Discipleship 203: Conversion and Justification

I. Conversation

A. Calling Hearers of the Gospel

Conversion

Ephesians 1:1–14 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and thi…”

Salvation Begins with God’s Call. The Son purchased salvation. The Spirit applies and seals salvation.

Acts 15:3 “So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.”

Romans 10:9–10 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Reformed Dogmatics (Chapter 3: Conversion) by Geerhardus Vos

It is active: that act of God by which He turns the regenerate man in his consciousness to Himself by faith and repentance. It is passive: that conscious act of the regenerate man in which by God’s grace he turns to God in repentance and faith.

Repentance and Faith = Conversion

Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,”

Acts 20:21 “testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Samuel 7:3 “And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.””

1 Kings 8:33 ““When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and if they turn again to you and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house,”

c. Change of mind or conscience

Being converted does not mean simply going from one direction of consciousness to another so far as the intellect, will, and emotions are concerned. It means, in doing this, that at the same time there is present in the new direction of intellect, will, and emotions a conscious aversion to the former direction.

Titus 1:15 “To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.”

Romans 14:5 “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.”

When one changes his nous, this means more than receiving new knowledge, new concepts, and a new conscious content. The direction, the quality of his conscious life is changed. While previously all his thinking and endeavoring moved apart from God and something else stood in the center, now it is so reversed that it moves around God and for God, and He comes to stand in the center.

Intellect

The unconverted consciousness finds itself entangled in a world of erroneous concepts. For that person, God’s truth is not the highest reality. His train of thought does not revolve around God. Through conversion, that becomes different. The consciousness, insofar as it involves thinking, loses its worldly sinful independence and submits to the wisdom of God.

2 Timothy 2:25 “correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,”

Will

In the conscious willing of the unconverted there is an impulse that is active against God and self-seeking. In the conscious volition of the converted there is an impulse that is active toward God and away from himself. The will was first turned away from God and is now converted to God.

Acts 8:22 “Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.”

Hebrews 6:1 “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,”

iii. Emotions

While for the unconverted the spiritual things of God are an arid desert, for the converted they become a source of lively delight. While formerly the reality of the relationship to which he stood toward God left him cold and indifferent, his heart now reacts immediately to it.

2 Corinthians 7:9–10 “As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.”

B. Repentance

Definition

Repentance points exclusively to the negative, retrospective side of conversion.

Be Sorrowful, to be concerned about something afterwards

Sorrow that leads to salvation not sorrow that leads to feeling sorry for one’s situation or regret one’s salvation.

Any gospel that never speaks of repentance is not the authentic gospel.

Acts 5:31 “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”

Repentance in the Christian Life

Turning to Christ in an act of saving faith

John the Baptist’s Ministry: Preparing the way of the Lord

Matthew 3:8“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”

Matthew 3:11 ““I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Jesus’s Ministry

Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.””

Luke 5:32 “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.””

Luke 24:47 “and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

Mark 1:14–15 “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.””

Ongoing life of Christian discipleship

Martin Luther’s 95 Theses (Thesis 1)

Thesis 1: Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite, willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.

Biblical Support

2 Chronicles 7:14 “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Jonah 3:1–10 “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone tur…”

Matthew 3:2 ““Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”” Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.””

Acts 2:38 “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Luke 3:8 “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

C. Faith

Definition

belief and personal trust.

Psalm 13:5 “But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.”

Psalm 28:7 “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.”

Personal relationship

Psalm 57:1 “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.”

Reformed Dogmatics (Chapter 4: Faith)

Faith is an acceptance as true by which we do not rest in ourselves but in the testimony of another. With some reflection it will be apparent that our entire human society, all spiritual communion with others, and by far the greater part of our thinking and acting rests on faith.

There is an object of saving faith. Therefore faith is understanding of the person and work of Christ to provide salvation.

John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Romans 10:9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Assenting to one’s need for forgiveness, as well as a decision to trust Christ to personally save.

Knowledge, Assent, and Trust

James 2:19 “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”

Isaiah 40:31 “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

John 3:33 “Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.”

Genesis 15:6 “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

Conviction based on trust of a person. That someone is trustworthy. It presupposes a personal relationship with him whom one trusts, a sharing of life, a forsaking of oneself and resting in another.

Instrumental cause in our justification

the act of faith.

In no respect does faith as an act or deed have the power to justify us. We need the righteousness of Christ, to be imputed to us, because we are defiled by sin.

what we know, what truth we assent to, what person we trust

Faith treasures Christ

Faith consists of knowledge, assent, and trust

Chair

exists, holds you, and you sit down.

The principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting in Christ alone. (WCF 14:2)

Faith rests in Christ and receives blessing from all that he has accomplished for our sake.

Biblical Support

Genesis 15:6 “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

Romans 4:9 “Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.”

Romans 4:22 “That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.””

Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

F. Religious Affections

Religion is the binding or reattachment of man to God.

“True religion, in large part, consists of holy affections.”

Matthew 13:20–21 “As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.”

Hebrews 6:4–10 “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.”

1 John 2:18–19 “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”

Different Types of Faith

Historical Faith

Acts 26:27–28 “King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?””

James 2:19 “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”

Faith of miracles

John 2:23–25 “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”

Temporary Faith

Mark 4:16–19 “And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”

Justifying Faith

WLC 72

Justifying faith is a saving grace1, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit2 and Word of God3, whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition4, not only assents to the truth of the promise of the gospel5, but receives and rests upon Christ and his righteousness, therein held forth, for pardon of sin6, and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation.

Hebrews 10:392 Corinthians 4:13; Ephesians 1:17-19Romans 10:14; Romans 10:17Acts 2:37; Acts 16:30; John 16:8-9; Romans 5:6; Ephesians 2:1; Acts 4:12Ephesians 1:13John 1:12; Acts 16:31; Acts 10:43Philippians 3:9; Acts 15:11

True Faith

Historic Creeds and Confessions (Question 21)

True faith is not only a certain knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in his word, but also an assured confidence,b which the Holy Ghost works by the gospel in my heart;d that not only to others, but to me also, remission of sin, everlasting righteousness and salvation, are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ’s merits.

Jesus is the object of this trust of faith.

John Owens “The Doctrine of Justification by Faith”

the Mediator as ordained by God in His mediatorial work for the salvation of lost sinners and as presented for that end in the promise of the gospel”

Ephesians 3:12 “in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.”

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

G. God’s Glory

The act of God by which He turns the regenerate man in his conscience to Himself by faith and repentance.

Election, Regeneration, Conversion

Conversion is the direct consequence of effectual calling.

Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

E. Human Responsibility

Humans passively make conscious act after regeneration in which by God’s grace they turn to God in repentance and faith.

Acts 2:38 “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 10:9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

G. Free Grace Society

II. Justification

A. Definition

B. Forgiveness of Sins

C. Imputation

Alien righteousness

Actual Righteousness

D. The Ground and Appropriation

a. Grace of God

provision of the work of Christ

Christ is the source of salvation.

Holy Spirit is the agent of salvation.

b. Faith in Christ

reception of the gift of salvation

Faith is the instrument of salvation.

E. Protestant Reformation

a. Justification by God’s grace alone through faith alone by the work of Christ alone according to Scripture alone.

b. Five Solas

c. Catholics view justification as an infusion of grace by means of the seven sacraments.

Transformative process rather than a declaration

never-ending transformation of character without any assurance that one is sufficiently righteous to be justified before God.

F. New Perspective

a. God’s own covenant faithfulness to his promises

b. Identifying the true members of the covenant community

G. Why is this important?

a. Assurance of Salvation

b. Sufficiency of Christ’s work