Conversion (Faith and Repentance)
What is true repentance? What is saving faith?
Conversion is our willing response to the gospel call, in which we sincerely repent of sins and place our trust in Christ for salvation. The word conversation itself means “turning”—here it represents a spiritual turn, a turning from sin to Christ.
Knowledge about the facts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for us is not enough, for people can know facts but rebel against them or dislike them: “Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them” (Rom. 1:23).
Moreover, merely knowing the facts and approving of them or agreeing that they are true is not enough.
In addition to knowledge of the facts of the gospel and approval of those facts, in order to be saved, I must decide to depend on Jesus to save me. In doing this I move from being an interested observer of the facts of salvation and the teachings of the Bible to being someone who enters into a new relationship with Jesus Christ as a living person.
We may therefore define saving faith in the following way: Saving faith is trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God.
Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ. Repentance, like faith, is an intellectual understanding (that sin is wrong), an emotional approval of the teachings of Scripture regarding sin (a sorrow for sin and a hatred of it), and a personal decision to turn from it (a renouncing of sin and a decision of the will to forsake it and lead a life of obedience to Christ instead).
Each day there should be heartfelt repentance for sins that we have committed, and faith in Christ to provide for our needs and to empower us to live the Christian life.
Write a reply on what you learned from this passage. Your main thread should be no less than 300 words and be supported by two biblical references. The purpose of your initial response is to consider the implications of a Christian theological perspective in relation to your world view. You may find it helpful to (1) first identify the stated and implied biblical truths and (2) then describe how these truths are components of a Christian world view. (3) From this structure consider how such a Christian worldview may affect your leadership choices arising from the content of this sessions topic.
