Everyone agrees that the Holy Spirit is somehow involved in converting the soul. However, not all agree as to how. Many believe that the Holy Spirit exerts some power directly upon them to get them to be saved. Others believe differently. Since the Bible has the answers to all religious questions (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:3), what does the Bible say?
First Peter 1:22-23 reads, “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit…being born again,…by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” It is obvious that this is referring to the act of conversion by the use of the phrases: “purified your souls,” and “being born again.” These souls were converted by “obeying the truth through the Spirit.” The truth is the Word (John 17:17), and this corresponds with the phrase, “by the Word of God.” Of course, the Word of God—the Scriptures—was given to us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:10-13; 2 Pet. 1:21; 2 Tim. 3:16; John 14:26; 15:26). Thus, 1 Peter 1:22-23 teaches that a soul is converted (born again) when he hears and obeys the truth (the Word of God; the Scriptures) through the Spirit (as the Holy Spirit inspired their writing). Yes, the Holy Spirit converts people by telling them what to do by means of the Scriptures which He inspired—not by a direct supernatural influence.
This means, of course, since the Holy Spirit does not convert by a direct influence, then those who claim such a conversion are claiming an experience that the Holy Spirit does not do. To such we plead the reading of the Scriptures, for only therewith does the Holy Spirit convert (1 Cor. 1:21; 2 Cor. 7:10; Rom. 10:9-10; Mark 16:16). None of the accounts of conversions in the book of Acts in which divine intervention is mentioned does the Holy Spirit directly operate upon the human heart. Rather, every case of conversion is the result of the person being taught by the teaching of a human teacher. (See: Acts 2:1-47; 8:4-25; 8:26-39; 9:1-8 & 22:3-16; chapters 10 & 11; 16:6-15.)
Gary Henson