I think we can learn something from the terminology we use to talk about conversion. I’ve noticed that there are a lot of common expressions that we use when we’re referring to someone’s salvation story. Some have substance, but others are theologically fluffy. Still others seem so ambiguous that I’m not sure anyone knows what they really mean. Here are some general examples (without commenting on their biblical accuracy):
- “I asked Jesus into my heart”
- “I accepted Jesus into my heart”
- “I asked God to come into my life”
- “I asked Jesus to be Lord of my life”
- “I decided to follow God”
- “I invited Jesus into my heart”
- “I got saved”
- “I was converted”
- “I came to know the Lord”
I don’t want to be overly critical and say that none of these phrases contain any truth about conversion or that they are entirely useless for communicating the process of someone’s spiritual transformation. I’m also not saying that anyone who uses conversion catch-phrases is automatically shallow or theologically weak. I realize that we have to have theological shorthand in order to be concise and straightforward in our communication. You can’t walk through the whole gospel message in heavy detail every time you refer to your conversion in passing.
However, I do think that some of the above phrases are very weak and unsubstantial. Many of them communicate nothing about the essential elements of the gospel and the necessary dynamics of conversion. And it’s dangerous to assume that someone understands the glorious gospel of God’s grace simply because he says “I asked Jesus into my heart.”
One of my concerns here is that sometimes when a word or a phrase is used for awhile, its substance seems to leak out and its precision and power are drained. More importantly, though, some of these phrases don’t have any substance to leak. For example, what exactly does it mean to “ask Jesus into your heart”? How does Jesus come into someone’s heart? Does He come into my heart just because I ask Him? How can He live in the heart of a sinner? Does God have to forgive me before Jesus can dwell in my heart? Does His coming into my heart imply that I’ll be changed or that I should change? Does the Bible use this kind of terminology? The questions abound.
There are even bigger questions to ask when you consider what this type of phrase doesn’t say. In other words, much off the fluff it contains isn’t even as big of a deal as what it leaves out. Many of our salvation catch-phrases are theologically one-dimensional. And I fear that many of the elements that we leave out of our conversion terminology are the ones that aren’t popular or aren’t taught accurately in the church. For instance, how often do you see any of the following themes represented in our conversion language?
- Obedience
- Submission
- Repentance
- Faith
- Sin
- Atonement
- Forgiveness
- Righteousness
I’ve asked people to tell me their Christian testimonies before and never heard anything about sin, Christ, or the cross mentioned. I’m not saying that these people didn’t know about the cross or that Christ’s atoning work was not significant to them. But for some reason, they didn’t even come close to mentioning these foundational things. This is frightening to me.
As ambassadors of Christ and proclaimers of the reconciliation God has provided through His Son, we are obligated to be as clear and precise as possible when communicating the gospel message. Even in our own testimonies we should strive to clearly present the essential elements of the gospel instead of assuming that people will know what we’re saying when we use conversion catch-phrases. I also think that we should work hard at finding ways to incorporate into our communication those elements of the gospel that are commonly neglected, such as leaning on Christ’s righteousness, banking on Christ’s sacrificial death for the forgiveness of our sins, turning from our sins, and submitting to Christ’s Lordship. This will take extra effort, but I think the risk we face is far greater than the energy we’ll exert.
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