On the basis of Scripture our dogmaticians speak also of continued conversion, that is, of that conversion which continues throughout the life of the believer, Matt. 18, 3. The need of continued conversion is based upon the fact that the regenerate are not fully sanctified, but retain the Old Adam, Heb. 12, 1; Rom. 7, 21. 23, so that because of the sinfulness of their flesh and the manifold actual sins flowing therefrom they must live in “daily repentance,” Rom. 6, 3—6. It is this “daily repentance” with which “continued conversion” (continued regeneration, resuscitation, illumination) must be identified. (Poenitentia continuata sive quotidiana est dolor hominis iam conversi de residua ad peccandum proclivitate et vitiositate.)
Holy Scripture distinguishes sharply between the first conversion (conversio prima) j by which the unregenerate becomes a believer in Christ, and the continued conversion (conversio secunda) of the believer, 1 Pet. 2, 25 (cp. also v. 10), which extends throughout his life, Ps. 51, 1—12. The conversio prima is complete when the believer is endowed with the first spark of faith (scintillula fidei), while his conversio secunda is never complete as long as he lives in this world, Rom. 7, 24. In the first conversion man is purely passive (mere passivus), but in the second he cooperates with the Holy Ghost according to the "new man” (ἔσω ἄνϑρωπος; καινὸς ἄνϑρωπος, Eph. 4, 24), implanted in him in his first conversion, Gal. 5, 17. 24; Rom. 7, 22. 25. The second conversion must never be mingled with the first, as some synergists have done in the interest of denying the pure passive of the first conversion, by which the unregenerate becomes a believer. (Cp. Pieper, Christl. Dogmatik, II, 559 ff.)