Conversion
CONVERSION
A change from one state to another. Conversion may be
1. Merely external, or that which consists only in an outward reformation.
2. Doctrinal, or a change of sentiments.
3. Saving, which consists in the renovation of the heart and life, or a turning from the power of sin and Satan unto God, Act 26:18. and is produced by the influence of Divine grace on the soul.
4. Sometimes it is put for restoration, as in the case of Peter, Luk 22:32. The instrumental cause of conversion is usually the ministry of the word; though sometimes it is produced by reading, by serious and appropriate conversation sanctified afflictions, &c. “Conversion, ” says the great Charnock, “is to be distinguished from regeneration thus Regeneration is a spiritual change; conversion is a spiritual motion: in regeneration there is a power conferred; conversion is the exercise of this power: in regeneration there is given us a principle to turn; conversion is our actual turning.
In the covenant, God’s putting his Spirit into us is distinguished from our walking in his statutes from the first step we take in the way of God, and is set down as the cause of our motion, Eze 36:27. In renewing us, God gives us a power; in converting us, he excites that power. Men are naturally dead, and have a stone upon them: regeneration is a rolling away the stone from the heart, and a raising to newness of life; and then conversion is as natural to a regenerate man as motion is to a lively body. A principle of activity will produce action. In regeneration, man is wholly passive; in conversion, he is active. The first reviving us is wholly the act of God, without any concurrence of the creature; but after we are revived we do actively and voluntarily live in his sight. Regeneration is the motion of God in the creature; conversion is the motion of the creature to God, by virtue of that first principle: from this principle all the acts of believing, repenting, mortifying, quickening do spring. In all these a man is active; in the other he is merely passive.” Conversion evidences itself by ardent love to God, Psa 73:25. delight in his people, Joh 13:35. attendance on his ordinances, Psa 27:4. confidence in his promises, Psa 9:10. abhorrence of self, and renunciation of the world, Job 42:5. Jam 4:4. submission to his authority, and uniform obedience to his word, Mat 7:20.
See CALLING, REGENERATION.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
conversion
(Latin: con, with, toward; vertere, to turn)
One who turns or changes from a state of sin to repentance, from a lax to a more earnest and serious way of life, from unbelief to faith, from heresy to the true faith. It consists not merely in joining a Church but in a change of heart and in the acceptsance of the doctrines and submission to the laws of the Church established by Jesus Christ. This appears best in the narratives of the process of conversion by notable converts. Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote his “Confessions”; and Cardinal Newman’s “Apologia pro Vita Sua” is famous. Others are: Kinsman, “Salve Mater”; Brownson, “The Convert, or, Leaves from my Experience”; Kent Stone, “The Invitation Heeded”; Ronald Knox, “A Spiritual neid”; Mrs Anstice Baker, “A Modern Pilgrim’s Progress.” In the United States, 36,376 converts were reported during 1929 , the total Catholic population being listed as 20,112,758. In Great Britain since the Oxford Movement of 1840 , many lists have been made of the more prominent converts from Protestantism to the Catholic Church . These have been collected by W. Gordon Gorman in his work, “Converts to Rome,” London, 1899 . The number of converts in England in 1925 was 11,948; in 1926 , 11,714; in 1927 , 12,065. In missionary countries, the number of converts has been very great especially in China , often as many as 200,000 a year.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Conversion
(From the classical Latin converto, depon. convertor, whence conversio, change, etc.).
In the Latin Vulgate (Acts 15:3), in patristic (St. Augustine, Civ. Dei, VIII, xxiv), and in later ecclesiastical Latin, conversion refers to a moral change, a turning or returning to God and to the true religion, in which sense it has passed into our modern languages. (For example, the “conversions” of St. Paul, of Constantine the Great, and of St. Augustine.) In the Middle Ages the word conversion was often used in the sense of forsaking the world to enter the religious state. Thus St. Bernard speaks of his conversion. The return of the sinner to a life of virtue is also called a conversion. More commonly do we speak of the conversion of an infidel to the true religion, and most commonly of the conversion of a schismatic or heretic to the Catholic Church.
