>>6766
Conversion isnt vague. We know that it means the point where one becomes a Christian or acts in a manner that indicate it. The problem with your explanation here is that Stein never says that as part of salvation, the "conversion" part of belief is what Saves. His view in that article is that conversion includes all the elements of faith, repentance, baptism by water and receiving the Spirit, all of which happens very close to each other, in different orders and cannot be split apart from one another. This is evident when Stein says on baptism and faith in Titus,
"In Titus 3:4, after describing what the Christian was before placing his or her faith in Christ, Paul adds in verse 5 an important (and typically Pauline) “but” and states that “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior . . . .” In light of the fact that the readers of Titus had all been baptized and that such a rite clearly had nuances of washing (cf. Ac 22:16, 1 Co 6:11, Eph 5:26), the expression “washing of rebirth” is best understood as referring to the readers’ experience of conversion when they were baptized and received the Holy Spirit"
Your point would have some merit if Stein never used statements like this where in explaining the Salvation of the audience in Titus, baptismal language is used, and is a reference to the rite. That naturally entails that faith and baptism are together or that the moment one is put into Christ, one goes through the sequence he outlined at the beginning. Of course that said, Stein said that reception of the Holy Spirit comes by faith but he also says immediately after, that baptism and regeneration happen together in time. Also at the end of discussing the association of faith, repentance, baptism and regeneration, he mentions Romans 10:9 and said regarding it,
he is not saying that confession and faith unaccompanied by repentance, baptism, and the regenerating work of the Spirit will save. These last three, although not mentioned, are assumed!
This again is odd if what you said is true also of Stein's view.