I. The Absolute Necessity of Conversion
"Man's conversion in this life is so necessary, that without it no one can obtain everlasting life in the world to come, according to what the Scriptures teach: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." "They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." "If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.""
"When we have once departed this life, there is no more room for repentance, or work of satisfaction. Here life is either lost or gained: here we secure our eternal salvation by the worship of God and the fruit of faith." "Hence all our exhortations to repentance must be based upon the absolute necessity of conversion to God, in all those who are to be justified." "all those who perform evil works, and continue in their wicked and ungrateful lives, cannot be saved, inasmuch as they are destitute of true faith, and conversion." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
II. The Definition and Etymological Meaning of Conversion
"The Hebrew expresses the idea of conversion by the word Teschubah; the Greek by μετσνοια and μεταμελεια." "The Latins have a number of words by which they express the same thing. They call it regeneratio, renovatio, resipiscentia, conversio, pænitentia." "Resipiscentia seems properly to correspond with the Greek μετανοια; for as resipiscentia is derived from resipisco, which means to become wise after having done a thing; so μετανοια is from μετανοεω, which means to become wise after having committed something wrong; to change the mind, and to alter the purpose." "The term repentance is, moreover, of a broader signification than conversion: for conversion is spoken of only in reference to the godly, who alone are converted to God."
"Man's conversion to God consists in a change of the corrupt mind and will into that which is good, produced by the Holy Ghost through the preaching of the law and the gospel, which is followed by a sincere desire to produce the fruits of repentance, and a conformity of the life to all the commands of God." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"withdrawing from ourselves we turn to God, and laying aside the old, put on a new mind. Wherefore, it seems to me, that repentance may be not inappropriately defined thus: A real conversion of our life unto God, proceeding from sincere and serious fear of God; and consisting in the mortification of our flesh and the old man, and the quickening of the Spirit." [John Calvin - Institutes]
III. The Two Parts of Conversion: Mortification and Quickening
"Conversion consists of two parts: the mortification of the old man, and the quickening of the new man." "The old man which is mortified is the sinner only, or the corrupt nature of man. The new man which is quickened is he who begins to depart from sin, or it is the nature of man as regenerated." "The mortification of the old man, or of the flesh, consists in the laying off and subduing of the corruption of our nature, and includes, 1. A knowledge of sin, and of the wrath of God. 2. Sorrow for sin, and on account of having offended God. 3. Hatred of sin, and an earnest desire to avoid it." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"Certain learned men, who lived long before the present days and were desirous to speak simply and sincerely according to the rule of Scripture, held that repentance consists of two parts, mortification and quickening. By mortification they mean, grief of soul and terror, produced by a conviction of sin and a sense of the divine judgment."
"By quickening they mean, the comfort which is produced by faith, as when a man prostrated by a consciousness of sin, and smitten with the fear of God, afterwards beholding his goodness, and the mercy, grace, and salvation obtained through Christ, looks up, begins to breathe, takes courage, and passes, as it were, from death unto life." "It more properly means, that desire of pious and holy living which springs from the new birth; as if it were said, that the man dies to himself that he may begin to live unto God."
"First, in the conversion of the life to God, we require a transformation not only in external works, but in the soul itself, which is able only after it has put off its old habits to bring forth fruits conformable to its renovation."
"The first step to the obedience of his law is the renouncement of our own nature."
IV. The Inward Roots: Godly Sorrow and the Fear of God
"Before the mind of the sinner can be inclined to repentance, he must be aroused by the thought of divine judgment; but when once the thought that God will one day ascend his tribunal to take an account of all words and actions has taken possession of his mind, it will not allow him to rest, or have one moment's peace, but will perpetually urge him to adopt a different plan of life, that he may be able to stand securely at that judgment-seat."
"By godly sorrow he means when we not only tremble at the punishment, but hate and abhor the sin, because we know it is displeasing to God." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"In the godly, however, this sorrow arises from a sense of the displeasure of God, which they sincerely acknowledge and lament, and is connected with a hatred and abhorrence of all past sins, and with a shunning or turning away from all present and future sin." "The knowledge of sin is in the mind, sorrow for sin in the heart, and fleeing from it in the will." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"The Apostle, in his description of repentance, (2 Cor. 7: 2,) enumerates seven causes, effects, or parts belonging to it... These are carefulness, excuse, indignation fear, desire, zeal, revenge." "He says then that godly sorrow produces carefulness. He who is really dissatisfied with himself for sinning against his God, is, at the same time, stimulated to care and attention, that he may completely disentangle himself from the chains of the devil, and keep a better guard against his snares, so as not afterwards to lose the guidance of the Holy Spirit, or be overcome by security."
"Next comes excuse, which in this place means not defense, in which the sinner to escape the judgment of God either denies his fault or extenuates it, but apologizing, which trusts more to intercession than to the goodness of the cause; just as children not altogether abandoned, while they acknowledge and confess their errors yet employ deprecation; and to make room for it, testify, by every means in their power, that they have by no means cast off the reverence which they owe to their parents; in short, endeavor by excuse not to prove themselves righteous and innocent, but only to obtain pardon."
V. The Source of Conversion: Faith, Union with Christ, and Sovereign Grace
"That repentance not only always follows faith, but is produced by it, ought to be without controversy..." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"These two parts of conversion spring from faith. The reason is, because no one can hate sin and draw nigh to God, unless he loves God. But no one loves God who is not possessed of faith." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"Sin is not forgiven until it be repented of. Therefore they are put together: "Repentance and remission."" "In REPENTANCE there are three main ingredients, all which must be, before forgiveness. They are contrition, confession, and conversion." [Thomas Watson - The Lord's Prayer]
"no man will ever reverence God who does not trust that God is propitious to him, no man will ever willingly set himself to observe the Law who is not persuaded that his services are pleasing to God." "Both of these we obtain by union with Christ. For if we have true fellowship in his death, our old man is crucified by his power, and the body of sin becomes dead, so that the corruption of our original nature is never again in full vigor..."
