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The expressed or implied exhortations to turn about, found in Scripture, come only to those to
whom they are addressed and do not necessarily mean that every one must pass through a
conscious conversion, in order to be saved. The question as to the necessity of conversion
should be answered with discrimination. Those who die in infancy must be regenerated, in
order to be saved, but cannot very well experience conversion, a conscious turning from sin
unto God. In the case of adults, however, conversion is absolutely essential, but it need not
appear in each one’s life as a strongly marked crisis. Such a definite crisis can, as a rule, be
expected only in the lives of those who, after a life of sin and shame, are arrested in their evil
course by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit and by the effectual call to conversion. In
them the life of conscious enmity is at once transformed into a life of friendship with God. It
can hardly be looked for, however, in the lives of those who, like John the Baptist and Timothy,
served the Lord from early youth. At the same time, conversion is necessary in the case of all
adults in the sense that its elements, namely, repentance and faith must be present in their
lives. This means that they must in some form experience the essence of conversion.
H. RELATION OF CONVERSION TO OTHER STAGES OF THE SAVING PROCESS.
1. TO REGENERATION.
This has already been indicated to some extent. The two words
“regeneration” and “conversion” are used synonymously by some. Yet in present day theology
they generally refer to different, though closely related matters. The principle of the new life
implanted in regeneration comes into active expression in the conscious life of the sinner when
he is converted. The change that is effected in the subconscious life in regeneration passes into
the conscious life in conversion. Logically, conversion follows regeneration. In the case of those
who are regenerated in infancy, there is necessarily a temporal separation of the two, but in
the case of those who are regenerated after they have come to years of discretion, the two
generally coincide. In regeneration the sinner is entirely passive, but in conversion he is both
passive and active. The former can never be repeated, but the latter can to a certain extent,
though the conversio actualis prima occurs but once.
2. TO EFFECTUAL CALLING.
Conversion is the direct result of internal calling. As an effect in
man, internal calling and the beginning of conversion really coincide. The situation is not such
that God calls the sinner, and that then the sinner in his own strength turns to God. It is exactly
in the internal calling that man becomes conscious of the fact that God is working conversion in
him. The truly converted man will feel all along that his conversion is the work of God. This
distinguishes him from the man who aims at superficial moral improvement. The latter works in
his own strength.
3. TO FAITH.
As already indicated, conversion consists in repentance and faith, so that faith is
really a part of conversion. Yet we should distinguish here. There are two kinds of true faith,