Where In The  Bible Will I Find: How The Holy Spirit Converts? By:  Gary Colley Date:  May 6, 2001 Past/Future Articles

We have long believed that if anyone is every saved it will be by the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit operates upon the heart of the winner in conversion, but it also declares that the Holy Spirit exercises His influence through the written Word.  The Holy Spirit and the Word are not the same anymore than God and His Word are the same, but the Word is the instrument through which these operate on man's heart today.  The same Truth is used in every conversation of the First Century A. D. in the New Testament, as well as every conversion today (Mark 16:15-16, Hebrews 4:12).  While there is no conversation without the Holy Spirit, there is no operation of the Holy Spirit in conversion independent of God's Word.  Often the same things are ascribed to the Word in conversion that are independent to the Holy Spirit's work in conversion.  Notice several things that are said to be done by the Holy Spirit and the Word in conversion.

THINGS THAT ARE DONE BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE WORD IN CONVERSION

    1.  They both ENLIGHTEN.  ". . .the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes"
         (Psalm 19:8).
    2.  They both CONVERT.  "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul" (Psalm 19:7).
    3.  They both GIVE LIGHT.  "The entrance of thy words giveth light" (Psalm 119:130).
    4.  They both GIVE UNDERSTANDING.  "Through thy precepts I get understanding"
         (Psalm 119:104).
    5.  They both SAVE.  ". . . receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your
         souls" (James 1:21).
    6.  They both PURIFY.  "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the
         Spirit . . ." (I Peter 1:22).
    7.  They both PRODUCE FAITH.  "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of
         God" (Romans 10:17).
    8.  They both are SPIRIT AND LIFE.  ". . . the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and
         they are life" (John 6:63).
    9.  They both JUDGE US.  ". . . the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last
         day" (John 12:48).

From these and other verses of the New Testament, we conclude that the Holy Spirit uses His Word to convert the souls of men today.