"Accordingly through the blessing of Christ we are renewed by that regeneration into the righteousness of God from which we had fallen through Adam, the Lord being pleased in this manner to restore the integrity of all whom he appoints to the inheritance of life."
"Moreover, that repentance is a special gift of God, I trust is too well understood from the above doctrine to require any lengthened discourse." "Those whom God is pleased to rescue from death, he quickens by the Spirit of regeneration; not that repentance is properly the cause of salvation, but because, as already seen, it is inseparable from the faith and mercy of God..." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"The Holy Spirit, or God himself, is the chief efficient cause of our conversion."
VI. The Instrumental Means: Law and Gospel
"The means or instrumental causes of conversion are the law—the gospel, and again, the doctrine of the law after that of the gospel." "for the preaching of the law goes before, preparing and leading us to a knowledge of the gospel: "for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Rom. 3:20.) Hence, there can be no sorrow for sin without the law."
"After the sinner has once been led to a knowledge of sin, then the preaching of the gospel follows, encouraging contrite hearts by the assurance of the mercy of God through Christ. Without this preaching there is no faith, and without faith there is no love to God, and hence no conversion to him."
"After the preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the law again follows, that it may be the rule of our thankfulness and of our life." "if by preparatory works are meant works which are performed according to the law before conversion, by which, as by men's good efforts, God is enticed and moved to grant true conversion, as well as his other gifts, to those who do these things, we deny that there are any such works; because, according to the declaration of the Apostle Paul, "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." (Rom. 14:23.)"
VII. The Imperfection of Sanctification and Conversion in This Life
"Our conversion to God is not perfect in this life, but is here continually advancing, until it reaches the perfection which is proposed in the life to come." "This restoration is not accomplished in a single moment, or day, or year; but by continual, and sometimes even slow advances, the Lord destroys the carnal corruptions of his chosen, purifies them from all pollution, and consecrates them as temples to himself; renewing all their senses to real purity, that they may employ their whole life in the exercise of repentance, and know that this warfare will be terminated only in death." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"By regeneration the children of God are delivered from the bondage of sin, but not as if they had already obtained full possession of freedom, and no longer felt any annoyance from the flesh. Materials for an unremitting contest remain, that they may be exercised, and not only exercised, but may better understand their weakness." "there is always sin in the saints until they are freed from their mortal frame, because depraved concupiscence resides in their flesh, and is at variance with rectitude." [John Calvin - Institutes]
"The works of the saints are not perfectly good or pure in this life: 1. Because even those who are regenerated do many things which are evil... 2. Because they omit doing many good things... 3. Because the good works which they perform are not so perfectly good and pure as the law requires..." "Because the renovation of our nature is never made perfect in this life, neither as it respects our knowledge of God, nor the inclination which we have to obey him." "Because those who are converted are not always governed by the Holy Spirit, but are sometimes for a season deserted by God, either for the purpose of trying, or chastising, or humbling them..."
VIII. True Evangelical Repentance vs. The Repentance of the Ungodly
"None can repent of their sins by the power of nature, because the hearts of all men and women by nature are like a stone, insensible of sin, and inflexible unto God's will; therefore there is need of the Spirit of God to work this grace in the heart, which he hath promised to do in the new covenant." [Thomas Vincent - The Shorter Catechism]
"The term repentance is used in reference to the ungodly as well as to the godly, because there are certain things in which they agree, as in a knowledge of sin, and sorrow on account of it. As it respects other things, however, there is a wide difference."
"They differ, 1. In the moving cause of repentance, or in the sorrow which is felt. The wicked are sorrowful, not on account of having offended God, but merely because of the punishment which they have brought upon themselves, and which necessarily attaches itself to the violation of God's law."
"The godly, however, do, indeed, dread the punishment of sin, but they are pained and grieved more particularly on account of sin itself, and the offence which they have committed against God."
"They differ in their effects. The repentance of the godly is followed by new obedience... But the repentance of the ungodly is not followed by new obedience; but they continue in sin and return to their vomit, although for a time they feigned to repent of their sins, as Ahab did." [Zacharias Ursinus - Commentary on the Heidelberg]
"In the Bible, the distinction is generally preserved; metanoia, repentance, change of mind, turning to God, i.e., conversion, is what man is called upon to do; anagenesis, regeneration, is the act of God. God regenerates; the soul is regenerated." [Louis Berkhof - Systematic Theology]
"Others... have set down two forms of repentance, and, in order to distinguish them, have called the one Legal repentance; or that by which the sinner, stung with a sense of his sin, and overwhelmed with fear of the divine anger, remains in that state of perturbation, unable to escape from it."
"The other they term Evangelical repentance; or that by which the sinner, though grievously downcast in himself, yet looks up and sees in Christ the cure of his wound, the solace of his terror; the haven of rest from his misery."
"The promise as to those who call upon him will never fail; but the names of conversion and prayer are improperly given to that blind torment by which the reprobate are distracted when they see that they must seek God if they would find a remedy for their calamities, and yet shun to approach him."
"God in this way often stretched forth his hand to deliver the Israelites from their calamities, though their cries were pretended, and their minds double and perfidious... But he designed thus by kindness and forbearance to bring them to true repentance, or leave them without excuse." [John Calvin - Institutes]