Every man is bound by the natural law to seek the true religion, embrace it when found, and conform his life to its principles and precepts. And it is a dogma of the Church defined by the Vatican Council that man is able by the natural light of reason to arrive at the certain knowledge of the existence of the one true God. our Creator and Lord. The same council teaches that faith is a gift of God necessary for salvation, that it is an act of the intellect commanded by the will, and that it is a supernatural act. The act of faith then is an act of the understanding, whereby we firmly hold as true whatever God has revealed, not because of its intrinsic truth perceived by the natural light of reason, but because God, who can neither deceive nor be deceived, has revealed it. It is in itself an act of the understanding, but it requires the influence of the will which moves the intellect to assent. For many of the truths of revelation, being mysteries, are to some extent obscure. Yet, it is not a blind act, since the fact that God has spoken is not merely probable but certain. The evidences for the fact of revelation are not, however. the motive of faith; they are the grounds which render revelation credible, that is to say, they make it certain that God has spoken. And since faith is necessary for salvation, that we may comply with the duty of embracing the true Faith and persevering in it, God by His only-begotten Son has instituted the Church and has adorned it with obvious marks so that it may be known by all men as the guardian and teacher of revealed truth. These marks (or notes) of credibility belong to the Catholic Church alone. Nay, the Church itself by its admirable propagation, sublime sanctity, and inexhaustible fecundity, by its Catholic unity and invincible stability, is a great and perpetual motive of credibility and irrefragable testimony of its Divine mission (see Conc. Vatic., De Fide, cap. 3).
The first step, therefore, in the normal process of conversion is the investigation and examination of the credentials of the Church, which often is a painful labor lasting for years. The external grace which draws a man’s attention to the Church and causes him to begin his inquiry is as various and manifold as there are individual inquirers. It may even be something to one’s temporal advantage, which was the case with Henry IV of France. It may be the interest aroused in a great historical personage, such as Innocent III, in the case of Friedrich von Hurter. Whatever may have been the initial motive. if the study be pursued with an open mind, we hold that it will lead to the knowledge of the true Church, i.e. to this certain conclusion: The Catholic Church is the true Church. This intellectual conviction. however, is not yet the act of faith. One may hesitate, or refuse to take the next step, which is the “good will to believe” (pius credulitatis affectus). And this leads to the third and final act, the act of faith itself: I believe what the Church teaches because God has revealed it. These three acts, especially the last, are, in accordance with Catholic teaching, supernatural acts. Then follows baptism by which the believer is formally received into the body of the Church. (See BAPTISM, VII, VIII.)
Since the duty of embracing the true religion is of natural and positive Divine right, it is evident that no civil law can forbid the fulfilling of this duty, nor should any temporal considerations be allowed to interfere with a duty on which depends the soul’s salvation. And because all are bound to enter the Church, it follows that the Church has a right to receive all who apply for reception, of whatever age, sex, or condition they may be. Nay, in virtue of the Divine command to preach the Gospel to every creature, the Church is strictly bound to receive them, and no earthly authority can forbid the exercise of this duty. To the Church alone it belongs to lay down the conditions for reception and to inquire into the interior dispositions of him who presents himself for admission into her bosom. The conditions are, knowledge and profession of the Catholic Faith and the resolve to live in accordance with it. The right to admit converts into the Church belongs strictly speaking to the bishop. Usually all priests exercising the sacred ministry receive faculties for reconciling heretics. When conditional baptism is administered, sacramental confession is also required from the convert. It is the law clearly laid down in the Acts of the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore. The order of proceedings is as follows: first, abjuration of heresy or profession of faith; second, conditional baptism; third, sacramental confession and conditional absolution. (Tit. V, Cap. II, n. 240.)
Force, violence, or fraud may not be employed to bring about the conversion of an unbeliever. Such means would be sinful. The natural law, the law of Christ, the nature of faith, the teaching and practice of the Church forbid such means. Credere voluntatis est, to believe depends upon the free will, says St. Thomas (II-II:10:8), and the minister of baptism, before administering the sacrament, is obliged to ask the question, “Wilt thou be baptized”? And only after having received the answer, “I will”, may he proceed with the sacred rite. The Church also forbids the baptism of children of unbaptized parents without the consent of the latter, unless the children have been cast away by their parents, or are in imminent danger of death. For the Church has no jurisdiction over the unbaptized, nor does the State possess the power of using temporal means in spiritual things. The punishments formerly decreed against apostates were not intended to coerce men to accept outwardly what they did not believe in their hearts, but to atone for a crime (see the article of St. Thomas, loc. cit.). The medieval legislation, both ecclesiastical and secular, clearly distinguished between the punishment to be inflicted for the crime of apostasy and the means of instruction to be used in order to bring about the resipiscence of the apostate. As Bishop von Ketteler says, “The punishment inflicted by the Church upon heretics in comparatively few cases was not based upon the false principle that conviction could be forced upon the mind by external means, but upon the truth that by baptism the Christian has assumed obligations the fulfillment of which could be insisted upon. This punishment was only inflicted in particular cases and upon public and formal heretics.” Convert parents like other Catholics are obliged to have their children baptized and educated in the Catholic religion.
