Conviction – A Work of the Holy Spirit

There are many works of the Holy Spirit, but I would like to examine the work in regard to conviction. Jesus in John 16:8 states very clearly this work of conviction: “And when he (Holy Spirit) is come, he will reprove (convict) the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me;”

Conviction defined is the process of being condemned by one’s own conscience as a sinner because of God’s demands. The idea of conviction is a major theme of Scripture, although the word is rarely used (Psalm 32; 51; Acts 2:37; Rom. 7:7–25). The agent of conviction is the Holy Spirit (John 16:7–11); and the means of conviction is either the Word of God (Acts 2:37) or God’s general revelation of His demands through nature and people’s inborn consciousness of a sense of right and wrong (Rom. 1:18–20; 2:15). The purpose of conviction is to lead people to repent of their sins (Acts 2:37–38; Rom. 2:1–4) and to turn to God for salvation and eternal life.

By nature, we are satisfied with ourselves, content to go on, imagining that all is well, that we are good people, or perhaps knowing that we are bad people, but still knowing no conviction of sin. However, when the Holy Spirit begins to work He convicts us of sin. This work of conviction by the third Person of the Trinity causes us to realize something of the truth concerning the holiness of God. We may have talked about God for years; we may have ‘said our prayers’ to Him, but we have never thought much about Him, and we know nothing about Him truly until the Holy Spirit begins to deal with us.

These two things happen together. I am made to see myself fallen and undone (Isa 6:5). I begin to understand that the trouble with me is not so much that I do things I should not do, but that I should ever desire to do them. I become aware of the fact that there is something within me that is vile and rotten and wrong, a perverted and a twisted nature; and I begin to realize that I do not know God, that I am really an enemy against God, that there is a hatred of God in the depths of my heart. Sure I was one of those people that “believed” in God and was happy to talk about God as long as He did not interfere in my life. I even convinced myself that I was a pretty good guy without realizing that even the good I do falls short of bringing glory to God and ultimately did it in order to bring glory to myself. I would even turn to Him when in need and pray to Him for help. However, I did not want God to dominate my life, I did not want to be guided and accountable to a holy God. The Holy Spirit awakens us to a realization of all this. He also leads us to a conviction of our lost condition, of our emptiness, and our despair. When this happens; there is one inevitable result, namely, that we are humbled, we are brought low; we are made to see ourselves as we really are.

We come to the humbling conclusion that we have nothing to brag about in what we have done or not done. We also realize that even looking at others and comparing ourselves to them does not any longer bring us comfort as we understand that the only comparison God makes is with His Son Jesus. We see the truth about ourselves; and we know that the same is true for others. The Apostle Paul, while Saul of Tarsus and before the Holy Spirit did His work in him, was a great boaster: “A Hebrew of the Hebrews, of the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day”, a man who sat at the feet of Gamaliel, the best of scholars, exceeding all others in zeal and energy and the service of God. Even so, later he came to say, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ”. His privileges and his works had become “dung” and “loss”. In writing later to Timothy he said, “It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15). He had lost his pride, his boasting, his everything; he is nothing; in his view, there was no greater sinner in the universe.

Bibliography:

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity (Studies in Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verses 1 Through 16) (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1972), 62.

Ronald F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, R. K. Harrison and Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Rev. Ed. of: Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary.; Includes Index. (Nashville: T. Nelson, 1995).