Persuaded But Not Convinced

“And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.” (Ac 28:23-24 AV)

 

At first glance, the two underlined phrases may seem in conflict.  How can Paul persuade them, yet some believed not.  One possibility is persuasion only happened to those who believed.  I think that is a cop-out.  The correct understanding is in the difference between persuasion and belief.  One can be persuaded without following up with faith.  One can assent to the facts and accept those facts as genuine without acting on those facts.  This is exactly what happened here.  Some were successfully persuaded that Jesus was the Christ and they needed to repent and believe.  Yet, they choose not to.  Rather, they chose to agree with Paul that Jesus came to die for them, yet turn away from the gift of salvation by the grace of God through faith.  We can be persuaded regarding many things.  Just because we agree doesn’t make that act of agreement efficacious.  There has to be an act of faith that matures that persuasion into the end result. 

Recently, my family went to the Discovery Museum in Milwaukee, WI.  There are many hands-on exhibits for the purpose of teaching natural law.  There were buttons to push.  There were levers to pull.  There were games to play against a computer opponent.  However, one exhibit was a flight simulator.  My wife and son were looking for me.  I was into another exhibit until I caught up with them.  They convinced me to try it out.  My dear wife repeatedly affirmed that I could do this simulator.  They kept pushing me to try it out.  So, in I climbed.  The operator gave me my instructions.  I insisted on flying be instruments.  The simulator starts out mid-flight.  The object of the challenge is to safely land the plane.  I had a real yoke and rudder controls.  I had control over the throttle.  I had brakes.  I didn’t have any flap control.  Off I went.  Flying by instruments, I was able to safely land the plane and taxi to a stop.  The operator was stunned.  That is until my wife told him I played MS Flight simulator for hours on end.  But then, a really weird thing happened.  All that encouragement that my dear wife gave me seemed to be a bit insincere.  After we walked away, she said more than once, “I can’t believe you landed that plane without crashing.”  I had to chuckle.  What else would she expect?  She was persuaded I could do it.  But she did not believe I could.

When it comes to salvation or any truth for that matter, there is a wide chasm that separates persuasion and faith.  As a well-known tract publishes, salvation can be only 18 inches away.  The distance between your brain and heart.  We can understand, comprehend, and accept the truth.  It is another matter altogether to trust it.  We can examine it, prove it, and declare it.  That doesn’t mean we trust it.  Jesus died for our sins.  He did so for each individual.  We stand condemned before a holy God with no hope of self-vindication.  The list of infractions is almost infinite.  We fall short of God’s standard of holiness and because of the nature of our wickedness, deserve to burn in a Devil’s hell forever.  The only hope is that which Chris did on Calvary.  We can understand all this but still be lost.  We must humbly accept the gift of salvation as our only hope.  Then and only then does persuasion mature into faith.  What is true about salvation is also true of all truth.  Knowing it to be true is one thing.  Being willing to depend upon it is another.