The Constitution of the United States of America proclaims complete separation of Church and State and guarantees full liberty of conscience. In consequence the laws of these States place no hindrance whatever in the way of conversions. It may also be said that on the whole the American people are socially tolerant towards converts. No wonder that in this country’s conversions are comparatively more numerous than in most others. In the British Empire too, since the days of Catholic Emancipation in 1829, liberty of conscience prevails in theory as well as in practice, although there exists both in England and Scotland an established Church. Catholic disabilities have been almost entirely removed. Catholics are only excluded from the throne and from a few of the highest offices of the State. In Germany after the Reformation the tyrannical principle cujus regio, illius religio was proclaimed, in virtue of which the sovereign for the time being could impose his religion upon his subjects. He exercised the power both to forbid conversions to the Catholic Church, and to compel apostasy from it. In present-day Germany, liberty of conscience is the law of the land. And although some union of Church and State exists, conversion does not involve any disabilities or the loss of any civil or political rights. Formerly, however, most of the states prescribed the age before which conversions were not lawful, which was either fourteen or sixteen, or even eighteen. In Saxony, Brunswick, and Mecklenburg, the public exercise of the Catholic religion historically was subjected to vexatious interference. In Russia the Orthodox Church is the State religion. Other denominations are only tolerated. Under the czars, conversion from the Orthodox Church to Catholicism was followed by grievous disabilities. By the ukase of 1905 certain rights and liberties were granted to other denominations. The publication of the ukase was immediately followed by the return to the Catholic Church of many Eastern Catholics who had been forced into schism by persecution. The Scandinavian countries were very intolerant till about the middle of the nineteenth century. Denmark gave liberty to the Catholic Church in 1849, Sweden and Norway in 1860.
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B. GULDNER Transcribed by Charles Sweeney, SJ
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IVCopyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Conversion
a theological term, used to denote the turning of a sinner to God. It occurs in Act 15:3 (declaring the conversion [] of the Gentiles). The verb is used in the N. T, actively in the sense of turning or converting others (Luk 1:16, et al.); intransitively, in the sense of turning back, returning; and tropically, to denote turning to good, to be converted (Luk 22:32, when thou art converted, strengthen the brethren). In general, the word is used to designate the turning of men from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God (Act 26:18.) In a general sense, heathens or infidels are, converted when they abandon paganism or unbelief, and embrace the Christian faith; and men in general are properly said to be converted when they are brought to a change of life through the influence of divine grace upon the soul.
Specifically, then, conversion may be said to be that change in the thoughts, desires, dispositions, and life of a sinner which is brought about when the Holy Ghost enters the heart as the result of the exercise of a saving faith in the atonement, by which the sinner is justified. The process by which this great change is effected is this: The sinner is convinced of sin by the Holy Spirit; he exercises a penitent faith in Christ as his Savior; God immediately justifies him, the Holy Spirit attests to the penitent the fact of his pardon, and instantly sheds abroad the love of God in the heart, when all things are indeed new (Farrar, Biblical Dictionary, s.v.).
The word is also used, in a narrower sense, to denote the voluntary act of the soul consciously embracing Christ in faith; and in this sense it is to be distinguished from regeneration, which is a second creation, wrought only by the Spirit of God. Kling, in Herzog, Real-Encyklopadie (s.v. Bekehrung), gives the following statement of the relations between God and man in the whole work of conversion: It is not a purely personal act of man (Jer 31:18, Turn thou me and I shall be turned), but includes both the divine act and the human. Conviction, calling, and justification are of God. The Word of God declares God’s will convincingly in the law, and offers salvation through faith in Christ in the Gospel. In Christ law and Gospel are united. None of these divine acts preclude man’s activity (Php 2:12, Work out your own salvation, etc.)…. The truth lies midway between that extreme, on the one hand, which teaches that the will of man is entirely absorbed by the grace of God, and that false Synergism, on the other, which conceives man’s will as capable of action, in the work of conversion, without the in working. of divine grace.
