Conversions Of The New Testament
(Picture courtesy http://www.forestwander.com)
The following is a portion of Appendix 4 from this authors book, “What Is Life all About?” albeit there is more clarity in this new version.
CONVERSIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
THERE IS MUCH Confusion brought by man regarding what God requires for conversion. It is the purpose of this document to explain this most important process. Before we begin detailing the process and showing the instances of conversions in the New Testament, we need to clarify the Bible use of the word conversion or being converted.
The Meaning of Conversion
It might be better if instead of conversions (of the New Testament), I used salvation’s (of the New Testament) or being-born-again events (of the New Testament) or translations from kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God (of the New Testament) or forgiveness of past sins (of the New Testament). Actually all of these words are valid depictions describing what God had in mind to achieve His purpose in relation to the success of souls. The idea of conversion implies turning or being changed. Conversion is ESSENTIAL as Matthew 18.3 and Acts 3.19 indicate.
Matthew 18.3
Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Acts 3.19
Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.
The Bible definition of converted is “to turn” and thus portrays an active requirement on the part of the person involved. Specifically in the verses above, it is a “voluntary act in response to the presentation of truth” [Vines Expository Dictionary Of New Testament words]. Figuratively as used in Matthew 18.3, conversion is turning one thing into another. Specifically, turning a person living amidst sin to one that rejects sin. The suggestion in Matthew 18.3 is that little children are more open to something different, even more humble to what is taught. They have not yet incorporated pride into their lives.
God’s plan of reconciliation requires you do something, and since there is sin, you cannot be reconciled. You are going to have to change or turn (your decision) away from sin. When you obey all that God requires for the forgiveness of sins; God will then change you, translate you to the kingdom of His Son. Jesus Himself adding you to His spiritual body, the church.
The Road To Heaven In Its Commands
Is A Change Process
In addition to the whole conversion process being a turning, the command to repent is very specifically turning away from sin in your life. In the process of conversion you have turned and thus been converted, been saved, been born again, been translated into the kingdom of God, had your past sins forgiven. God validates your actions and thus your conversion. Therefore, in the mind of God, you are a son of God. In this sense, valid conversion occurs in the mind of God. Only God knows your heart, and that is why you may wrongly think you are converted. You cannot fool God. Perhaps you have no real intention of giving up certain sins, and/or perhaps you have real doubts that Jesus is God’s Son. Yes, we can even fool ourselves, so we truly need to be dedicated to our commitment in order to be certain we are in the desired state.
In John 3.5-8, Jesus describes the requirement for entering the kingdom of God as being born again and compares it to the wind blowing in that you cannot see where it comes from or where it goes.
John 3.5-8
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
This is an aspect of being born of the Spirit. You cannot see the result of your turning, but by faith, you know it happened in the mind of God if indeed you have not fooled yourself. You have turned or changed in the following ways and at each step God validates your actions and you become a son of God. The commands in the conversion process are as follows:
• Believe: You turn from not believing Jesus to be the Son of God to believing.
• Confess: Your verbal confession of Jesus as God’s Son outwardly demonstrates your commitment.
• Repent. What is repentance? Repentance is not being sorry, although godly sorrow leads to repentance. Repentance occurs when you change your mind about sin, about its seriousness and demonstrate that by TURNING from sin previously in your life. Repentance must occur to avoid failing in life. If there is no valid repentance a person will not be added to the body of Christ.
Luke 13:3
I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
Since believing and repentance are apparently not seen nonetheless they are clearly seen in their sincerity or lack thereof by God. The Lord will only add those with good hearts to His body.
• Baptism: You take the action God prescribes in baptism and have your sins forgiven. Namely, buried with Him in baptism (buried in a watery grave) dying to your sins and rising to a new life having your past sins forgiven. The gospel can be thought of as the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus per 1 Corinthians 15.1-4. Appropriately, when the scriptures require you obey the gospel that can be thought of as obeying the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. It is in this last step of conversion that your sins are forgiven, and you arise a new person without sin.
Romans 6.3,4
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
There is no other place in the scriptures where your sins are forgiven. None of the other steps (believe, confessing Jesus, or repenting) are associated with your sins being forgiven.
You have voluntarily turned in obedience, and in this last step, God translates you from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His Son. You become a child of God and in this process Jesus is fulfilling His declaration from Matthew 16.18 that He would build His church, His Spiritual Church – the body of Christ and it appears He is building it one obedient soul at a time.
The terminology used to describe one who has been added to the body of Christ can be called being “in Christ.” Those saints in Galatia are told “Christ lives in them” (Galatians 2.20) and in Galatians 3.26,27 they are “sons of God” and have “put on Christ.”
Galatians 3.26,27
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Summary
Conversion is the process of turning or changing, and the result of a successful turning is to become a child of God. In the process, there are different ways of describing the result provided by God, and they include, “being saved, being translated into the kingdom of God, having your past sins forgiven, being born again, having put on Christ, being in the body of Christ.” You are a child of God and headed for heaven if you persevere.
