A Biblical Understanding of Conversion
From "Nine Marks of a Healthy Church" by Mark Dever
First I’ll throw a bunch of quotes at you from the book. The book points out that “people today are skeptical that anyone can really change.” (Dever 105) “Any suggestion that you can change deeply is regarded with serious suspicion.” (105) “But for all of this uncertainty and suspicion, people do have a deep longing for change.” (106) “The images of our human nature that God gives us in the Bible are quite radical-images of being in debt, enslaved, bankrupt, and even dead. This is what the Bible presents as our condition, our situation. It is disastrous, and we had best get out of it. Clearly, we need to change.” (Dever 108) “According to the Bible, this is a crucial part of the good news: Change is possible.” (109) “First, there is the problem of people who don’t think that they’re converted when they really are.” (111) "...some people think they are converted when they really are not.” (112) “people who had gone to church enough to learn to talk differently - to talk the Bible and talk Christianity-but whose hearts hadn’t changed so they lived differently.” (112) “The one who converts is ultimately God himself. We are called to tell people that they must turn to God. But we must understand that God is calling us to talk to a bunch of corpses!” (118) “Saving, converting faith comes only “from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17) The message from Christ and about Christ is the only means that God uses to bring about this great change in us.” (119) “I fear that one of the results of misunderstanding the Bible’s teaching on conversion may be that evangelical churches are full of people who have made sincere commitments at some point in their lives but who have not experienced the radical change that the Bible calls conversion.” (121)I have seen this when I talk to my atheist coworkers. They have gone as far as saying they see value in some of the moral teachings in the Bible but don’t know how people can stick to it. They see that most people are sinful pitiful messes but since they don’t believe in the power of God to change unregenerate hearts they think being good is accomplished with will power. They think that some people are just evil and so hearing the good moral teachings of the Bible won’t do anything for them. [Romans 8:5-8] I like how Dever’s book proclaimed that change is possible and that “the change we need is not merely to ‘discover’ ourselves, but to turn... from our sin and to the one true God.” (Dever 110) This countercultural truth is also one my atheist friends can’t accept because they have no faith in God so the only way they see change happening is again from our own strength and willpower. The world preaches to look within yourself for healthy change and growth while our holy scriptures proclaim that we need a renewal of our minds from God. [Romans 12:2]
This line from the book really stuck out to me: “We are called to tell people to turn to God. But we must understand that God is calling us to talk to a bunch of corpses.” (Dever 118) This really should cause me not only to pray for opportunities to share the gospel with non believers, but also to pray for God to change their dead hearts. [Ephesians 2:1-3] I have become so close to one atheist friend at work that I almost talk to him like he’s a fellow Christian. I think sometimes I’m almost assuming he has a renewed mind and if I can just make the things of the Bible clear enough for him he will get it and believe, but that’s just not true! My convictions to pray for God to do a great work in his heart have grown. I have shared the gospel with him many times, which is great and I rejoice in that, [Romans 10:17] but I need to pray more for God to do the work. [1 Corinthians 3:6] He knows the truth, but he is still dead in his trespasses and sins so he cannot choose to turn from them to God.
- Take the pressure off of a perfect presentation of the gospel. Share it as good news, not as cajoling someone.
- It’s not about you or your flawless presentation of the Gospel, evangelism is God’s - you proclaim it, he works!
Scriptures Referenced
Romans 8:5-8
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Ephesians 2:1-3
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Romans 10:17
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:6
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
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