Wesley (Letter to Bishop Lavington, Works, v. 368) remarks: Conversion is a term I very rarely use, because it rarely occurs in the N.T. Lavington had spoken of Wesley’s idea of conversion as to start up perfect men at once. Indeed, sir, replies Wesley, it is not. A man is usually converted before he is a perfect man. It is probable most of those Ephesians to whom St. Paul directed his epistles were converted, yet they were not come (few, if any) to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. SEE REPENTANCE; SEE REGENERATION.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Conversion
the turning of a sinner to God (Acts 15:3). In a general sense the heathen are said to be “converted” when they abandon heathenism and embrace the Christian faith; and in a more special sense men are converted when, by the influence of divine grace in their souls, their whole life is changed, old things pass away, and all things become new (Acts 26:18). Thus we speak of the conversion of the Philippian jailer (16:19-34), of Paul (9:1-22), of the Ethiopian treasurer (8:26-40), of Cornelius (10), of Lydia (16:13-15), and others. (See REGENERATION
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Conversion
Two words answer to the English word conversion in the O.T. Haphac (), to turn, is used in Isa 60:5, ‘The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee.’ Shuv (), to return, is the general word. It is found in Psa 51:13, ‘Sinners shall be converted unto thee;’ Psa 19:7, ‘The law of the Lord is perfect, converting (or restoring) the soul;’ Isa 1:27, ‘Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts (or they that return of her) with righteousness;’ 6:10, ‘Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed.’ in these passages, with the exception of Psa 19:7, the word is used in the active voice, and in a neuter sense, and might be rendered return. It is frequently used with a second verb to give the sense of ‘again’ or ‘back.’
The LXX usually renders Shuv by , which is the general word used to represent the turning of the heart to God, whether from Judaism, idolatry, or sin, in the N. T see, for example, Gal 4:9; 1Th 1:9; Jam 5:19-20. The process called conversion or turning to God is in reality a re-turning, or a turning back again to Him from whom sin has separated us, but whose we are by virtue of creation, preservation, and redemption. The form is used in Mat 18:3.
Fuente: Synonyms of the Old Testament
CONVERSION
Although the word conversion may be rare in the Bible, the idea is common enough. People are converted when they turn from darkness to light, from Satan to God, from dead idols to the living Christ (Act 15:3; Act 26:18; 1Th 1:9-10; cf. Mat 13:15; 2Co 3:16). Their changed lives are the outward demonstration of that inward turning which the Bible more commonly calls repentance (Act 3:19; Act 26:20; see REPENTANCE). Through repentance, believing sinners receive the salvation of God. They are born anew; they become new people (2Co 5:17; see REGENERATION; SALVATION).
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Conversion
CONVERSION.The noun occurs only in Act 15:3 (epistroph), but in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] convert is found several times both in OT (Heb. shbh) and NT (Gr. epistreph, streph) to denote a spiritual turning, RV [Note: Revised Version.] in most cases substituting turn. Turn is to he preferred because (1) in the Eng. of AV [Note: Authorized Version.] convert meant no more than turn; (2) conversion has come to be employed in a sense that often goes beyond the meaning of the originals. RV [Note: Revised Version.] has further corrected AV [Note: Authorized Version.] by giving act. turn for pass. be converted in Mat 13:15; Mat 18:3, Mar 4:12, Luk 22:32, Joh 12:40, Act 3:19; Act 28:27, where the Gr. vbs. are reflexive in meaning. In OT shbh is used to denote a turning, whether of the nation (Deu 30:10, 2Ki 17:13 etc.) or of the individual (Psa 51:13, Isa 55:7 etc.). In NT epistreph, streph are used esp. of individuals, but sometimes in a sense that falls short of conversion as the conscious change implied in becoming a Christian. Mat 18:3 was spoken to true disciples, and the conversion demanded of them was a renunciation of their foolish ambitions (cf. v. 1). Luk 22:32 was addressed to the leader of the Apostles, and his conversion was his return to his Masters service after his fall. In Acts and Epp., however, convert or turn is employed to denote conversion in the full Christian sense (Act 3:19; Act 9:35; Act 11:21; Act 14:15 [cf. Act 15:3 conversion], 2Co 3:16, 1Th 1:9). Conversion as a spiritual fact comes before us repeatedly in the Gospels (Luk 7:47 ff; Luk 15:17 ff; Luk 19:8 ff; Luk 23:42-43) and in the history of the Apostolic Church (Act 2:41; Act 2:47; Act 8:5-6; Act 8:12; Act 9:3 ff; Act 16:30 ff.etc.). RV [Note: Revised Version.] brings out the fact that in the NT conversion (as distinguished from regeneration [wh. see]) is an activity of the soul itself, and not an experience imposed from above. This view of its nature is confirmed when we find repentance (Act 3:19; Act 26:20; cf. Eze 14:6; Eze 18:30) and faith (Act 11:21; cf. Act 20:21) associated with it as the elements that make up the moral act of turning from sin and self to God in Christ.
