Grace Blog
Wayne Grudem on Conversion
Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology has quickly become the dominating theological textbook for theologians training over the past decade. In his chapter on conversion, he gives some concise and helpful definitions on conversion, saving faith, and repentance. Here they are:
Conversion is our willing response to the gospel call, in which we sincerely repent of sins and place our trust in Christ for salvation. The word conversion itself means “turning”–here it represents a spiritual turn, a turning from sin to Christ. The turning from sin is called repentance, and the turning to Christ is called faith.
Saving faith is trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God.
Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ.
Here are a few additional quotes:
“Scripture puts repentance and faith together as different aspects of the one act of coming to Christ for salvation. It is not that a person first turns from sin and next trusts in Christ, or first trusts in Christ and then turns from sin, but rather that both occur at the same time. When we turn to Christ for salvation from our sins, we are simultaneously turning away from the sins that we are asking Christ to save us from. If that were not true our turning to Christ for salvation from sin could hardly be a genuine turning to him or trusting in him” (713).
“Although it is true that initial saving faith and initial repentance occur only once in our lives, and when they occur they constitute true conversion, nonetheless, the heart attitudes of repentance and faith only begin at conversion. These same attitudes should continue throughout the course of our Christian lives. Each day there should be heartfelt repentance for sins that we have committed, and faith in Christ to provide for our needs and to empower us to live the Christian life” (717).
Labels: Conversion, Wayne Grudem, What Is a Healthy Church Member? | posted by TimBrister at 5:49 am | Categories: Conversion, Sunday School Stuff |
1689 LBC and 1833 NHC on Repentance and Faith
1689 London Baptist Confession
On Faith
The grace of faith by which the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls is the work of the Spirit in their hearts. Normally it is brought into being through the preaching of the Word. By the Word and its ministry, by the administration of baptism and the Lord’s supper, by prayer, and also by other means appointed by God, faith is increased and strengthened. (Luke 17:5; Acts 20:32; Rom. 10:14, 17; 2 Cor. 4:13; Eph. 2:8; 1 Pet. 2:2)
On Repentance
The repentance that leads on to salvation is a gospel grace by means of which a person who is caused by the Holy Spirit to feel the manifold evils of sin is also caused by faith in Christ to humble himself on account of sin. This humiliation is characterized by godly sorrow, a detestation of the sin, and self-loathing. It is accompanied by prayer for pardon and strength of grace, and also by a purpose and endeavor, in the power supplied by the Spirit, to conduct himself in the sight of God with the consistency of life that pleases Him. (Ps. 119:6, 128; Ezek. 36:31; Zech. 12:10; Acts 11:18; 2 Cor. 7:11)
1833 New Hampshire Confession
On Grace in Regeneration
We believe that in order to be saved, sinners must be regenerated or born again; that regeneration consists in giving a holy disposition to the mind; that it is effected, in a manner above our comprehension, by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the gospel; and that its proper evidence appears in holy fruits of repentance and faith and newness of life.
On Repentance and Faith
We believe that Repentance and Faith are sacred duties, and also inseparable graces, wrought in our souls by the regenerating Spirit of God; whereby, being deeply convinced of our guilt, danger and helplessness, and of the way of salvation by Christ, we turn to God with unfeigned contrition, confession, and supplication for mercy; at the same time heartily receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King, and relying on him alone as the only and all-sufficient Saviour.
Labels: Conversion, Faith, Repentance, What Is a Healthy Church Member? | posted by TimBrister at 9:05 am | Categories: Conversion, Sunday School Stuff |
Repentance Commanded, Repentance Granted
A brief study on repentance in the book of Acts reveals that repentance is possible only because it has been granted by God (as a gift), and repentance is also a command for which sinners are responsible for obeying. The very thing God requires in our response as willing agents (repentance and faith), God provides in the covenant of grace. Consider the following verses . . .
Peter and Paul commanding sinners to repent:
“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38
Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out,
Acts 3:19
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
Acts 17:30
Repentance granted to both Israel and Gentiles:
27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
Acts 5:27-32
18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
Acts 11:18
In addition, we find Paul utilizing a phrase synonymous with conversion in the Pastoral Epistles (”knowledge of the truth”) where repentance is spoken as granted by God. In 1 Tim. 2:3-4, we read that “this is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” The other place where Paul mentions this phrase is in the character description of “the Lord’s servant” whose conducts himself with the hope that “God may perhaps grant [their enemies] repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:24-26). Contrariwise, it is the godless who are “always learning but never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7).
What we can conclude from Scripture is that the means by which sinners are converted is repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21) both of which are grace gifts supplied through the regenerating and effectual calling of the Holy Spirit by which sinners are enabled to willingly and biblically respond to the message of the gospel.
Labels: Conversion, Repentance, What Is a Healthy Church Member? | posted by TimBrister at 9:36 am | Categories: Conversion, Sunday School Stuff |
Three Strands of Christian Conversion
Paul Helm, in his book The Beginnings: Word and Spirit in Conversion summarizes the three strands of Christian conversion, namely conviction of sin, saving faith, and repentance. He writes:
There are three strands to true Christian conversion. There is the conviction of sin. A person in being converted is convicted that before God he is guilty. He has broken God’s law, and has no hope of keeping it. He recognizes his own bondage to sin. A second strand is saving faith in Christ, the faith which justifies the sinner before God. Being convicted of his sin the sinner casts himself upon God’s mercy. Such saving faith is accompanied by true repentance, the third strand in conversion. This repentance is a profound moral change. It is not simply the regret or remorse of despair or the sorrow at being found out or deterred from sin. It is the godly sorrow which produces a profound revulsion against sin and a resolve to serve God and to delight in Him. All these changes in a person, the bringing about conviction of sin, saving faith and repentance, are the results of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. They are not produced by self-effort or by moral reform. The moral and spiritual energy required is imparted by God the Holy Spirit in granting spiritual awareness and strength of purpose as He renews the dead soul and sets about restoring the image of God in man.”
- Paul Helm, The Beginnings: Word & Spirit in Conversion (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986), 80-81.
Labels: Conversion, Paul Helm, What Is a Healthy Church Member?, Word and Spirit | posted by TimBrister at 8:19 pm | Categories: Conversion, Sunday School Stuff |
