CONVERSION.
Exegetical Basis of the Doctrine (§ 1).
History of the Doctrine (§ 2).
Dogmatic Expression of the Doctrine (§ 3).
Conversion (Lat. conversio, Gk. epistrophe, the noun only in Acts xv. 3) denotes both the act in which man turns again to God and the divine activity by virtue of which this takes place. Dogmaticians differentiate the latter, as conversio transitiva, from the former, the conversio intransitiva.
The New Testament terms which express the idea of conversion are epistrephein and metanoein or metanoia (cf. Acts iii. 19, xxvi. 20). The corresponding term in the Old Testament is shubh (e.g., Isa. i. 27, x. 21; Jer. iii. 12, 14,22; II Chron. vi. 24). In New Testament usage the word epistrephein as a rule denotes the deed by which a person turns from idols, or evil, to God (Acts xiv. 15, cf. XV. 19, xxvi. 18, 20; I Thess. i. 9; I Sam. vii. 3); or to the Lord (Acts ix. 35; II Cor. iii. 16; cf. also I Pet. ii. 25). In the same sense the expression is used absolutely (Luke xxii. 32; Acts xxviii. 27). According to Acts the conversion is effected through the preaching of the Gospel;
I. Exeget- it consists in man's turning away from
ical Basis darkness and evil and toward God. If of the in the passages cited the word epistre-
Doctrine. phein is used in an intransitive sense, in Luke i. 16, James v. 19-20, it is used transitively with respect to man; whereas I Pet. ii. 25 is probably to be understood in a passive sense. If epistrephein denotes more the change of the religious tendency, metanoein and metanoia denote rather the change of the ethical disposition (Acts viii. 22). It is the giving up of the sinful disposition (Rev. ii. 21) as well as the giving up of evil conduct (Rev. ii. 5, 16, 22, m. 3, 19, ix. 20-21, xvj. 11; Heb. vi. 1, 6; II Cor. xiii. 21; II Pet. iii. 9; Matt. xi. 20-21, xii. 41; Luke XV. 7, 10, V. 32, xvi. 30). On the other hand, the positive side of the new disposition is emphasized. The call to repentance aims at a confession of sin and a new moral life (Matt. iii. 2, 6, 8, 10; Mark
Conversion Conwell
THE NEW SC'IIAFF-HERZOG
1. 15; Luke xiii. 3, 6; II Tim. ii. 25; Acts xvii. 30; Hcb. xii. 17; Rev. xvi. 9), which shows itself in new moral works (Matt. iii. S; Acts xxvi. 20) and secures for man salvatiim and rorp;iveness of sin (II Cor. vii. 10; Luke wiv. 47; Acts viii. 22, xi. IS). The term metanoein when combined with pistis denotes the whole new life of the Christian, as in Mark i. 15; cf. Heb. vi. 1; Acts xx. 21. The metanoia is expected of man and is enjoined upon him (Matt. iii. 2. iv. 17; M.irk vi. 12). But it is just as certain that God works repentance in man I Acts xi. IS, V. 31; Rom. ii. 4; II Tim. ii. 25).
