Experiencing Conviction
For even if I grieved you with my letter, I don’t regret it. And if you regretted it–since I saw that the letter grieved you, yet only for a while– I now rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance. For you were grieved as God, willed so that you didn’t experience any loss from us.
2 Corinthians 7:8-9 (CSB)
The Holy Spirit uses conviction to prompt a response to the gospel. The presence of conviction exists not to harm individuals, but to encourage a response to the gospel. Conviction is the experience of the Lord making sin known to an individual, leading to feelings of guilt, shame, and unsettledness regarding their sin. Conviction helps reveal the sinful condition in a person’s life, aiming to guide them toward responding to the gospel.
Conviction of Sin. Conviction involves revealing, reproving, and rebuking the sin in one’s life. The presence of conviction highlights the need for repentance. Conviction uncovers the sin in our lives and the sin that remains unrepented. It exposes what we often attempt to justify or ignore. Simultaneously, conviction is employed by the Spirit to reprove us of our sin. The act of reproving serves to reprimand us for our sinfulness before the Lord. The Spirit utilizes conviction to rebuke us by allowing us to feel God's disapproval due to the presence of sin in our lives. It is important to note that conviction addresses the negative aspects of sin but does so to lead us toward the positive of salvation.
Conviction to Salvation. The Spirit convicts us of sin to reveal our need for salvation and motivate us to respond to the gospel. Conviction prepares us to recognize our true condition before the Lord and to identify the sins we may attempt to ignore or neglect. For the unbeliever, this prompts a search for reconciliation. For the believer, it directs us toward seeking repentance and restoring the relationship with the Lord.
Conviction and the Spirit. Conviction does not arise from the flesh. The world does not foster genuine conviction. The Holy Spirit alone convicts of sin. He does so as a means for people to recognize their need for a Redeemer. The Holy Spirit alone convicts because He operates on the basis of true genuineness, rather than according to the flesh or the world.
QUESTIONS
How would you describe the difference between true conviction and false conviction?
Why does recognizing that the Spirit is the one who convicts help understand conviction as a positive and not a negative?