Simplifying, to become a child of God; believe, confess, repent, and be baptized. This list can be misleading if thought of as a casual step-by-step process. You need to understand each step and it is not difficult, but the required commitment needs to be understood. Specifically the commitment related to believing (living for Christ and the gospel) and repenting (not allowing sin to enter your life). The word convert helps our understanding in that it emphasizes action on your part, a turning from something to something else.
God’s requirements for conversion and actual conversions
The fundamental dilemma with conversion is that over history people have taken what they want from scripture and called it conversion. The process of salvation or we might say to receiving forgiveness of past sins follows on this page but is alluded to throughout this book. Very simply we need to do all that God requires for conversion. In the various conversions of the New Testament, we will see portions of what God requires mentioned and portions not mentioned in specific cases. By faith (or even by reasoning or necessary inference) we understand everything that God requires was included when a person became a child of God. So many people want to take John 3.16 as the whole of the Gospel. John 3.16 is a part of the Gospel but does not contain all you must do (although all you must do is contained in the idea of believing, i.e., a person who truly believes in Jesus will do all the Savior says and for the reason He says).
The table, “Conversions Of The New Testament” that follows lists the steps required to become a child of God and which steps are specifically mentioned for each conversion. The process of conversion as God has revealed is a series of steps needed to establish a relationship with His Son. Each step has an individual meaning, and in totality, you become a child of God. As previously mentioned taking these steps casually without understanding can be misleading. Thus each step will receive a little more explanation. Of course there needs to be an introduction to the truth and that comes from hearing or reading the truth, or we might say the gospel message. The process begins with faith and specifically believing in Jesus, what He did, and why, which is the central theme for conversion. Confessing Christ before man as God’s Son (the Savior) is required in order to have Jesus acknowledge you before the Father.
Repentance signifies your willingness and really your agreement to change your life from one where sin was a part of your life to a life where you no longer transgress the law of God. Finally, in baptism, there is a dying to sin (burial in water) and a rising (out of the water) to a new life being born again spiritually. You understand by faith that in baptism, you did a great deal more than get wet. You took advantage of what Christ did in His death, burial, and resurrection for you. He is truly the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (Hebrews 5.9). Now You have obeyed Him, and as the Bible states in 1 Peter 3.21, “There is also an antitype* which now saves us, namely, baptism [not the removal of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God], through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
* the earlier type of Noah and his family who were saved by water foreshadowed the antitype, [baptism].
God has provided in the process of conversion something so beautiful in its simplicity, in its thoroughness, and in its meaning. It perfectly encompasses faith (belief and action), love (response to what God has done for man), and hope (a new life, a relationship with God now and potentially on into eternity) as one correctly responds to the will of God.
Conversions Of The New Testament
The following chart presents what was recorded in relation to these twelve conversions of the New Testament.
Calling On The Name Of The Lord
**The term, “calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22.16) does not necessarily mean that this is an example of one confessing Jesus before men. I grant it might include this, but this phraseology carries much more significance. Colossians 3.17 says, “And [whatever] you do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Doing all things in the name of Jesus does not mean continuously speaking the name of Jesus, but that we should do all things religiously by the authority of Christ. So when we read Acts 2.21, “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (or the same verse in Romans 10.13), we understand Jesus as Lord and accept the validity of His commandments (and do them) in relation to salvation. Both Acts 2.21 and Romans 10.13 have their origin (that is the same phraseology) in Joel 2.32. The passage in Joel points forward in history to what happened in Acts 2 and the beginning of the church (kingdom). Thus, “calling on the name of the Lord” contains the commands of God delivered that day for salvation. Furthermore, it would be no surprise to have Ananias in Acts 22.16 telling Saul (Paul) to “arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” For it is truly by Christ’s obedient death on the cross that men can have their sins forgiven (by baptism) as they participate with Christ in that form of doctrine (the death, burial, and resurrection). Therefore, in summary, calling on the name of the Lord is not a “yelling out” of His Name but recognition of Jesus and His authority relative to salvation. You in effect “call on the Name of the Lord” when you obey the gospel.
About Confessing Jesus
Another distinction needs to be made regarding the table above relative to the confess column. Confess refers to confessing Jesus before men and this is first mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 10.32, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.” Except for the clarifications just made for “calling on the name of the Lord,” no conversions relative to “confess” are specifically mentioned as part of a conversion.
However, in Acts 8, the Ethiopian verbally acknowledges Jesus as the Christ in verse 37. There are also indications of this “confessing” of Jesus in three other conversions. It is possible that “magnifying God” of Acts 10.46 and “having believed in God” of Acts 16.34 and “believed on the Lord” of Acts 18.8 included the confessing of Jesus before men. This requirement that God has placed as part of salvation is the part that allows Jesus to confess you before the Father (Matthew 10.32). It is a requirement that is so closely tied to believing that it may be hard to distinguish. For example, if one is asked, “do you believe Jesus is the Christ the Son of God” and they respond yes, that would fulfill the requirement of confessing Jesus before men. A Christian should never be ashamed of Christ, but is always ready to confess Jesus as Lord. God, of course, knows the heart of each man; but it seems that in this matter, God wants man to “say it.” This is not a matter to be timid or shy about, even if that is your normal character. Many notable Bible characters were naturally apprehensive and reserved, such as Moses, Peter, and even Paul; but in God’s plan, they could not remain that way. Certainly, the process of becoming all you can be in service to the Lord is one of growth, and the starting point is your conversion. It is the beginning of you standing on your own two feet in service to God. The conversion process even in its simplicity necessitates humility, courage, and commitment.
