Evidence of Genuine Conversion

CONVERSION 

 A supernatural transformation of the mind, affections, and life that restores the freedom, self-control, and spiritual union with God that were lost as a result of sin.

Conversion involves contrition and confession, that is, a recognition and acknowledgment of oneself as a sinner in need of forgiveness. It also involves an unconditional decision to reorient one’s will, aims, and life to conform with the will of God, a corresponding effort to that end, and a willing dependence upon God for the necessities of life and eventually for the complete restoration of all that was lost as a result of sin.

A personal experience of conversion is essential to salvation. The Bible describes this experience by a variety of figurative expressions that call attention to various aspects of what is, in fact, a complex subjective (internal) experience accompanied by important objective (external) effects. It is described, on the one hand, as something a person does: a turning from one mode of life to another (Matt. 18:3; Acts 3:19; 11:21; 14:15; 26:18), a repentance, or change of mind (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 2 Cor. 7:9, 10). But it is also described as something done to or for a person: a rebirth (John 1:12–13; 3:3–7; 1 Peter 1:3, 23; 2:2; 1 John 5:18), a creation (Gal. 6:15; Eph. 2:10; 4:24), a resurrection from spiritual death (Eph. 2:1, 5, 6; cf. Col. 2:12, 13), a washing, or cleansing, from sin (Titus 3:5; 2 Peter 1:9), and an implanting of a new system of values (Eze. 36:26; Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10). It is an experience of the mind, or “heart”: a coming to know God or religious truth (John 8:32; 17:3; Col. 3:10), a renewal of the mind (Eph. 4:23; cf. Rom. 12:2). It produces a new nature (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10), and marks the beginning of a new life in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).

The precise form conversion may take varies from one individual to another, as determined by such factors as one’s temperament, psychological maturity, intellectual capacity, external circumstances, degree of behavioral change required, and cultural background. Accordingly, no particular pattern of experience may be considered normative, either as to duration or depth of emotional involvement.

Conversion presupposes, as a minimum, awareness of (1) God’s existence and His involvement in human affairs, (2) the distinction between moral right and wrong, and (3) the need for external help. There can be no self-surrender where there is no sense of need and dependence. Early religious training and direct contact with the revealed Word and with human witnesses are not necessarily essential to conversion, for it has occurred when none of these was present; so long as the mind is free to exercise genuine volition, environmental factors cannot prevent conversion. The function of these external factors is to encourage the human response to the call of God’s Spirit. The mission of the church is to increase the number, frequency, and intensity of these contributing factors.

Conversion marks the beginning of a continuing operation of the Holy Spirit in a process of spiritual growth. This growth consists of an improved understanding of God’s will and the gradual elimination of residual tendencies to sin.

Evidence of genuine conversion is both subjective and objective. The subjective evidence that conversion has occurred includes consciousness of love for, and trust in, God, awareness of the supreme importance of religious and spiritual values, and enjoyment of Bible reading, prayer, and worship. Absence of the objective evidence-continuing growth toward perfection in Jesus Christ—is conclusive proof that genuine conversion has not occurred.

Conversion consists essentially in a transformation of the mind, of a man’s attitude, and through the mind, of the entire life.

“The leaven of truth works secretly, silently, steadily, to transform the soul. The natural inclinations are softened and subdued. New thoughts, new feelings, new motives, are implanted. A new standard of character is set up—the life of Christ. The mind is changed; the faculties are roused to action in new lines. Man is not endowed with new faculties, but the faculties he has are sanctified. The conscience is awakened. We are endowed with traits of character that enable us to do service for God” (COL 98, 99).

Conversion begins with a reorientation of the mind to the will of Christ, and starts a person on the pathway that leads to a complete restoration, through the grace of Christ, of the divine character, which was lost when Adam sinned. See also Justification; New Birth; Sin.

What Does New Birth Mean?

NEW BIRTH

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 A figure of speech by which Jesus sought to explain conversion to Nicodemus, as recorded in John 3:1–8. “Led by the Holy Spirit we sense our need, acknowledge our sinfulness, repent of our transgressions, and exercise faith in Jesus as Lord and Christ, as Substitute and Example. This faith which receives salvation comes through the divine power of the Word and is the gift of God’s grace. Through Christ we are justified, adopted as God’s sons and daughters, and delivered from the lordship of sin. Through the Spirit we are born again and sanctified; the Spirit renews our minds, writes God’s law of love in our hearts, and we are given the power to live a holy life” (Church Manual, [1990], pp. 25, 26).

