Acts 3:19
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): What is conversion? True and saving conversion, we mean.
JOHN ANGELL JAMES (1785-1869): True conversion is emphatically called, “coming to the knowledge of the truth,” 1 Timothy 2:4.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): Now the Bible uses that word know to express two different things; one which we call mere intellectual perception; or to put it into plainer words, mere head knowledge such as a man may have about any subject of study; and the other, a deep and living experience.
MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): There is a more effective, experimental knowledge.
A. W. PINK: It is far, far more than a believing that Jesus Christ is the incarnate Son of God, and that He made an atonement for our sins. Thousands ‘believe’ that who are yet dead in trespasses and sins!
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Alas! how many are there in the present hour, that possess an head knowledge of the glorious truths of the gospel, but who remain forever strangers to the heartfelt influence of them. Simon the Sorcerer is said to have believed, that is, in head knowledge, and no further―he was convinced of the truth as it is in Jesus, Acts 8:13.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN: Simon’s belief was purely an affair of the understanding―there was in it no penitence, no self-abandonment, no fruit in holy desires; or in other words, there was no heart. It was credence, but not trust.
JOHN ANGELL JAMES: Knowledge, my friends, is indispensable. True religion is repentance towards God; but can you repent if you do not know the character of the God whom you have offended, the law you have broken, and the sin you have committed? True religion is faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; but can you really believe, if you do not know whom and what you are to believe? True religion is the love of God; but can you love a being whom you do not know?
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): That is quite true. You are to have a creed and I urge you to take heed to what you believe. Go to the Law and to the Testimony and believe nothing but what is in the Word of God. But I pray you to also remember that a man may receive the most sound creed in Christendom—and yet be damned! He may believe, as a matter of head knowledge, all that should be believed. And yet, for all that, he may not believe anything with his heart, and so may perish. I believe that the devil is orthodox―he knows what the Truth is, yet, though in that sense he “believes,” and even goes as far as trembling (James 2:19), the devil is not changed in heart, nor will he be saved by what he believes! It is not receiving a creed which saves you—it is receiving a Person into your heart’s love.
JOSEPH ALLEINE (1634-1668): Conversion turns the bent of the affections.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Heart knowledge―a knowledge of God, joined with love and affection to Him―high esteem, and approbation of Him; and including communion with Him, and an open profession and acknowledgment of Him: and it is an appropriating knowledge also; a knowing Him for themselves, and as their own; and such a knowledge, or heart to know the Lord, is a pure gift of His, and without which none can have it.
A. W. PINK: Conversion consists not in believing certain facts or truths made known in Holy Writ, but lies in the complete surrender of the heart and life to a divine Person. It consists in a throwing down of the weapons of our rebellion against Him. It is the total disowning of allegiance to the old master—Satan, sin, self, and a declaring “we will have this Man to reign over us.” It is owning the claims of Christ and bowing to His rights of absolute dominion over us. It is taking His yoke upon us, submitting unto His scepter, yielding to His blessed will. In a word, it is “receiving Christ Jesus, the Lord,” Colossians 2:6; giving Him the throne of our hearts, turning over to Him the control and regulation of our lives.
JOHN ANGELL JAMES: The very substance of true conversion is a change from supreme selfishness―to this Divine affection. Every unconverted sinner is supremely selfish; that is, he loves himself, and all that pertains to himself, instead of God.
C. H. SPURGEON: The child of God, acknowledges God, submits to His authority and gives Him the throne of his heart. He does not give the Lord a secondary place and permit self to be first, for that would be to deify self and insult the Lord! He makes God to be God, that is first and sole in authority and power! This is a sure index of true conversion—when God is God in your soul—then is the soul converted, indeed!
JOSEPH ALLEINE: Conversion turns the bias of the will―The intentions of the will are altered. Now the man has new ends and designs. He now intends God above all, and desires and designs nothing in all the world, so much that Christ may be magnified in him. He counts himself more happy in this than in all that the earth could yield, that he may be serviceable to Christ―this is the mark he aims at, that the name of Jesus may be great in the world.
A. W. PINK: The desire and determination of those truly converted is that they “should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again,” 2 Corinthians 5:15…That which distinguishes Christians from non-Christians is their surrender to the authority of Christ. He is their Lord by voluntary submission. True conversion is the heart turning from Satan’s control to God’s control; from sin to holiness; from the world to Christ―this is what true conversion is; it is a tearing down of every idol, a renouncing of the empty vanities of a cheating world, and taking God for our portion, our ruler, our all in all.
C. H. SPURGEON: Obedience is the test of discipleship. Mere head knowledge is all in vain, and all in vain our fears, unless we render a practical obedience to the commandments of Christ. We shall not only savingly know Him, but we shall “ know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments,” 1 John 2:3.
THOMAS MANTON (1620-1677): Faith is the mother of obedience. Obedience is counterfeit when it is not uniform―partial obedience is an argument of insincerity.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Love is the root, obedience is the fruit.
A. W. PINK: There is no such thing as a saving faith in Christ where there is no real love for Him, and by “real love” we mean a love which is evidenced by obedience. Christ acknowledges none to be His friends save those who do whatsoever He commands them, John 15:14. As unbelief is a species of rebellion, so saving faith is a complete subjection to God: hence we read of “the obedience of faith,” Romans 16:26.―And, dear reader, nothing short of this is a Scriptural conversion: anything else is make-believe; a lying substitute, and a fatal deception.