As a result of a love of what men/women have taught, the truth from God has been missed and thus essentially all who think themselves Christian are not.
Most Christians are not Christians
Helpful reading: Protestant Movement
Is A Change Process
In John 3.5-8, Jesus describes the requirement for entering the kingdom of God as being born again and compares it to the wind blowing in that you cannot see where it comes from or where it goes.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
• Believe: You turn from not believing Jesus to be the Son of God to believing.
• Confess: Your verbal confession of Jesus as God’s Son outwardly demonstrates your commitment.
• Repent. What is repentance? Repentance is not being sorry, although godly sorrow leads to repentance. Repentance occurs when you change your mind about sin, about its seriousness and demonstrate that by TURNING from sin previously in your life. Repentance must occur to avoid failing in life. If there is no valid repentance a person will not be added to the body of Christ.
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
You have voluntarily turned in obedience, and in this last step, God translates you from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His Son. You become a child of God and in this process Jesus is fulfilling His declaration from Matthew 16.18 that He would build His church, His Spiritual Church – the body of Christ and it appears He is building it one obedient soul at a time.
The terminology used to describe one who has been added to the body of Christ can be called being “in Christ.” Those saints in Galatia are told “Christ lives in them” (Galatians 2.20) and in Galatians 3.26,27 they are “sons of God” and have “put on Christ.”
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Simplifying, to become a child of God; believe, confess, repent, and be baptized. This list can be misleading if thought of as a casual step-by-step process. You need to understand each step and it is not difficult, but the required commitment needs to be understood. Specifically the commitment related to believing (living for Christ and the gospel) and repenting (not allowing sin to enter your life). The word convert helps our understanding in that it emphasizes action on your part, a turning from something to something else.
The table, “Conversions Of The New Testament” that follows lists the steps required to become a child of God and which steps are specifically mentioned for each conversion. The process of conversion as God has revealed is a series of steps needed to establish a relationship with His Son. Each step has an individual meaning, and in totality, you become a child of God. As previously mentioned taking these steps casually without understanding can be misleading. Thus each step will receive a little more explanation. Of course there needs to be an introduction to the truth and that comes from hearing or reading the truth, or we might say the gospel message. The process begins with faith and specifically believing in Jesus, what He did, and why, which is the central theme for conversion. Confessing Christ before man as God’s Son (the Savior) is required in order to have Jesus acknowledge you before the Father.
Repentance signifies your willingness and really your agreement to change your life from one where sin was a part of your life to a life where you no longer transgress the law of God. Finally, in baptism, there is a dying to sin (burial in water) and a rising (out of the water) to a new life being born again spiritually. You understand by faith that in baptism, you did a great deal more than get wet. You took advantage of what Christ did in His death, burial, and resurrection for you. He is truly the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (Hebrews 5.9). Now You have obeyed Him, and as the Bible states in 1 Peter 3.21, “There is also an antitype* which now saves us, namely, baptism [not the removal of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God], through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
* the earlier type of Noah and his family who were saved by water foreshadowed the antitype, [baptism].
God has provided in the process of conversion something so beautiful in its simplicity, in its thoroughness, and in its meaning. It perfectly encompasses faith (belief and action), love (response to what God has done for man), and hope (a new life, a relationship with God now and potentially on into eternity) as one correctly responds to the will of God.
Conversions Of The New Testament
However, in Acts 8, the Ethiopian verbally acknowledges Jesus as the Christ in verse 37. There are also indications of this “confessing” of Jesus in three other conversions. It is possible that “magnifying God” of Acts 10.46 and “having believed in God” of Acts 16.34 and “believed on the Lord” of Acts 18.8 included the confessing of Jesus before men. This requirement that God has placed as part of salvation is the part that allows Jesus to confess you before the Father (Matthew 10.32). It is a requirement that is so closely tied to believing that it may be hard to distinguish. For example, if one is asked, “do you believe Jesus is the Christ the Son of God” and they respond yes, that would fulfill the requirement of confessing Jesus before men. A Christian should never be ashamed of Christ, but is always ready to confess Jesus as Lord. God, of course, knows the heart of each man; but it seems that in this matter, God wants man to “say it.” This is not a matter to be timid or shy about, even if that is your normal character. Many notable Bible characters were naturally apprehensive and reserved, such as Moses, Peter, and even Paul; but in God’s plan, they could not remain that way. Certainly, the process of becoming all you can be in service to the Lord is one of growth, and the starting point is your conversion. It is the beginning of you standing on your own two feet in service to God. The conversion process even in its simplicity necessitates humility, courage, and commitment.
As a result of a love of what men/women have taught, the truth from God has been missed and thus essentially all who think themselves Christian are not.
Helpful reading: Protestant Movement