In September 1850 the Advent Review (1:61) published an article by O.R.L. Crosier in which he mentioned the importance of repentance, conversion, and baptism in relation to Christ’s work in the sanctuary. Having, for the most part, formerly been members of evangelical churches, early Seventh-day Adventists took the new-birth experience for granted. It was accepted by all, and therefore was not a matter of debate or discussion, as were the distinctive doctrines that distinguished them from the churches they had left. They felt no need to dwell on points held in common by all. However, as time went on, doctrines held in common by Christian churches were also stressed. For example, writing in 1895, W. W. Prescott stressed the need for a complete transformation of one’s attitude in order to come into harmony with God. He emphasized the important place of the mind as the controlling factor in the human being, and pointed out that as long as the mind remains unchanged, Christianity is merely a profession and not a living experience. Summing up, he said: “It [the new birth]means the willingness to abandon everything that is of the flesh and connected with the flesh and [to]turn to God for all that He is to us in Jesus Christ” (General Conference Bulletin, Feb. 8, 1895, p. 111).

In 1892 Ellen G. White published a book entitled Steps to Christ, in which the various steps in conversion are discussed and in which the new birth is stressed. Millions of copies of this book, a classic in its field, have been sold.

The present denominational position on the question of the new birth is also set forth in The SDA Bible Commentary, on 2 Cor 5:17: “For a man to be constrained by the love of Christ to live no longer unto self but unto God, to judge men no longer by appearance but by the spirit, to know Christ according to the spirit and not according to the flesh, he must be created a new being. To transform a lost sinner into a ‘new creature’ requires the same creative energy that originally brought forth life. . . . It is a supernatural operation, altogether foreign to normal human experience.

“This new nature is not the product of moral virtue presumed by some to be inherent in man, and requiring only growth and expression. There are thousands of so-called moral men who make no profession of being Christians, and who are not ‘new’ creatures. The new nature is not merely the product of a desire, or even of a resolution to do right . . . , of mental assent to certain doctrines, of an exchange of one set of opinions or feelings for another, or even of sorrow from sin. It is the result of the presence of a supernatural element introduced into a man, which results in his dying to sin and being born again. Thus are we created anew in the likeness of Christ, adopted as sons and daughters of God, and set on a new path. . . . Thus we are made partakers of the divine nature and are granted possession of eternal life. . . . The new believer is not born a full-grown, mature Christian; he first has the spiritual inexperience and immaturity of infancy. But as a son of God he does have the privilege and opportunity to grow up into the full stature of Christ” (vol. 6, pp. 868, 869). See also Conversion; Justification.

The First Process of Salvation

JUSTIFICATION

Justification is the divine act of acquittal, of declaring a repentant sinner released from the guilt of sin and restored to divine favor. In the NT the term occurs only in Rom. 4:25 and 5:16, 18, where justification is said to have been made possible by Christ’s vicarious death on the cross and His resurrection. It is the atonement that makes justification possible. Justification involves grace on the part of God and faith on the part of humanity. The verb dikaioµ, “to justify,” “to acquit,” “to reckon,” occurs some 40 times in the NT, the majority of these being in the Epistles of Paul. This fact implies that the doctrine of justification is basically a Pauline theme. It is the foundation upon which depend our relationship to God in this life and our hope for eternal life.

In the NT “to justify” means to pronounce or to declare a person to be right, or just, as, for example, in Luke 7:29, the publicans “justified God”; and in Rom. 3:4, where Paul says, “That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings.” The term also means “to acquit” those of charges brought against them, as, for example, in Acts 13:39, “justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” In the case of God justifying sinners, He does so by virtue of His favorable disposition toward them and His gracious purpose with respect to them.

Justification does not impart to the recipients, in their own right, the moral quality of being right, nor does it vest them with that quality. It simply vindicates them of the claims of the moral law against them because of their unlawful acts. It grants them the legal status of being considered as if they had never committed unlawful acts. Their new status is one they enjoy only by virtue of their new relationship to Jesus Christ, and can retain only by maintaining that relationship. But justification comprehends more than pardon alone. It not only declares a sinner righteous, but entitles him or her to all the rewards and benefits that properly belong to the righteous.

The Jew of Paul’s day commonly thought of righteousness objectively, as a legalistic and meticulous observance of the requirements of the law of Moses. The apostle presents the matter subjectively, as an inward disposition of heart and mind that leads to right action in harmony with “the law” as magnified by Jesus Christ and exemplified by His life on earth. When a person accepts Jesus Christ as his or her Saviour, he or she stands accepted before God, and enters into a new status, that of righteousness. But to begin with, this righteousness is more ideal than it is actual. It does not, as yet, consist of perfect fulfillment of the divine will, but primarily the individual has been accorded the right to an acceptable standing before God.

From first to last, this right status depends upon faith, not simply an intellectual faith (which even devils have; James 2:19), nor even merely trust (which is so often a mere passive dependence upon a superior power), but an ardent, vitalizing grasp of an intimate, personal relation to a personal Saviour. Often the apostle designates the relationship with God through Christ of one who has been justified by the expression “in Christ,” meaning a personal relationship with Christ (Rom. 8:1; etc.). Thus, believers are sons of God by virtue of their faith (Gal. 3:26). They live, metaphorically, within Christ, and literally within the orbit of His will. Justification is never attained by presumed works of merit, whether those prescribed by the law of Moses or by ecclesiastical legislation or by personal choice. “A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16; cf. Gal. 3:11). Justification is not an objective relation to a legal system of ethics, with the expectation of thereby meriting and obtaining divine approval and award (see Rom. 4:6–8; 5:17–19). The one who stands justified shall be eternally saved from wrath at Christ’s second coming (Rom. 5:9, 10). God credits us with the life of perfect obedience our Lord lived on earth.

Justification carries with it the gift of peace with God (Rom. 5:1); it prepares the way for sanctification and glorification. Justification is ever a means to an end, not an end in itself. Paul sometimes uses the word “reconciled” to signify an experience similar to that of being “justified” (Rom. 5:10, 11). Unless God did something to change our status, He would be obliged to treat us as enemies.

The Seventh-day Adventist view of justification was set forth by James White in a Review and Herald editorial in 1869, in which he wrote: “How shall man be just with God? Or to speak still more definitely, how shall a sinner become just in God’s sight? There is but one answer that can be returned to this. His is clearly the case of that class who are justified by faith without works. But how shall the man who is thus justified maintain his justification before God? By faith which produces good works. His justification is therefore, maintained as James insists, by faith and works” (34:16, July 6, 1869).

To one who misunderstood the Seventh-day Adventist position Uriah Smith replied: “Who claims that we are to be justified by the deeds of the law? We certainly do not. Justification by faith is our sole dependence, and ever has been. . . . Do you believe you have liberty now to commit any of the sins forbidden by the ten commandments? You do not; neither do we. Do you expect to be justified by faith while living in the commission of those sins? You would not. Neither do we. This is the real question in this matter; and in this we are agreed” (ibid. 37:140, Apr. 18, 1871).

Of the relationship between justification and obedience D. M. Canright wrote: “The Gospel is not given to succeed the law, but to save men from their sins, the violations of the law. Hence faith in Christ and obedience to the commandments of God should always go together. . . . Be it understood, then, that we are not seeking to be justified by the law, but by faith, as was Abraham, Rom. 4:1–4; and yet we keep God’s law as did Abraham the father of the faithful” (ibid. 43:106, Mar. 17, 1874).

Ellen White has described justification in these words: “If you give yourself to Him [Christ], and accept Him as your Saviour, then, sinful as your life may have been, for His sake you are accounted righteous, Christ’s character stands in place of your character, and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned” (SC 62).

“The righteousness by which we are justified is imputed; the righteousness by which we are sanctified is imparted. The first is our title to heaven, the second is our fitness for heaven” (MYP 35).

“When the sinner believes that Christ is his personal Saviour, then, according to His unfailing promises, God pardons his sin, and justifies him freely. The repentant soul realizes that his justification comes because Christ, as his substitute and surety, has died for him, is his atonement and righteousness” (1SM 367).

Seventh-day Adventists believe in justification by faith alone, but also that those who have been justified by faith will aspire to make the perfection of Christ as reflected in the moral law their own pattern of life and conduct-not as a means to justification but as a result of it, out of dedicated appreciation for His infinite gift of love (John 15:10). See also Faith and Works; Law; Lawand Grace; New Birth; Righteousness by Faith; Sanctification.