Conversion to Christ: Turning From Sin & Towards Faith

Conversion
(Called by Christ)
Series on Soteriology | P. Rei Lemuel Crizaldo

“Life is meant to be
lived forward, but it
can only be
understood
backward.”

Salvation
in Christ
Being chosen
[predestination]
Being called
[conversion]
Being in Christ
[union]
Being a child of God
[adoption]
Being forgiven & freed
[justification]
Being born again
[regeneration]
Being a saint
[sanctification]
Being bodily
resurrected
[glorification]

Book of Ephesians
§ Apostle Paul’s letter (epistle) to the church in the
city of Ephesus
§ Aka the ‘twin’ of the book of Colossians
§ Highlights key themes on the doctrine of
salvation

Conversion (noun)
§ The act or process of changing from one form or
state to another
§ Changing from one religion or belief to another

Conversion (biblically-speaking)
§ NOT about a change of religion
(church membership)
§ Is about a change of direction (life-orientation)

Towards Christ
Away from Christ

Conversion
§ Has to do not with a change of location but a
change of direction
§ You can transfer to a new church or a different
religion and yet remain to be the same person
with the same orientation of life.

“30 And those he predestined, he also called;
those he called, he also justified; those he
justified, he also glorified.”

“12 We are the first people who hoped in Christ, and we were
chosen so that we would bring praise to God’s glory. 13 So it is
with you. When you heard the true teaching—the Good News
about your salvation—you believed in Christ. And in Christ, God
put his special mark of ownership on you by giving you the Holy
Spirit that he had promised..”

“So it is with you. When you
heard the true teaching—the
Good News about your
salvation—you believed in
Christ…”
Ephesians 1:13 * In the Bible, “believe” (pisteuo
in Greek) is partnered with the
preposition ‘eis’ (into) which is
never done in secular Greek.
The literal translation is ‘believe
into’ which means “commit
yourself” in the sense of ‘to
trust’ or ‘to entrust.’

“So it is with you. When you
heard the true teaching—the
Good News about your
salvation—you believed in
Christ…”
Ephesians 1:13 * Tagalog translations has
‘sampalataya’ (from ‘sampa’ +
‘taya’) which illustrates an act
of entrusting the entirety of
who you are towards the
carrying capacity and direction
of the jeepney.

Conversion
§ Is setting yourself in a journey of faith into
Jesus
§ This means entrusting yourself to Jesus and
re-aligning the direction of your life towards
His will.

Conversion
§ Re-alignment is needed because the natural
and fundamental orientation of human nature
is to be in opposition or to set one’s self to be
away from God.

“We all have wandered away like sheep;
each of us has gone his own way.”

“15 I do not understand the things I do. I do not do what I
want to do, and I do the things I hate. 17 But I am not
really the one who is doing these hated things; it is sin
living in me that does them...”

“18 Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me —I mean
nothing good lives in the part of me that is earthly and
sinful. I want to do the things that are good, but I do not
do them. 19 I do not do the good things I want to do, but I
do the bad things I do not want to do.”

“20 So if I do things I do not want to do, then I am not the
one doing them. It is sin living in me that does those
things.”

Conversion
§ This is why when the Apostles preach the
Gospel, they talk of another word that comes
together with trusting Christ, and that is
‘repentance.’ (Acts 2:37-38, 3:19, 20:21)

Jesus: “The kingdom of God has come near.
Repent and believe the Good News!”

“Jesus: “The kingdom of
God has come near.
Repent and believe the
Good News!”
Mark 1:15
* “Repent” is from the Greek
word ‘metanoia’ which
basically means ‘to change one’s
mind’ or to make a radical shift
of perspective.

. .
. .

. . .
. , .

“Repent, then, and turn to
God, so that your sins may be
wiped out, that times of
refreshing may come from the
Lord.” (NIV)
“Kaya nga magsisi na kayo at
magbalik-loob sa Diyos upang
mapatawad ang inyong mga
kasalanan, nang sa gayon ay
dumating ang mga panahon ng
ginhawa mula sa Panginoon.”
(FSV)

.
.
. .
., .,

Conversion
§ Genuine experience of conversion calls for
both ‘repentance’ from sin (turning back) and
‘trust’ in Jesus (turning towards).

Conversion
§ Is the ‘turning-point’ in your story that marks
your initial response to the call of Jesus
towards a new life with Him as your life-long
Savior and Lord.

“It may be hard for an egg to turn
into a bird: it would be a jolly sight
harder for it to learn to fly while
remaining an egg. We are like eggs
at present. And you cannot go on
indefinitely being just an ordinary,
decent egg. We must be hatched
or go bad.”

BUT!!!
§ Conversion launches you to a pattern wherein
we develop an ‘attitude of the heart’ that
makes repentance and faith a way of life.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer
live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the
body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me.”

Conversion
§ You never stop forsaking sin and trusting Jesus,
not until that final moment when our bodies
are already sin-proof and we are already face-
to-face with Jesus.

The problem of Christianity today
may be not just of lack of serious
application but absence of genuine
conversion.

Question for Reflection
§ Conversion is not about religion. Is there a time
when one needs to change religion in order to
experience genuine conversion? Why or why
not?

Rei Lemuel Crizaldo
Prepared by:
Email: rlemuel.crizaldo@gmail.com | Twitter: @xgenesis_rei

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