What is conversion? Is it different than repentance, or different than faith? Does it include these things?
What is repentance? In my early twenties, I spent seven years in a liberal Protestant church where I never once heard the word "repentance" preached or explained. Is it important? What does repentance even mean? I grew up a Roman Catholic and was taught about "penance." Is this the same as repentance?
What is true faith? Before I was saved on December 5th, 2003, I would have stated that I had faith in God. Is there a type of faith that people have that does not save?
These are all very important questions. Perhaps they are some of the most important questions a person could ever ask in their lifetime. They deserve answers. These questions deserve answers that transcend religious dogma and traditional teachings, for these are arenas that can lead us to hell just as quickly and efficiently as irreligious dogma (such as atheism or agnosticism) can. Often, religion and irreligion both lead to the same pit of destruction. We need answers that come from God Himself. And thus, we turn to the Scriptures as our only true and authoritative guide.
On Conversion
In the New Testament, conversion is a turning back from sin to God. It denotes a radical change in someone’s life. It involves a turning from a non-God-centered life to a God-centered life; a turning from a self-centered life to a God-centered life; a turning from a sin-centered life to a God-centered life. Conversion involves a negative aspect (a turning from sin/self/idols/the world system) and a positive aspect (a turning to God in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit).
Regarding the Thessalonian believers, Paul wrote of “how [they] turned [epistrepho] to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thess. 1:9, ESV). Jesus told his disciples, “Truly I say to you, unless you turn [strepho] and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).
The Scriptures appear to teach that conversion includes the inseparable aspects of repentance and faith. When repentance (toward God) and faith (in Jesus Christ) are exercised in a saving manner, the person is converted and they are immediately born again (or “regenerated”) by the Spirit of God. John 1:12-13 states:
But to all who did receive [Christ], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Those who turn from their sin (repentance) and receive Christ by faith (which comes by the hearing of the Gospel, cf. Rom. 10:17) are thus “converted,” for conversion includes both repentance and faith.
On Repentance
The Greek word for repentance used in the New Testament is metanoia, which literally means a “change of mind.” This repentance, however, is “not just a change of inward disposition but a complete turn-about of one’s life, with all that such a re-direction implies of the need for God’s help on the one side and of ethical conduct on man’s side.”[1]
Thus, repentance is a recognition of the impending judgment of God upon the sinner for his or her transgressions. This is seen in Matt 3:11, where John the Baptist proclaims:
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.
Bruce Demarest states,
“I baptize you with water for repentance [en hydati eis metanoian]” is instructive. The preposition eis is causal and should be translated “because of.” Thus John’s baptism was a sign of prior repentance and a transformed [or “converted”] life. The rite of baptism itself was not the efficient cause of the recipient’s repentance or salvation.[2]
Demarest states that there are three essential aspects to true repentance: (1) an intellectual element that “understands God’s holiness, righteousness, and displeasure against sin”; (2) an emotional element “in which the penitent abhors sin and experiences godly sorrow and remorse” for the pain that it has caused God and others; and (3) a volitional element “which involves determination to forsake sins and amend one’s life” by the power of the Holy Spirit.[3]
Twice in Luke 13, the Lord Jesus commands sinners to repent: “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (vv. 3, 5). The Lord here speaks of “that initial act by which sinners enter into the Christian life.”[4] Repentance is absolutely essential to salvation, and cannot be separated or eliminated from the conversion experience. If repentance has not occurred, salvation has not occurred.
Finally, repentance is not to be confused with "penance," which is a Roman Catholic tradition wherein you work off your own sins through religious works. A true repentant spirit recognizes the truth that the only place of atonement for sins is at the cross of Jesus Christ, and not through the religious deeds of a fallen human being, no matter how sincere those deeds may be. Penance places the sinner into a position of being his or her own savior, or at the least, a co-savior with Christ. Either position is anti-Christ in that it places a measure of trust in the sinner's ability to save him- or herself. A misplaced sincerity is not the measure of repentance. A full and resolute Spirit-aided turning to Christ is the one and only measure of repentance.
On Faith
There is a faith in God that does not save. The Lord’s brother James speaks of this type of “dead” faith in James 2. He draws a comparison between those who have a “dead” or merely intellectual type of faith to the type of belief that demons possess:
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe – and shudder! (Jam. 2:19)
James’ purpose is to highlight the fact that someone who professes to have true saving faith will live their life in a way that clearly betrays this inner reality. There is no such thing as a “closet” Christian. A true believer’s lifestyle of good works will “justify” them (2:24) in the sight of the world by publicly declaring that they are right with God, having been saved by the Spirit’s power at a point in time in his or her past. In contrast, the lifestyle of one who has never been converted will show no spiritual fruit, revealing that their faith is, in fact, “dead” and powerless to save them (2:14, 26).[5]
According to Demarest, a true saving faith rests upon the following foundations: (1) knowledge (notitia in Latin) of Christ’s person and saving work as revealed in the Gospel message.
The object of faith determines its character and saving efficacy; a vague and unspecified faith (e.g., “I believe”) avails for naught. Scripture allows for degrees of faith (Rom. 14:1). But the minimum beliefs one must [be aware of] for salvation include Christ’s coming in human flesh, his atoning death, and his resurrection from the grave.[6]
Demarest states that (2) emotional assent (assensus in Latin) to the heart realities of the Gospel message must be present as well.
To become a Christian, one must assent from the heart to the realities of Jesus’ atoning death, resurrection, and divine lordship (Rom. 10:9)…. Correct beliefs must be followed by assent to their personal relevance…. Knowledge of the mind must be followed by knowledge of the heart (Col. 1:9-10).[7]
Finally, saving faith must include (3) “wholehearted trust and commitment” (fiducia in Latin). “This aspect of faith involves cleaving to Christ”[8] as one would cleave to his or her life partner in a marriage ceremony (Matt. 19:5; Eph. 5:31-32). There are many who know about Christ, but who do not know Him in a saving, personal, and committed way. It is about these ones that our Lord gives the following rebuke in Matt. 7:21-23:
Not everyone who says to me “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”
Concluding Thoughts
It is vital that we not separate repentance from faith and faith from repentance. If this occurs, the result is that we are left with something that is less than the New Testament understanding of conversion. Preachers who preach a Gospel that does not include repentance are preaching something other than a New Testament Gospel, and should be rebuked and/or separated from. Demarest states:
The two [repentance and faith] are interdependent responses, each incomplete without the other. Thus conversion involves both a believing repentance and a penitent faith. True repentance requires belief, and full-orbed faith requires a repentant spirit. It is psychologically impossible to believe in the biblical sense without a broken, penitent spirit that renounces sin. Likewise, it is equally impossible to repent properly without assent to the imperatives of God’s word. As stated by [John] Murray, “It is impossible to disentangle faith and repentance. Saving faith is permeated with repentance and repentance is permeated with faith.”… Repentance and faith are two aspects of the unified experience of conversion.[9]
[1] Hugh Anderson, The Gospel of Mark, NCBC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), 70.
[2] Bruce Demarest, The Cross and Salvation: The Doctrine of Salvation, Foundations of Evangelical Theology, ed. by John S. Feinberg (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1997), 252.
[3] Demarest, 254.
[4] Demarest, 255.
[5] I find it of no little significance that the entire context of James’ exhortation is professing Christians’ ill treatment and disregard of the poor. Considering how relatively few evangelical Christians (as a percentage) are involved in mercy ministry to the poor as a regular part of their life, I am forced to wonder how many of these in our day also have a “dead” faith.
[9] Demarest, 264.
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