JESUS MAFA. Peter denies Jesus, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt University Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://act.library.vanderbilt.edu/artworks/48273 [retrieved May 19, 2026]. Original source: http://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr (contact page: https://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr/contact).
Oboedire | May 19, 2026
The idea of conversion runs through the Gospel, but not in the way we might first think. In the contemporary sense, it’s equated with the “born again” experience. But as it turns out, this is a misuse of the word. In fact, the only time the word is used is with respect to Peter—devout disciple who would shortly need to be converted after his three denials (Luke 22:32 KJV).
This puts conversion in a different context. It’s something Christ followers need to experience. We need to be converted! Why? and For what? Two questions addressed through Peter himself.
The why of conversion is that we are never immune from turning away from faith and needing to turn back to it. [1] Disciples are the very ones who need to be converted because we are the ones on the way who can lose our way. We deny Christ in whatever way, and he comes to us saying we need to be converted; we need to turn back and resume our faith journey.
Conversion is the word Christ gives us in our times of defection, not condemnation. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1), but there is conversion—the need to get back on track when something has derailed us. In his book, Conversion, E. Stanley Jones named the two great conversions needed: the conversion of the our self and the conversion of our love–both from the grip of egotism, wherein the self is self-centered and love is an urge. [2]
Conversion is a transformation of self and love, a turning of them away from their misuses to a turning of them toward their God-intended purposes.
And that brings us to the for what aspect of conversion, and this in two senses both seen in Peter. The first turning is inward—a restoration. This is the individual for-what of conversion. But it is immediately followed with the missional for-what of conversion, “give strength to your sisters and brothers” (Luke 22:32b, The Inclusive Bible).
Again we see it: conversion for the sake of other disciples. In what is this so? The words of the hymn it is the strength that comes when we know the “grace that is greater than all our sin.” It is the strengthening we experience, as Peter did, when we are restored to love (John 21:15-17).
That’s a conversion we all need: a restoration of love. This is the conversion offered to those of us who, like Peter, deny that love through our attitudes and actions. Conversion is the turning that restored us and strengthens others
[1] “Turning” is the root meaning of conversion in the Greek
[2] E. Stanley Jones, Conversion (Abingdon Press, 1959). Still available.
Steve Harper 2024
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The Rev. Dr. Steve Harper is retired seminary professor who taught for 32 years in the disciplines of Spiritual Formation and Wesley Studies. Author and co-author of more than fifty books.. He is also a retired elder in The Florida Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.