J. C. Lambert.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Conversion
This great work also is, like the former, the work of God the Holy Ghost. And the Lord Jesus, in his description of his person, describes also his office, work and character. “He shall reprove, saith Jesus, the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” (Joh 16:7-15) And to remark the wonderful operations of his grace under those several branches of his almighty power, by which he gives the fullest discoveries of our worthlessness, and the glorious manifestations of Jesus’s grace, and fulness, and suitability, these are among the highest instructions the souls of men can attain in the present life. Blessed and Sovereign Convincer! I would say, bring my soul under thy divine illuminations, that my whole heart may be savingly converted unto God.
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Conversion
kon-vurshun:
I. The Words Conversion, Convert, in Biblical Usage
1. In the English Bible
The noun conversion (, epistrophe) occurs in only one passage in the Bible, They passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles (Act 15:3). Derived forms of the verb convert are used in the Revised Version (British and American) in Jam 5:19, convert, converteth (Jam 5:20), converted (Psa 51:13, margin return), converts (Isa 1:27, margin they that return). In other instances where the King James Version uses forms of the verb convert the Revised Version (British and American) employs turn again (Isa 6:10; Luk 22:32; Act 3:19), or turn (Isa 60:5; Mat 13:15; Mat 18:3; Mar 4:12; Joh 12:40; Act 28:27). In Psa 19:7 the reading of the King James Version, The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, has been changed by the revisers into restoring the soul. The words commonly used in the English Bible as equivalent with the Hebrew and Greek terms are turn, return, turn back, turn again (compare Deu 4:30; Isa 55:7; Jer 3:12; Jer 25:5; Jer 35:15; Eze 18:21-23; Eze 33:11; Mal 3:7). Thus convert is synonymous with turn, and conversion with turning.
2. In the Old Testament
The principal Hebrew word is :, shubh; other words are , panah, , haphakh, , sabhabh, in Hiphil. They are used (1) in the literal sense, for instance, Gen 14:7; Deu 17:16; Psa 56:9; Isa 38:8. (2) In the later prophetical writings the verb shubh refers, both in the Qal and Hiphil forms, to the return from the captivity (Isa 1:27; Jer 29:14; Jer 30:3; Eze 16:53; Zep 2:7). (3) In the figurative, ethical or religious sense (a) from God (Num 14:43; 1Sa 15:11; 1Ki 9:6); (b) more frequently to turn back to God (1Sa 7:3; 1Ki 8:33; Isa 19:22; Joe 2:12; Amo 4:6; Hos 6:11; Hos 7:10).
3. In the New Testament
The words used in the Septuagint and New Testament are , strephein, and its compounds, , apostr., , anastr., , epanastr., , hupostr., and especially , epistrephein. The latter word occurs 39 times in the New Testament. It is used (1) in the literal sense in Mat 9:22; Mat 10:13; Mat 24:18; Act 9:40; Act 15:36, etc.; (2) in the figurative sense, in transitive form. (Luk 1:16 f; Jam 5:19 f). In Gal 4:9 and 2Pe 2:21 it denotes to turn from the right way to the wrong. The opposite meaning, to turn from the wrong way to the right, we find in Luk 22:32; Act 9:35; Act 11:21; Act 14:15; Act 15:19; Act 26:18; 2Co 3:16; 1Th 1:9; 1Pe 2:25. In connection with metanoen, repent, it is used in Act 3:19; Act 26:20. The root word strephein is used in the figurative sense in Mat 18:3; Joh 12:40. Septuagint and Textus Receptus of the New Testament have here epistrephein.
