Nature of conversion

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True repentance results in a turning from sin and an inner renewal which can only be brought about by God, who draws people to himself and who, through Jesus Christ, gives forgiveness and new life.

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Conversion as turning to God

True repentance results in a turning from sin and an inner renewal which can only be brought about by God, who draws people to himself and who, through Jesus Christ, gives forgiveness and new life.

Turning back to God

Dt 4:30–31; Lk 1:16–17

Deuteronomy 4:30–31 NASB95

“When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. “For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.

See also Dt 30:2–3; Dt 30:10; Lk 22:32; Jas 5:19–20

Turning from idolatry

Acts 14:15 NASB95

and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

See also 1 Sa 7:3; Je 3:12–13; Je 4:1–2; 1 Th 1:9–10

Turning from sinful ways

2 Ki 17:13–14; Is 55:6–7

2 Kings 17:13–14 NASB95

Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah through all His prophets and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets.” However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God.

See also 2 Ki 13:11; 2 Ki 14:24; 2 Ki 15:9; Je 18:11; Je 25:5; Eze 18:23; Da 9:13

Conversion as a turning away from unbelief to faith

It is linked to repentance

Acts 3:19 NASB95

“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;

It is linked to coming to faith

Acts 11:21 NASB95

And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.

Conversion brings new life

It results in a transformed life

2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB95

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

See also Ro 12:2; 2 Co 3:18; Ga 6:14–15

It is symbolised in baptism

Romans 6:3–4 NASB95

Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

It demands a new lifestyle

Ho 12:6; Mt 18:3–4

Matthew 18:3–4 NASB95

and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

See also Ga 5:22–24; Eph 4:1; Eph 5:8–11; 1 Pe 2:11–12

Conversion brings a new relationship with God

It brings a new status

Galatians 4:7 NASB95

Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

See also Ga 3:26–29; 1 Jn 3:1; 1 Pe 2:9–10

It brings a new understanding

2 Corinthians 3:15–16 NASB95

But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

Conversion is a work of God

God turns people to himself

Je 24:7; La 5:21

Jeremiah 24:7 NASB95

‘I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.

See also 1 Ki 8:58; Je 31:18; Eze 36:26–27; Jn 6:44; Jn 15:16; Eph 2:12–13

God gives new birth

James 1:17–18 NASB95

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.