It is here that the real problem of the conception lies. On the one hand it is required of man that he should turn toward God, and on tlie other hand it is said that God produces this turn. The problem is stated sharply in PhO. ii. 12-13: " Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling: for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do." This was not in the first instance regarded as a problem by the Church; one could just as easily expect everything of the free will of man as speak of his being sunk in sin and death. The Greek Church never overcame this lack of clearness. Man begins to do good, and somehow God helps him to the goal: " For it is ours to choose and to will; but God's to complete and to bring to an end " (Chrysostom, In Heb. horn., xii.; cf. R. Seeberg, Dogmengeschichte, i., Erlangen, 1895,
2. "/r), 23S sqq.). In the West Augustine undertook
a solution in connection with his doc- 2. History trines of original sin and predestinaof the tion. Man dead in sin is converted Doctrine, to the good, provided this is predestinated. The divine virtus leads the human wUl indeclinabiliter et insuperabiliter , so that it becomes a new will (De corrupt, et grat., xii. 38; cf. Sof'berg, ut sup., 274 sqq.). In the Middle Ages man's own work was strongly emphasized. Such theories under the influence of the later Nominalism rose to Pelagianism (cf. Seeberg, ii. 18G). Over against this the Reformation again emphasized the inability of man to choose the good, and redemption sola gratia. The Holy Spirit effects conversion. He begets in man the " new spiritual motives," the ret/memtio and renovatio. The human will is only suhjectum convertendum ; " it does nothing but only suffers, it is purely passive." The conversion, however, is mediated by the " preaching and hearing of the word," that is, it is not effected without a movement on the part of the subject. Inasmuch, however, as man is man, the change can not take place in the manner in which a statue is cut out of stone or in any similar waj', but the passivity that characterizes the act of reception goes over, as soon as (t/uam prbnum) the Holy Spirit has effectually taken hold of the heart, into the activity of a synergy, which, however, acts only by virtue of the newly received powers. The serviiin (irhitrium becomes the lihcratum arhitrixim, and by virtue of this man can take hold of the good and under the continuous operation of the Spirit perse\'ere therein. The moment in which the Holy Sjjirit effectually takes hold of the heart is, according to the lu)riiivla of Cininird, the moment of conversion. But when this takes
place the new life with its cooperation is also present. Even where there is a minimum of faith, prayer, longing for salvation, the nmrcrKio has taken place. Similarly, the old Lutheran dogmaticians: the will of man cooperates in conversion " because God first comes to us in the word and divine influence moving and impelling the will. But after this impulse has been divinely given, the human will is not purely passive, but, moved and helped by the Holy Spirit, does not resist, but assents and becomes a fellow worker with God " (Chemnitz, Loci, i. 199; cf. H. Schmid, Die Dogma tik dcr evangelisch-lutherischcn Kirche, Gtitersloh, 1893, 335-336, 340 sqq.).
According to the conception in the Scriptures and the Evangelical understanding of grace, the dogmatic conception may be framed 3. Dogmatic as follows: God frees man from the Expression old tendency through the personal of the operation of the Holy Spirit. When
Doctrine, the spirit makes man feel the reality of his effectual presence and of the new aims thus brought home to man's consciousness, man is inwardly made free to let God influence him and to place his life in the service of God. But this last act can happen only when man himself experiences God and gives himself with full purpose to God. The divine influence of grace, therefore, gives man the ability to lead a new life, but this new life is not realized concretely in any other way than in acts of the soul. The convcrsio transitiva is therefore the cause of the conversio intransitiva. At the same time the conversion may be defined, on the one hand, as the following of the new tendency for the first time ; and, on the other hand, we may use the term to designate that entire complex of inner experiences and transactions which denotes the basis of our Christian estate.
R. Seeberg.
The new study of the psychology of religion has directed attention afresh to the subject of conversion and also thrown much light on it, both as an adolescent and as an adult phenomenon. This inquiry has disclosed the following results: (1) Adolescent conversion is incidental to the flowering time of childhood and youth, during the years — between fourteen and seventeen — of greatest susceptibility and awakening, in which the soul begins to be conscious of those relations in which personality is realized. The preliminary symptoms arc various, such as haunting introspection, harassing doubts, feeling of depression and of imperfection, convict ion of sin, fear of death, and longing for the infinite. It is thus the awakening of the ]ierson to spiritual realities. (2) As an adult phenomenon regarded as a single act, in religious experience conversion is repudiation of sin and surrender of self to God in Christ; as an ethical fact, it is identification of self with one's individual and social ideal; as a psychical act, the hitherto more or less dissociated activities of the self are unified in an emotional experience. The two types of conversion are the volitional — one strives to become a new man — and the self-surrender t ype in which effort either for or against the new life gives j)lace to an invasion from the subliminal region in wliicli after a longer or shorter incubation