II. The Doctrine
While the words conversion and convert do not occur frequently in our English Bible the teaching contained therein is fundamental in Christian doctrine. From the words themselves it is not possible to derive a clearly defined doctrine of conversion; the materials for the construction of the doctrine must be gathered from the tenor of Biblical teaching.
1. Vague Use of the Word
There is a good deal of vagueness in the modern use of the term. By some writers it is used in a very general way to stand for the whole series of manifestations just preceding, accompanying, and immediately following the apparent sudden changes of character involved (E.D. Starbuck, The Psychology of Religion, 21). ‘To be converted,’ ‘to be regenerated,’ ‘to receive grace,’ ‘to experience religion,’ ‘to gain an assurance,’ are so many phrases which denote the process, gradual or sudden, by which a self, hitherto divided and consciously wrong, inferior and unhappy, becomes unified and consciously right, superior and happy in consequence of its hold upon religious realities. This at least is what conversion signifies in general terms (William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, 189). In this general, vague way the term is used not only by psychologists, but also by theological writers and in common religious parlance. A converted man is a Christian, a believer, a man who has religion, who has experienced regeneration.
2. Specific Meaning
In its more restricted meaning the word denotes the action of man in the initial process of salvation as distinguished from the action of God. Justification and regeneration are purely Divine acts, repentance, faith, conversion are human acts although under the influence and by the power of the Divine agency. Thus, conversion denotes the human volition and act by which man in obedience to the Divine summons determines to change the course of his life and turns to God. Arrested by God’s call man stops to think, turns about and heads the opposite way. This presupposes that the previous course was not directed toward God but away from Him. The instances of conversion related in the Bible show that the objective point toward which man’s life was directed may be either the service of idols (1Th 1:9) or a life of religious indifference, a self-centered life where material things engross the attention and deaden the sense of things spiritual (rich young ruler, Luk 18:22), or a life of sensuality, of open sin and shame (prodigal son, Luk 15:13) or even a mistaken way of serving God (Saul, Act 26:9). Accordingly in conversion either the religious or the ethical element may predominate. The moral man who turns from self to God or, as Saul did, from an erroneous notion concerning God’s will to a clear conception of his relation to God is more conscious of the religious factor. Conversion brings him into vital, conscious fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. The immoral man who is awakened to a realization of the holiness of God, of the demands of His law, and of his own sin and guilt is more conscious of the outward change in his manner of life. The ethical change is the more outstanding fact in his experience, although it can never be separated from the religious experience of the changed relation to God.
3. Mode
The mode of conversion varies greatly according to the former course of life. It may be a sudden crisis in the moral and intellectual life. This is very frequently the case in the experience of heathen who turn from the worship of idols to faith in Jesus Christ. A sudden crisis is frequently witnessed in the case of persons who, having lived a life of flagrant sin, renounce their former life. Conversion to them means a complete revolution in their thoughts, feelings and outward manner of life. In other instances conversion appears to be the climax of prolonged conflict for supremacy of divergent motives; and, again, it may be the goal of a gradual growth, the consummation of a process of discerning ever more clearly and yielding ever more definitely and Thus experiencing ever more vitally truths which have been implanted and nurtured by Christian training. This process results in the conscious acceptance of Jesus Christ as the personal Saviour and in the consecration of life to His service. Thus conversion may be an instantaneous act, or a process which is more or less prolonged. The latter is more frequently seen in the case of children and young people who have grown up in Christian families and have received the benefit of Christian training. No conversions of this kind are recorded in the New Testament. This may be explained by the fact that most of our New Testament writings are addressed to the first generation of Christians, to men and women who were raised in Jewish legalism or heathen idolatry, and who turned to Christ after they had passed the age of adolescence. The religious life of their children as distinguished in its mode and manifestations from that of the adults does not appear to have been a matter of discussion or a source of perplexity so as to call forth specific instruction.
4. Conversion and Psychology
Conversion comprises the characteristics both of repentance and of faith. Repentance is conversion viewed from its starting-point, the turning from the former life; faith indicates the objective point of conversion, the turning to God.
