hear the word of the Lord regarding how man obtains the forgiveness of sins and puts on Christ:

1. Acts 2:38: "And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins ..."
2. Galatians 3:26-27: "For ye are all the sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ."
3. Romans 6:3-4: "Or are ye ignorant that all who were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life."
4. 1 Peter 3:21: "... which after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

In baptism, then, the penitent believing sinner, completes his conversion by changing his state. He is raised from the waters of baptism a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17), saved from past sins, or, those past sins have been forgiven (Acts 2:38; 1 Peter 3:21), and is to walk (live) a new life in Christ Jesus (Rom. 7:3-4). In Christ we have redemption (Eph. 1:3-7). We are baptized into Christ. All spiritual blessings are in Him (Eph. 1:3). Outside Christ there are no spiritual blessings, there is no salvation.

To be converted then, your heart must be changed by faith; your life must be changed by repentance; your state (spiritual condition) must be changed by baptism.

Jesus said, "Except ye be converted ... ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven."

Have you been converted???