References in the Apostolic Fathers to the con- version of unbelievers are surprisingly few. These writers are rather concerned to hold a high ethical standard before their readers. Clement of Rome speaks of those who have been called through His will in Christ Jesus as being justified through faith (xxxii. ), and constantly emphasizes the need of repentance. The Didache makes no reference to the conversion of outsiders as such, though one would think that the members of the Church must have regarded the exhortations of the ' Two Ways ' as more applicable to outsiders than to themselves. Barnabas, who, like the Didache, quotes the ' Two Ways,' speaks of the apostles as ' those who preached unto us the forgiveness of sins' (viii.); refers to the time before belief on God, ' when the abode of our heart was corrupt and weak, a temple truly built with hands ' (xvi. ) ; and adds the signifi- cant passage : ' He that desireth to be saved looketh not to the man, but to Him that dwelleth and speaketh in him, being amazed at this that he has never at any time heard these words from the mouth of the speaker, nor himself ever desired to hear them ' (ib. ).
i. ConYersion is from heathenism. — This is the great difference in the use of the term in the NT from that in the OT and in much of our modem religious phraseology. All the NT converts had
definitely broken with their old surroundings. The language of the NT is the language of the first stage in the history of a missionary church. In the OT even sinners are for the most part members of the chosen nation ; the prophets call the people back to a holiness which they are re- garded as having previously lost. Even Ezekiel, who alone seems to regard the history of Israel as one of disobedience from the beginning, feels that the nation has somehow been in touch with Jahweh all along. In our own times, the majoritj- of con- verts have been brought up in a more or less Christian atmosphere ; there has been a lengthened period of suggestion followed at last by a decision. Even where conversion seems most sudden, much teaching has often preceded. NT preaching was very different. To the Jews, it occasioned an in- tellectual shock, for the most part at first highly resented (Ac 7*^^-). With Gentiles this was even more definitely the case. The shock was moral and social as well. To the Jews, a great deal of the morality of the apostolic preaching would be familiar, especially the emphasis upon personal purity in speech and conduct ; and the Jews, in the Gentile world, were already a distinct community (cf. the Rabbinic treatise, Aboda Zara) like the Christians in India. For the Gentiles, that preach- ing demanded a complete renunciation of their existing habits, friendships, moral ideas, and often of their business (cf. 1 Co 10-*^- ; and Tert. de Idol. — equally true a century before he wrote). Stan- ley's well-known description of baptism, as symbol- izing the definite rupture with one society and the identification with another, is far more true of the 1st cent, than of any other {ChHstian Institutions*, London, 1884, ch. i.).
5. ConYersion and baptism. — The new convert was not, indeed, regarded as being perfect from his conversion onwards. His morals might be very de- ficient (Eph 4-8, 6 kX^tttui'), and there was much need of teaching (cf. the emphasis laid on this point in the Pastorals). There must have been a large number of ' babes in Christ.' But the practice of modem missionaries in delaying baptism was un- known in early times. Baptism followed the pro- fession of belief (Ac 2^'), and, as soon as belief and repentance were professed, the convert was felt to have broken with the old life (2^^ and S'^- 38). Often both belief and repentance are only implied in the actual narratives (2^ 16'^).
6. ConYersion, repentance, belief. — Baptism (q.v.) is then the seal (<T(ppdyis) of repentance and conversion, the sign of admission to the new society which is the Body of Christ. Yet this never takes place without a change of heart ; so much so that in the NT baptism of children is apparently never referred to (the meaning of 'household,' 1 Co 1'^, is dubious). Here again it must be re- membered that the NT nowhere deals with a long- established church, or with the questions which would naturally arise in one. But where baptism has not been preceded by a real conversion, the writers speak in no uncertain tone (cf. the case of Simon Magus, Ac 8®). What tlien is the relation of conversion to repentance ? They are twice men- tioned together (Ac 3^® and 26-°) ; repentance comes first in both cases : repentance {fj-erdvoLa, change of mental attitude), it has been suggested, expresses the ethical aspect of the process, conversion the spiritual ; or they may be called the negative and positive aspects. But they cannot be separated. If there is a turning from (repentance), there must be a turning to (conversion). Sometimes the initial impulse A\Til be dislike for the old (cf. Starbuck and Hadley, ut infra), or the goodness of God will be felt as leading to repentance (Ro 2* ; cf. Ezk 36*'). But the two are parts of one process. The same thing must be said of belief. For belief is nothing