This year in my devotions I am following D.A. Carson’s bible reading plan in For The Love of God, Volume I. Actually, I am only reading the first two bible passages instead of all four. I was struck by Carson’s comments on Luke 11:24-26 which reads as follows:“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”“Partial Conversion”
Carson refers to this incident by what might be called a “partial conversion.” He says, “Apparently the man who has been exorcised of an evil spirit never replaced it with anything else. The Holy Spirit did not take up residence in his life; the man simply remained vacant, as it were.” I think Carson’s commentary confirms that a “partial conversion” is no conversion. Either you are converted or not. What this represents is someone who appears to be converted but the seed has not fallen in good soil. Carson makes the following three comments.
“Partial Conversions”Are All Too Common
First, “partial conversions” are all too common. A person gets partially cleaned up. He or she is drawn close enough to the Gospel and to the people of God that there is some sort of turning away from godlessness, a preliminary infatuation with holiness, an attraction toward righteousness. But like the person represented by rocky soil in the parable of the sower and the soils (Luke 8:4-15), this person may initially seem to be the best of the crop, an yet not endure.
A Little Gospel Is A Dangerous Thing
The second lesson follows: a little Gospel is a dangerous thing. It gets people to think well of themselves, to sigh with relief that the worst evils have been dissipated, to enjoy a nice sense of belonging. But if a person is not truly justified, regenerated, and transferred from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, the dollop of religion may serve as little more than an inoculation against the real thing.
Evil Cannot Simply Be Opposed
The third lesson is inferential. Evil cannot simply be opposed – that is, it is never enough simply to fight evil, to cast out a demon. Evil must be replaced by good, the evil spirit by the Holy Spirit. We must “overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).
Pray Against “Partial Conversions”
All this to say, pray against partial conversions. I think this is the worst place for a person to be: thinking they are saved when they are outside the Kingdom of God. Please pray especially for the people who have come through Exploring Christianity and who have shown signs of life, who seem to have embraced the truth, and who have enjoyed some form of fellowship. Pray that their conversion would prove to be true, and if not true then first, they would know it is not true and second, they would repent and believe in Jesus Christ.
Photo by Gregory Guida