Of late the psychology of conversion has been carefully studied and elaborately treated by psychologists. Much valuable material has been gathered. It is shown that certain periods of adolescent life are particularly susceptible to religious influences (compare G. Stanley Hall, Adolescence, II, chapter xiv; E.D. Starbuck, Psychology of Religion, etc.). Yet conversion cannot be explained as a natural process, conditioned by physiological changes in the adolescent, especially by approaching puberty. The laws of psychology are certainly God’s laws as much as all other laws of Nature, and His Spirit works in harmony with His own laws. But in genuine conversion there is always at work in a direct and immediate manner the Spirit of God to which man, be he adolescent or adult, consciously responds. Any attempt to explain conversion by eliminating the direct working of the Divine Spirit falls short of the mark. See REGENERATION; REPENTANCE.
Literature
See REGENERATION.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Conversion
This is from , ‘to turn to.’ It is in scripture the real effect that accompanies the new birth, a turning to God. It is beautifully expressed in the case of the Thessalonians, showing how they “turned to [the same word] God from idols, to serve the living and true God.” 1Th 1:9. Paul and Barnabas were able to make known to the saints the ‘conversion of the Gentiles.’ Act 15:3. In Peter’s address to the Jews he said, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.” Act 3:19. Without being converted they could not enter the kingdom of heaven. Mat 18:3. The word is used in a somewhat different sense in respect to Peter himself. The Lord, knowing that he would fall under the sifting of Satan, said, “When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren;” that is, when he had returned in contrition, or been restored. In the O.T. the Hebrew words signify the same, ‘to be turned,’ ‘to turn back.’ Psa 51:13; Isa 6:10; Isa 60:5: cf. Isa 1:27, margin
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Conversion
See Regeneration; Convert
Regeneration; Convert
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
CONVERSION
of Sinners
(1) General References to
The Divine Law the Agent in
Psa 19:7
Joyful Believers used as Instruments in
Psa 51:12; Psa 51:13
Essential to Entrance into God’s Kingdom
Mat 18:3
Prepares for Christian Service
Luk 22:32
Enjoined upon all men
Act 3:19
The Supreme Task of the Church
Jam 5:19; Jam 5:20
–SEE Regeneration, LIFE
Spiritual Resurrection, NEW MAN
Restoration (1), RESTORATION
Spiritual Healing, DISEASE
(2) Instances of
–King Saul
1Sa 10:9
–Zacchaeus
Luk 19:9
–Ethiopian Eunuch
Act 8:37
–Saul of Tarsus
Act 9:6
–Roman Proconsul
Act 13:12
–Lydia
Act 16:14
–Philippian Jailer
Act 16:33; Act 16:34
–SEE Accessions CHURCH, THE
Gentiles (2), WORLD-WIDE
(3) Characters Transformed by
Peter, the Profane Fisherman,
Mat 26:74
becomes a man whose very shadow heals
Act 5:15
The Restless Demoniac,
Mar 5:5
becomes a quiet disciple
Mar 5:15
John the Vindictive Jew,
Luk 9:53; Luk 9:54
becomes the apostle of love
1Jo 4:7
The Woman of Samaria of Unsavoury reputation,
Joh 4:17; Joh 4:18
becomes an evangel of truth
Joh 4:29
Saul the Bloodthirsty Persecutor,
Act 9:1
becomes Paul, the tender-hearted brother
Act 21:13
The Cold-hearted Philippian Jailer,
Act 16:24
becomes a sympathetic friend
Act 16:33
Fuente: Thompson Chain-Reference Bible
Conversion
a change from one state or character to another. Conversion, considered theologically, consists in a renovation of the heart and life, or a being turned from sin and the power of Satan unto God, Act 26:18; and is produced by the influence of divine grace upon the soul. This is conversion considered as a state of mind; and is opposed both to a careless and unawakened state, and to that state of conscious guilt and slavish dread, accompanied with struggles after a moral deliverance not yet attained, which precedes our justification and regeneration; both of which are usually understood to be comprised in conversion. But this is not the only Scriptural import of the term; for the first turning of the whole heart to God in penitence and prayer is generally termed conversion. In its stricter sense, as given above, it is, however, now generally used by divines.