Required reading
Dogmatic Theology Vol 2 by William G.T. Shedd (Available from Amazon or here) - Read Chapter IV 'Conversion'.
My summary
Today we read a chapter on conversion.
Shedd teaches us that conversion consists of two acts:
(i) faith;
(ii) repentance.
Shedd notes the following particulars about faith:
(i) evangelical faith is an act of man;
(ii) evangelical faith is an act of both the understanding and the will;
(iii) evangelical faith is the particular act that unites the soul to Christ;
(iv) saving faith terminates on Christ.
Meanwhile repentance is defined as a change of a mind.
Shedd concludes by teaching us that faith precedes repentance.
What grabbed me
Some of the distinctions Shedd made in this brief chapter are not ones I'd make.
But I did like the illustration given in one of the footnotes of the priority of faith to all other acts:
'In a beautiful New England village a boy lay very sick, drawing near to death, and very sad. His heart longed for the treasure which was worth more to him now than all the gold of the western mines. One day I sat down by him, took his hand, and looking in his troubled face asked him what made him so sad. 'Uncle,' said he, 'I want to love God. Won't you tell me how to love God?' I cannot describe the piteous tones in which he said these words, and the look of anxiety which he gave me. I said to him: 'My boy, you must trust God first, and then you will love him without trying to at all.' With a surprised look he exclaimed, 'What did you say?' I repeated the exact words again, and I shall never forget how his large, hazel eyes opened on me, and his cheek flushed as he slowly said, 'Well, I never knew that before. I always thought that I must love God first before I had any right to trust him.' 'No, my dear boy,' I answered, 'God wants us to trust him; that is what Jesus always asks us to do first of all, and he knows that as soon as we trust him we shall begin to love him. This is the way to love God, put your trust in him first of all.' Then I spoke to him of the Lord Jesus, and how God sent him that we might believe in him, and how, all through his life, he tried to win the trust of men; how grieved he was when men would not believe in him, and everyone who believed came to love without trying at all. He drank in all the truth, and simply saying, 'I will trust Jesus now,’ without an effort put his young soul in Christ's hands that very hour; and so he came into the peace of God which passeth understanding, and lived in it calmly and sweetly to the end.'
Start with faith. The rest will follow.
Next week's reading
Read Chapter V 'Justification'.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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