Rethinking Conversion

Author Gregory D. Hall

Rethinking Conversion – This is a study surrounding what we assume are New Testament “conversion” interactions (from unfaith to faith). But a closer examination suggests most of these interactions are not conversion experiences at all. Rather, they describe the transfer of the faithful remnant of God to Jesus the Christ. They are “faith” to “faith” transitions. The “faithful remnant” is an Old Testament idea with direct ties to Eden. This Rethinking Scripture project completely changes the way one reads the New Testament and may change the way we approach evangelism in our era.

I invite you to consider how the presence of “Old-Testament believers” during the first century A.D. might change our understanding of the story of Jesus.

Want to know more? Listen to a podcast episode where I discuss this project in a little more detail.

A little Explanation: On the day Jesus was born… there would have been a certain number of people alive on the earth who were “justified before God” through their faith in the promises of the OT. Many of those believers may have seen, or interacted with Jesus during His ministry. Would his interaction with the “remnant” be distinguishable from interactions with non-believers? What happened to OT believers who didn’t meet Jesus when he was here? What if they didn’t even hear about him? Several of the posts on this site approach Scripture asking these questions.

Many of the people that recognized Jesus as Messiah… may have already been saved prior to their encounter with Him. They would have already have been saved, through faith in the promises revealed in the Old Testament Scriptures. Their acknowledgement of Jesus as Messiah would have been a continuance of an existing faith…. not the beginning of a new faith in God.

Commentators have virtually ignored not only the existence of this group of OT Saints… but also the possibility of any ministry to them.

At least some of what we read in the four Gospel accounts is specifically describing Jesus’ interaction with the remnant of OT believers. Several passages we currently understand as “prescriptive” for our time, may only be “descriptive” of a very unique transitional generation of believers. We should recognize this group as we read the New Testament. We must allow their existence to influence our understanding of the text.

They were a transitional generation of believers. They were the only generation of believers that had the opportunity to enter into faith among the shadows of the Old Testament and transfer that same faith to the substance of Jesus Christ. To properly understand this group, readers must understand the New Testament, in context, as a liminal ministry between the Old and New Covenants.

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