LIBERTY LEGAL JOURNAL Spring/Summer 2016 | Page 17

His design to subject the whole of His creation to His will, God
exercises dominion over men. In doing so, He interferes with our
fallen nature, and with the right of Satan to influence our minds
and manipulate our desires towards his evil purpose. When we
exist outside the sacrifice of Christ, we are wholly creatures of
sin, belonging to the dust. But when God reaches out and animates our dry bones we become new creations, so wholly transformed that we are no longer of any use to Satan. However, this
miracle is not done without a price. Sin requires payment in
full. When our once-dead souls are the chattel being converted,
the payment is death and separation from God. Christ paid that
price and took us for His own, thus totally destroying any claim
that sin has on our souls.
This is not an unimportant point of theology, nor is it some
fine distinction fit only for the esoteric musings of musty theologians. Firstly, a right understanding of conversion gives us a
much greater appreciation for the sacrifice of Christ. There we
lay, dead in our sins and of no benefit to our Creator. Yet He, in
His awesome mercy, saw fit to reach out and enliven our bodies
that we might enjoy His love and reciprocate His divine affec-

tion. Second, and most importantly, comprehending the gratuitous and unilateral nature of conversion allows us to view our
evangelistic charge rightly and to maintain our great hope for
the eventual subjection of the whole world beneath Christ’s footstool. If conversion is a volitional act that must be u