Conversation – The internal talk and the internal thinking process expressing itself in your behavior; The outward expression of your inward thinking process.
God used this word 20 times in Scripture: twice to Israel in their Masoretic Text Old Testament; 7 times to the Body of Christ in the Gospel of Grace; and 11 times to Israel in their tribulation books of Hebrews thru Revelation.
The modern definition of conversation is actually verbal intercourse “A talk, especially an informal one, between two or more people, in which news and ideas are exchanged”.
To define conversation as simply “lifestyle” or “behavior” is to miss the richness and importance of the word that God chose to use. Conversation is the outward expression of your inward thinking process.
According to I Peter 1:15-20, people acquire their thinking process, which dictates their behavior, from the traditions of their fathers.
Although we are given the definition of conversation in I Peter 3:1-2, remember that I Peter is not our gospel or doctrine. I Peter is Israel’s doctrine and instruction for their survival in their Tribulation.
The doctrine for us today, in the Dispensation of Grace, concerning “conversation”, is found in Philippians 1:27-28 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; [28] And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.
Philippians 3:20-21 – For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: [21] Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
I Timothy 4:12 – Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
See also Whence,