God's Glory Revealed Through True Conversion

Paul writes, "They glorified God in me" (Galatians 1:24), declaring that genuine conversion displays Elohim's transformative power. Exell identifies how the term "conversion" suffers constant misapplication—a Chinaman becoming American, a philosopher abandoning materialism, or someone transferring denominational membership. Yet biblical conversion means something wholly different and divinely wrought.

True conversion (metanoia—a complete turning around) involves three inseparable movements, each authored by God. First comes the sense of estrangement from Yahweh—a conviction no human psychology can manufacture. The converted soul recognizes the distance between itself and its Creator. Second, desire for reconciliation springs spontaneously, like springs fed by rain and dew that would dry without Adonai's provision. No human heart can pump forth such longing from its estranged condition. Third follows the determination to return—a journey of soul measured not in time but in transformation.

Here dwells God's glory: both conscious and unconscious influence of converted persons perpetually testifies, "Let God be glorified." When affections turn from former loves, when will abandons its old purposes, when life becomes the perfect contrast to what preceded—this Divine impulse reshapes the entire person. Every element belongs to Elohim's work alone. The Galatian churches witnessed this metamorphosis in Paul and consequently glorified the God who alone accomplishes such radical renewal.