Introduction

Psalm 51 is a prayer of David begging for forgiveness of the Lord for his transgression with Bathsheba. Nathan the prophet came to him and show him his error. The entire psalm shows his anguish and remorse for what he has done. I want to focus on verse 13 which says, Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You. (Psalms 51:13)

Conversion is the idea of changing your ways; to become a different individual that what you were. The apostle Paul writes, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:21-24)

In this series, we will look at each conversion that is described in the book of Acts also known as, The Acts of the Apostles. This is the establishment, and beginning, of The Church. All congregations that exist out there, should pattern themselves after what they learn in Acts and the subsequent letters.

Dictionary Definition

As in a lot of cases, I like to look at the definition of a word to get an idea of what it means. However, over the decades, the meanings of words change to fit Society’s meaning of the word. This is why I try to utilize older versions of the dictionary. The version that I use is the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary found here online.

Convert—3. To change or turn from one religion to another, or from one party or sect to another; as, to convert pagans to Christianity; to convert royalists into republicans.

4. To turn from a bad life to a good one; to change the heart and moral character, from enmity to God and from vicious habits, to love of God and to a holy life.

The bible example given in the bible is, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

From Easton’s Bible Dictionary, it describes conversion this way, In a general sense the heathen are said to be “converted” when they abandon heathenism and embrace the Christian faith; and in a more special sense men are converted when, by the influence of divine grace in their souls, their whole life is changed, old things pass away, and all things become new (Acts 26:18)

The Purpose of these Examples

The main purpose that these examples of conversion is to show, from the scriptures, what you must do to be saved. So many out there in the religious world believe that you don’t have to do anything; that God does it all for us. This is not what the bible teaches. In fact, there are three times; found in the book of Acts, that has people asking the question, “What must I do?” If there was nothing to do, they wouldn’t have asked or the disciples would have told them that there was nothing to do. Here’s my article on that very subject.

Others would challenge the fact that there isn’t one example in all of scripture that lists all of the things you must do in one verse. They go on to say that the book of John lists “believe” over 90 times and that it is sufficient. These individuals clearly overlook the statement, The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever (Psalms 119:160). If you believe the bible to be God’s word, then you have to take all of it as truth. In other words, you can’t rely on one word simply because it appears the most times compared to other words. You must gather together all of the things from various places to get the full picture.

Conclusion

We’ll look at each individual conversion, in order, over the next several weeks. This will give you an understanding of the importance of what each conversion involved and why some things were left out.

I wrote an article, a while back, called Unmentioned Baptisms. This is an example of two conversions that are not reference in scripture but you can rely that they did, indeed take place. I’ll reference these again when the time arrives.