For account of repentance and faith as elements of conversion, see Andrew Fuller, Works, 1:666; Luthardt, Compendium der Dogmatik, 3d ed., 201-206. The two elements of conversion seem to be in the mind of Paul, when he writes in Rom. 6:11—“reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus”; Col. 3:3—“ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Cf. ἀποστρέφω, in Acts 3:26—“in turning away every one of you from your iniquities,” with ἐπιστρέφω in Acts 11:21—“believed” and “turned unto the Lord.” A candidate for ordination was once asked which came first: regeneration or conversion. He replied very correctly: “Regeneration and conversion are like the cannon-ball and the hole—they both go through together.” This is true however only as to their chronological relation. Logically the ball is first and causes the hole, not the hole first and causes the ball.
(a) Conversion is the human side or aspect of that fundamental spiritual change which, as viewed from the divine side, we call regeneration. It is simply man's turning. The Scriptures recognize the voluntary activity of the human soul in this change as distinctly as they recognize the causative agency of God. While God turns men to himself (Ps. 85:4; Song 1:4; Jer. 31:18; Lam. 5:21), men are exhorted to turn themselves to God (Prov. 1:23; Is. 31:6; 59:20; Ez. 14:6; 18:32; 33:9, 11; Joel 2:12-14). While God is represented as the author of the new heart and the new spirit (Ps. 51:10; Ez. 11:19; 36:26), men are commanded to make for themselves a new heart and a new spirit (Ez. 18:31; 2 Cor. 7:1; cf. Phil. 2:12, 13; Eph. 5:14).
Ps. 85:4—“Turn us, O God of our salvation”; Song 1:4—“Draw me, we will run after thee”; Jer. 31:18—“turn thou me, and I shall be turned”; Lam. 5:21—“Turn thou us unto thee, O Jehovah, and we shall be turned.”
Prov. 1:23—“Turn you at my reproof: Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you”; Is. 31:6—“Turn ye unto him from whom ye have deeply revolted, O children of Israel”; 59:20—“And a Redeemer will come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob”; Ez. 14:6—“Return ye, and turn yourselves from your idols”; 18:32—“turn yourselves and live”; 33:9—“if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he turn not from his way, he shall die in his iniquity”; 11—“turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” Joel 2:12-14—“turn ye unto me with all your heart.”
Ps. 51:10—“Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me”; Ez. 11:19—“And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh”; 36:26—“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.”
Ez. 18:31—“Cast away from you all your transgressions, wherein ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” 2 Cor. 7:1—“Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God”; cf. Phil. 2:12, 13—“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure”; Eph. 5:14—“Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.”
When asked the way to heaven, Bishop Wilberforce replied: “Take the first turn to the right, and go straight forward.” Phillips Brooks's conversion is described by Professor Allen, Life, 1:266, as consisting in the resolve “to be true to himself, to renounce nothing which he knew to be good, and yet bring all things captive to the obedience of God, ... the absolute surrender of his will to God, in accordance with the example of Christ: ‘Lo, I am come ... to do thy will, O God’ (Heb. 10:7).”
(b) This twofold method of representation can be explained only when we remember that man's powers may be interpenetrated and quickened by the divine, not only without destroying man's freedom, but with the result of making man for the first time truly free. Since the relation between the divine and the human activity is not one of chronological succession, man is never to wait for God's working. If he is ever regenerated, it must be in and through a movement of his own will, in which he turns to God as unconstrainedly and with as little consciousness of God's operation upon him, as if no such operation of God were involved in the change. And in preaching, we are to press upon men the claims of God and their duty of immediate submission to Christ, with the certainty that they who do so submit will subsequently recognize this new and holy activity of their own wills as due to a working within them of divine power.
Ps. 110:3—“Thy people offer themselves willingly in the day of thy power.” The act of God is accompanied by an activity of man. Dorner: “God's act initiates action.” There is indeed an original changing of man's tastes and affections, and in this man is passive. But this is only the first aspect of regeneration. In the second aspect of it—the rousing of man's powers—God's action is accompanied by man's activity, and regeneration is but the obverse side of conversion. Luther's word: “Man, in conversion, is purely passive,”is true only of the first part of the change; and here, by “conversion,” Luther means “regeneration.” Melanchthon said better: “Non est enim coäctio, ut voluntas non possit repugnare: trahit Deus, sed volentem trahit.” See Meyer on Rom. 8:14—“led by the Spirit of God”: “The expression,” Meyer says, “is passive, though without prejudice to the human will, as verse 13 proves: ‘by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body.’ ”
As, by a well known principle of hydrostatics, the water contained in a little tube can balance the water of a whole ocean, so God's grace can be balanced by man's will. As sunshine on the sand produces nothing unless man sow the seed, and as a fair breeze does not propel the vessel unless man spread the sails, so the influences of God's Spirit require human agencies, and work through them. The Holy Spirit is sovereign,—he bloweth where he listeth. Even though there be uniform human conditions, there will not be uniform spiritual results. Results are often independent of human conditions as such. This is the truth emphasized by Andrew Fuller. But this does not prevent us from saying that, whenever God's Spirit works in regeneration, there is always accompanying it a voluntary change in man, which we call conversion, and that this change is as free, and as really man's own work, as if there were no divine influence upon him.