Applying this word now to a moral or religious use, it means a turning from sin to righteousness, from Satan to God.  The transgressor who had been walking in the way of disobedience and enmity against God, and towards eternal death, is turned about into the way of righteousness, towards eternal life.  This is a change of direction, but it is also something more.  It is a change of state—­from a state of sin to a state of Grace.  It is still more.  It is a change of nature—­from a sinner unto a saint.  It is finally a change of relation—­from an outcast and stranger unto a child and heir.  Thus there is an outward and an inward turning, a complete change.

That this is the scriptural meaning of conversion is very clear from Acts xxvi. 18.  The Lord is about to send Paul to the Gentiles for the purpose of converting them.  He describes the work of conversion thus:  "To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."

As already remarked, the word here translated to “turn” is the same that is elsewhere translated to “convert.”

If we now inquire more particularly into the nature, or process of this change which is called “conversion,” we find in it two constituent elements.  The one is penitence or contrition, the other is faith.  Taken together, they make up conversion.  In passing, we may briefly notice that sometimes the Scriptures use the word “repentance” as embracing both penitence and faith, thus making it synonymous with conversion.

Penitence or contrition, as the first part of conversion, is sorrow for sin.  It is a realizing sense of the nature and guilt of sin; of its heinousness and damnable character.  True penitence is indeed a painful experience.  A penitent heart is, therefore, called “a broken and a contrite heart.”  It takes from the sinner his self-satisfaction and false peace.  It makes him restless, dissatisfied and troubled.  Instead of loving and delighting in sin, it makes him hate sin and turn from it with aversion.  It brings the sinner low in the dust.  He cries out, “I am vile;” “I loathe myself;” “God be merciful to me a sinner.”

This is the penitence insisted on by the prophets, breathed forth in the penitential psalms, preached by John the Baptist, by Christ and all His apostles.  It is not necessary to quote passages in proof of this.  Every Bible reader knows that the Word is full of exhortations to such sorrow and repenting for sin.

But penitence must not stop with hating and bemoaning sin, and longing for deliverance.  The penitent sinner must resolutely turn from sin towards Jesus Christ the Saviour.  He must believe that he took upon Himself the punishment due to his sins, and by His death atoned for them; that he satisfied a violated law, and an offended Law-giver; that thus he has become his Substitute and Redeemer, and has taken away all his sins.  This the penitent must believe.  Thus must he cast himself upon Christ, and trust in Him with a childlike confidence, knowing that there is now, therefore, no condemnation.  Having this faith, he is justified, and “being justified by faith, he has peace with God.”