What is the real signification of the word “conversion,” as used in the Scriptures? The word looms large—or used to loom large—in certain places of worship; among Salvationists, the Methodists, and those denominations which made a practice of holding “Revival services.” In fact, revival services were held for the express purpose of bringing about “conversions.” We have placed this last word between inverted commas, because it has been used in a technical sense by Salvationists, old-fashioned Methodists, many Evangelical Churchmen, and revivalists in general. Our meaning is this. It is quite possible for a man to be converted from Hinduism or Buddhism to Orthodox Christianity, from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism, and yet not be “converted” in the sense meant by a revivalist when he employs the word. A man may be a full member of the Methodist denomination, he may have been “christened” and “confirmed,” and thus be a full member of an Evangelical Church, and yet be “unconverted” in the technical sense.
Prayer meetings and “after” meetings are held—or used to be held—during which one present might hear the voice of someone who, softly walking along the aisles, would lean over the side of his pew and whisper “Are you saved?,” or “Have you found peace?,” or “Have you decided for the Lord?” You may have been urged to “make your decision” by coming forward to the “penitent form” or simply by standing up; and thus proclaiming to all present that you had “decided for the Lord.” Those who are burdened by a sense of sin, and perplexed as to how forgiveness may be obtained, may be invited to go into the “Enquiry Room,” where they will be urged to “come to Jesus”—to “trust in Jesus for forgiveness.” It has been the experience of some, however, that although they have yielded to the appeal of the Chapel Stewards to go into the “Enquiry Room,” or to come forward to the “Penitent Form,” they have not, in consequence, “found peace.” Others, on the contrary, profess to have “found peace in believing” and in answer to the question “Are you saved?” they would readily reply, “Thank God, I am saved!”
The above words placed between inverted commas are stock words and phrases in use among revivalists, and the ideas at the back of them may perhaps be summed up in the words of John Wesley, who, during a prayer meeting in Aldersgate Street, London, felt his heart strangely warmed. He wrote, concerning this, “I felt I did trust Christ—Christ alone—for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine.” What John Wesley termed “assurance'’ was, of course, an inward feeling which, he was convinced, was given to him by God. In his early days, Wesley taught that “unless people knew that their sins were forgiven they were under the wrath and curse of God. Hence, there was bound to be anxiety on the part of those who had “decided for the Lord” by coming forward to the penitent form, but who did not, as a result, feel assured that their sins were forgiven. Later on, however, Wesley retreated from that position. He admitted that one’s sins might be forgiven while one remained unconscious of the fact; but he said that such an one might expect, at any moment, the full assurance, given by the Holy Spirit. To this day, it is a cardinal and distinctive doctrine of the more earnest Wesleyans, that assurance of forgiveness of sins is given by the Spirit; and they pray for its bestowal. It is largely for this reason that Wesleyanism has been called “the religion of feeling.”
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Author: P. Wale
Keywords: conversion, convert, converted, born again, born anew, born from above, repent, repent and be baptized, repent and be baptised, repentance, revival, wailing bench, Wesley, Wesleyism, John Wesley, tent revival, soul winning, lost souls, altar call, easy believism, just believe, ignorance of the bible, salvation, saving souls, soul-winning, soul winner
Bible reference(s): psa 51:13, Mat 3:8, Mat 3:11, Mat 9:13, Mar 1:4, Mar 2:17, Luk 3:8, , Luk 24:47, Act 2:38, acts 3:19, Act 5:31, Act 8:22, Act 17:30, Act 26:20, Rom 2:4, 2Co 7:10, 2Ti 2:25, Heb 6:1, Heb 6:6, 2Pe 3:9, Jam 5:20
Source: “Except Ye Be Converted...,” The Testimony, Vol. 15, No. 169, January 1945, pp. 7-11.
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