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life. Being a direct effect of regeneration, it naturally includes a transition in the operations of
the new life from the subconscious to the conscious life. In view of this it may be said that
conversion begins below consciousness, but that, as a completed act, it certainly falls within the
range of the conscious life. This brings out the close connection between regeneration and
conversion. A conversion that is not rooted in regeneration is no true conversion.
3. Conversion marks the conscious beginning, not only of the putting away of the old man, a
fleeing from sin, but also of the putting on of the new man, a striving for holiness of life. In
regeneration the sinful principle of the old life is already replaced by the holy principle of the
new life. But it is only in conversion that this transition penetrates into the conscious life,
turning it into a new and Godward direction. The sinner consciously forsakes the old sinful life
and turns to a life in communion with and devoted to God. This does not mean, however, that
the struggle between the old and the new is at once ended; it will continue as long as man lives.
4. If we take the word “conversion” in its most specific sense, it denotes a momentary change
and not a process like sanctification. It is a change that takes place once and that cannot be
repeated, though, as stated above, the Bible also speaks of the Christian’s return to God, after
he has fallen into sin, as conversion. It is the believer’s turning to God and holiness again, after
he has temporarily lost sight of these. In connection with regeneration we cannot possibly
speak of repetition; but in the conscious life of the Christian there are ups and downs, seasons
of close communion with God and seasons of estrangement from Him.
5. Over against those who think of conversion only as a definite crisis in life, it should be noted
that, while conversion may be such a sharply marked crisis, it may also be a very gradual
change. Older theology has always distinguished between sudden and gradual conversions (as
in the cases of Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and Timothy); and in our day the psychology of
conversion stresses the same distinction. Crisis conversions are most frequent in days of
religious declension, and in the lives of those who have not enjoyed the privileges of a real
religious education, and who have wandered far from the path of truth, of righteousness, and
of holiness.
6. Finally, in our day, in which many psychologists show an inclination to reduce conversion to a
general and natural phenomenon of the adolescent period of life, it becomes necessary to point
out that, when we speak of conversion, we have in mind a supernatural work of God, resulting
in a religious change. The psychologists sometimes intimate that conversion is but a natural
phenomenon by calling attention to the fact that sudden changes also occur in the intellectual
and moral life of man. Some of them hold that the emergence of the idea of sex plays an
important part in conversion. Over against this rationalistic and naturalistic tendency the
specific character of religious conversion must be maintained.