Tag: conversion

 

London – November 1858

To Mr B R

… It is a little a question of the force of the word conversion. I know that in Swiss it has quite another force than in this country. This is a useless point to discuss, as long as one knows what one wants to say, while the idea given by the word “to convert” is not that which one gives it among French-speaking Christians. It is the same as the word Bekehrung[1] in German. But what is important to notice is that this idea of conversion is not the sense of [….Ω….][2], which signifies a change of view, of opinion, of mind – a reflection made – or after having reflected. In German: Seinen Sinn aendern, daher bekennen[3], – this is why one can repent [….Ω….]. One can repent of a particular fault, one cannot be converted of a fault. Conversion takes place when the will of the moral being is turned towards God, this is the sense of the word. Repentance is the judgment it forms on all its conduct and on its life at the same time. Its new nature is turned towards God; the new nature judges all that is contrary to Him. The state of man, seen from the point of view of the first fact, this is his conversion; from the point of the view of the second, his repentance.

Regeneration[4], in the ordinary sense of the word, is the beginning or the communication of this life which is characterised, as far as it exists, by these two things, conversion and repentance. I do not accept that conversion is “a reversal of the way of seeing, of feeling and of mind as to God”. It is more, as long as it is a state of man, an effect of these things. Conversion is the change of the voluntary direction of life. Man is converted. He turns towards God. Now the judgment which he has on his past life, before he turned, is according to the principles of the new nature (which morally speaking is that of God); but this judgment signifies an element of immense importance. The prodigal son, in forming this judgment, before his father threw himself on his shoulder, repented indeed; that is to say, bore a judgment, divine in its nature, on all his passed life. But before the knowledge of repentance and the love of the Father, the judgment which he bore could not have the character that it had afterwards, because God is not known objectively by the new nature, not at least fully known in the way the judgment is formed after this knowledge. When I say judgment, it is a vital and living judgment and one brings it on oneself in bringing it on the evil.

In the moral order, that is to say in the conscience of man, repentance precedes conversion. Paul (Acts 26: 20) had taught them that they should repent and turn to God. The prodigal son came to himself and judged that he should rise up and go to his father. But it must not be concluded either that the man who repents does it without God acting to communicate life. Regrets are not repentance, μεταμέλομαι signifies regret or remorse. μετάυοι repentance, says the apostle, never to be regretted. One cannot deny that έπιστροφή (conversion) signifies turning oneself towards which is not μεταμέλομαι, μετάυοι; έπιστροφή is to turn oneself (sich umwenden[5]).

… μετάυοι (repentance) alone is a change of mind, or moral judgment. I do not believe that, in fact, one precedes the other. When God communicates life, all really goes together. If you speak of the consciousness that one has of a thing, I have no objection to it being said that repentance precedes, but that in fact conversion of the will towards God being the essence of the first movement of heart, seems to me to be a truth of all importance. These words “my father’s house” expressed this in the prodigal son. But the judgment that takes knowledge of all, by the entrance of the light and of the life of God is too importance, – the Sinnesaenderung[6] on everything, so that I accept that the word [….Ω….] is turned round in its true force which does not signify conversion.

[1] German for ‘conversion’

[2] see note to Letter No 143

[3] German for ‘Its sense changes, hence, to know’

[4] see note to Letter No 156

[5] German for ‘turn round’

[6] German for ‘sensory change’

November 1858
To Mr B R
Dear Brother
… Conversion is not the same thing as repentance. Without a discussion over words, I would remark that one could by the grace of God and the quickening work of this grace in us, turn to God and seek Him, drawn towards Him by His grace, not wanting to perish where we are, and yet repentance could remain very superficial, to the great damage of the soul. True repentance is the review that, in the consciousness of grace, the soul makes of itself, of its motives and its ways, the way of judging them in the light of God whom it knows in grace. It is the opposite of the will, for in repentance, one judges all in relation to the nature and the will of God, because one partakes in fact in His nature and one is submissive to His will. It is opposed to passions which are the tendencies of nature, united to the will and, as to these tendencies also, all is judged according to our new relationships with God. Repentance is above all a judgment of oneself, which makes the thing real and true and substitutes, by grace, God for me in us – what makes the essential difference in life.
In the details, there were always be a work to be wrought, but there is an entire difference in the state of the soul who is fundamentally repentant. I believe that many brethren, whether among us or among other Christians, have not really submitted to this powerful work. There is always repentance in a converted man, without telling himself: “I have sinned against heaven and before thee” . But it is quite another thing to judge ways and springs of the way; the spring, in selfish principles and selbständig of heart in the way of relying really on the Lord as dependent upon Him.
This is why, morally, I hold to the word repentance. Naturally, the translation depends on the sense of the word, but I answer now to your moral motives to change the word repentance and replace it by the word conversion – motives which I believe are excellent.
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