Conversion and the Christian Life

As the Sermon on the Mount wraps up, Jesus concludes with several related warnings that tie together word and deed. There seems to be an emphasis on the outwardly ordinary words or attention to words which masks an inward contradiction. A wolf in sheep’s clothing, a dazzling display of power without submission to God’s will, and a seemingly sound structure built on either rock or sand. There is a diversity of ways in which people might appear to be kingdom disciples yet there also seems to be a unity in their rejection of the king: they hear but do not do the words of the King.

On the one hand, this is a helpful reminder that there is much diversity in the way in which we come to faith in Christ, in which we repent and believe in light of the coming kingdom. Herman Bavinck insightfully comments on that diversity as it pertains to the conversion of covenant children. He writes,

Some of them are led gently and cannot tell stories of powerful turnarounds. Quietly but steadily they grow from being children to young people, and from being young people to men and women, fathers and mothers in Christ. Others, by contrast, persons who for a time openly lived a life of sin or became inwardly estranged form the Christian upbringing of their youth, are sometimes suddenly—on a special occasion, being brought up short by a striking word or incident and with intense emotional disturbance—brought to conversion. They receive a vivid insight into the hideousness and culpability of sin, frequently spend lengthy periods in fear and dread, and only then, in an amazing way, reach the assurance of faith. All this concerns the time and manner of conversion. But there is also a wide range of differences in its character and nature.[1]

Indeed, conversion may be driven primarily by the intellect, the affections, or the will. The point is that there is not one and only one way in which the Spirit of Christ works conversion.

At the same time, however, one point that our Lord seems to be making at the end of the Sermon on the Mount is that for all the diversity of expression in conversion, there is a unity in its root and fruit. With respect to the root, this unity is found in a full faith and trust in the will of God, which is described as founding one’s house on the rock (over against the shifting sands of anything else). The will of God is unshakeable and unchangeable, and so it is a sure foundation, a deep a root, from which one finds life. With respect to the fruit, because conversion is founded on the word and work of God, the fruit which flows from conversion is consistent with the word and will of God. Far from a superficial allegiance to an idea or a trend and far from a superficial adherence to some moral principles, the fruit of conversion is a deeply consistent and coherent product of the work of God in the hearts of those who have been changed. There is a unity, then, that ties the diversity together, and that unity lies in the will of God, worked in us and worked out by us.

To be sure, part of Jesus’ point in giving his final warning at the end of Matthew 7 is that the fruit may appear to be good at first. Great deeds in the name of the Lord may appear to be in accordance with God’s will; great sermons in the church may appear to flow from the genuinely converted. However, time will reveal whether the preacher is a wolf or a sheep and whether the prophet is true or false. Perhaps we do well to apply a judgment of charity for as long as we can, though, because it does seem that at least some bad apples may not be discernible until the final judgment. Either way, consistency in word and work is the unifying theme within the diversity of expressions of conversion, but that consistency must be tested over time.

One key takeaway for us, then, is to remain steadfast, to work out our salvation in fear and trembling even as God wills and works it out according to his own good pleasure. We cannot fool ourselves into thinking that we’ve arrived at some sufficient level of sanctification such that we may plateau in our spiritual maturity. Instead, we need to be committed to a long obedience in the same direction, endeavoring to produce fruit according to the will of our heavenly Father for the entirety of our earthly lives. May we be so faithful by the grace of God himself.

[1] Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, ed. John Bolt, trans. John Vriend, 4 vols. (Baker Academic, 2003).