"Conversion" Described

I don't think I've come across a better way to describe a sinner's conversion to Christ than J.I. Packer:

Knowing oneself to be a sinner, and Christ to have died for sinners; abandoning all self-righteousness and self-confidence, and casting oneself wholly upon him for pardon and peace; and exchanging one’s natural enmity and rebellion against God for a spirit of grateful submission to the will of Christ through the renewing of one’s heart by the Holy Ghost (“Saved By His Precious Blood: An Introduction to John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ”).

Note, this description involves the intellect: ("knowing"); it involves the will ("abandoning," "casting," "exchanging," and "submission"); and it involves the affections: ("grateful submission"). In other words, a true, Spirit wrought conversion to Christ involves our whole person. It should not surprise us that conversion is holistic because it is graciously and effectually achieved through the renewing of one's heart by the Holy Spirit.

In other words, even our conversion is all of grace. Soli Deo Gloria!