An often misunderstood - and perhaps even offensive word used to describe stepping into faith in the Christian walk is the word conviction. Like it’s root word “convict” it implies that one is guilty of something. The dictionary definition of convict is to prove or find guilty of an offense, to declare guilty of wrongdoing -but there are two other alternate word meanings which also apply.

One is to convince or persuade someone of a fact and recognize the truth of it . Actually in both definitions, this is true of what it means before God to be “convicted”.

Today’s scripture verse exemplifies both of these definitions in a profound and duplicated way. The accusers of the woman caught in adultery were themselves convinced that they also had made mistakes and were also persuaded in their hearts that this was true. However words like convict when studied more deeply yield an even more surprising secret once dissected. Like so many English words, this word is a compound of two Latin parts: