Conscience: What does the Bible tell us about it?
The heart of man, his innermost being, is said to be the location of his conscience.
Romans 2:14-15
14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law [speaking of the Law of Moses], do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience [SUNEIDESIS = conscience] also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) [Emphasis added]
We are warned that someday we’ll all be judged in accordance with how we violated our conscience and Paul’s gospel.
Romans 2:16
16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. [Emphasis added]
Why does Paul speak of it as HIS gospel? Don’t most churchgoers believe there’s only one gospel? Again, what is Paul talking about when he speaks of HIS gospel? Was it somehow different from what Peter and the other apostles preached? Yes! They were very different. Please see my articles about that. Just click the link given below to reach the article you’d like to read.
Gospels: Did Peter & Paul preach the same gospel?
Gospel: Where did Paul get the one he preached?
Until you understand this one principle your spiritual growth will be quite limited. That’s why it is so important that you understand this. So, please invest some time in studying these articles I’ve written about this.
Even though we’re sometimes caused to wonder if even every unbeliever has a conscience with norms or standards of some sort, it can be filled with many WRONG norms and standards. Among other things, the existence of a conscience in all people of one kind or another serves to prove the existence of God. The fact that people universally believe there are rights and wrongs demonstrates to us all that somewhere there must be an Absolute Right. That “place” where such exists is in God. This is one of the many reasons mankind needs God to show him the correct standards he needs to hold. Some of our standards may be correct apart from God, but many are not. All these many right standards must be acquired through one’s study of the Scriptures.
Isaiah 55:8-9
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. [Emphasis added]
It is the Bible that we need to study to help us establish an ongoing good and clear conscience. We can all do that through our intake and application of God’s Word that He has provided for us in the 66 books of the Bible. Note in this next passage what all mankind is to do.
Proverbs 3:3-6
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. [Emphasis added]
By having a good conscience that’s established through Biblical principles, coinciding with the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can perform God’s will for us, be pleasing to Him, and even be rewarded for it in eternity. But for all this to happen, a person must be a faithful student of the Bible, not just a casual reader. Otherwise, a person’s ignorance and lack of application of these truths and more will ruin what could have been a great life for them on earth, ending with wonderful rewards in Heaven. For more details about the rewards, please see my article about it—
Rewards: For what will God wish to reward you in eternity?
Sometimes people are told to just let their conscience be their guide in their decision-making. But that’s only good advice if the person has taken the time to develop a conscience with divine norms and standards. That takes more than just some casual and infrequent reading of the Bible. We must develop and maintain consistency in diligently studying it with an ongoing objective to “rightly divide” it in our understanding and application of it.
2 Timothy 2:15
15 Study [SPOUDAZO = be diligent] to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. [Emphasis added]
Apart from doing this, the conscience of even believers becomes “defiled” because of one’s rejection of God and the authority of His Word over one’s life. This is certainly true of “religious” unbelievers who think of themselves as ones who are saved, and Heaven bound but are not.
Titus 2:15-16
15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate [ADOKIMOS = not standing the test]. [Emphasis added]
Can you always tell if a person is saved by their actions? No, you cannot because the Bible tells us carnal believers can think and act just like unbelievers when they’re allowing their sinful nature to control them. Note what the apostle Paul told believers, the “saints” [1 Corinthians 1:1-2] in the Corinthian church. Note carefully what Paul says to these “babes in Christ.”
1 Corinthians 3:1-3
1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? [Emphasis added]
To “walk as men” is to think and live like unbelievers. Note what Paul even said about his own nature—
Romans 7:18
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will [THELO = the desire] is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. [Emphasis added]
Despite his best efforts, Paul realized he was still a sinner to the day he died. Many self-righteous believers refuse to admit that about themselves.
Those who reject God and His truth become hardened in their resistance to God’s will and end up with an evil conscience. No one is ever born that way; they gain it by sustained personal resistance to the truth. The resistance creates a hardening effect on their conscience.
Ephesians 4:17-24
17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk [a command for them to stop functioning like unbelievers], in the vanity of their mind,
18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
19 Who being past feeling HAVE GIVEN THEMSELVES OVER unto lasciviousness [ASELGEIA = denotes excess, unrestrained living], to work all uncleanness [a reference to all kinds of sinfulness] with greediness [the frantic search for happiness apart from God].
20 But ye have not so learned Christ;
We don’t acquire such thinking through Christ. It comes through the function of our own sinful nature.
21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation [ANASTROPHE = behavior] the old man [a term used to refer to one’s sinful nature], which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that ye put on the new man [a reference to the Spirit of God working in us], which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. [Emphasis added]
Much more can be said about this passage as it relates to every one of us. But we’ll save that discussion for another time.
Romans 2:5
5 But after thy hardness and impenitent [AMETANOETOS = unchanged] heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; [Emphasis added]
This is a primary reason why an electronic lie detector is not always reliable. The habitual liar can create a false reading because of the callousness of his heart. Their conscience in their heart has been so hardened by repeated sins. An objective of the teaching of God’s Word is to give the believer a “good” and “pure” conscience that’s quick to recognize evil and successfully address it. An important part of the outcome of one’s faithfulness to God’s Word is a “pure heart” and a “good conscience.”
1 Timothy 1:5
5 Now the end [speaking of the result or outcome] of the commandment is charity [AGAPE = love] out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned [HUPOCRISIS = non-hypocritical]: [Emphasis added]
As God’s people we don’t need to just pretend to do the right things; we’re to DO them! All this is a matter of choice on our part. We all need to be determined to build a solid good conscience and live by it.
1 Timothy 1:18-20
18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;
19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
This tells us these people who choose not to follow these instructions become what we might call casualties in the Christian way of life. They are Christians but they don’t think and act like it.
20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme [BLASPHEMEO = revile or slander]. [Emphasis added]
We find in Scripture that those who serve as deacons in a local church must understand and believe the apostle Paul’s doctrine pertaining to the mystery. There are several articles on this website that explain this marvelous truth that every believer needs to know, but especially those in leadership positions—
Mystery: What is this Secret that Paul wrote about?
Mystery: What is the key to understanding the Bible?
Mystery: What is the fellowship of the mystery?
1 Timothy 3:8-9
8 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;
9 Holding the mystery of the faith in A PURE CONSCIENCE. [Emphasis added]
How many deacons, let alone elders or pastors today do you suppose would be disqualified from serving because of their ignorance of this one item—the doctrine of The Mystery as revealed by the apostle Paul?
People with what the Bible calls “a weak conscience” are ones who’ve not reached a mature understanding of the things we’re free to do as well as those things we’re commanded not to do. Spiritual growth and resultant maturity give us the conscience with the norms and standards God wants us to have.
1 Corinthians 8:7
7 Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. [Emphasis added]
Here we see that believers in Corinth found themselves in a lot of controversy about eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Some believed they should not eat it while others knew they were free to partake of it. However, under the law of love, Paul wanted them to abstain to protect the conscience of weaker believers by not partaking in it.
1 Corinthians 8:8-9
8 But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.
9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. [Emphasis added]
Those who one way or another teach God’s Word need to do so with a clear conscience, being faithful themselves to apply what they teach. We should all be meticulous about being a good example so that we’re always able to honestly say what we see the apostle Paul saying about himself.
Acts 23:1
1 And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. [Emphasis added]
That doesn’t mean that he thought he was sinless, but generally faithful to what he knew. Paul didn’t want to be as he’d seen others on this.
2 Corinthians 2:17
17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ. [Emphasis added]
2 Corinthians 4:1-2
1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. [Emphasis added]
Paul wanted everything he said to be the truth and only the truth. He never wanted to be anything but a great example to all the people he served.
2 Timothy 1:3
3 I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; [Emphasis added]
Without a clear conscience one’s teaching becomes weak and filled with hypocrisy.
Example: A pastor not teaching those principles he himself violates.
Example: A parent failing to teach things he himself doesn’t abide by. Furthermore, he may be lenient in punishing a child for things he doesn’t practice himself.
Hypocrisy and the practice of double standards are to be avoided. In all matters, to have a clear conscience, we’re to be working at primarily pleasing God, not just people.
1 Thessalonians 2:4
4 But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts. [Emphasis added]
Those who habitually live by the Word of God have a clear conscience, causing shame in those who would falsely accuse them of wrongdoing.
1 Peter 3:15-16
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation [ANASTROPHE = behavior] in Christ. [Emphasis added]
Our conscience is something that expresses itself toward both God and man.
Acts 24:16
16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void to offence toward God, and toward men. [Emphasis added]
1 Peter 2:19
19 For this is thankworthy [CHARIS = grace], if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. [Emphasis added]
What this verse is saying is that we should treat people graciously even when they don’t deserve it. Isn’t that how God has treated us and is now treating us? Shouldn’t we work to emulate that in our relations with others and in our treatment of them?
The mature believe has the very conscience of God because he lives by His standard in his conduct.
2 Corinthians 1:12
12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity [HAPLOTES = simplicity or sincerity] and godly sincerity [EILIKRINA = sincerity or purity] , not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation [ANASTROPHE = behavior] in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward. [Emphasis added]
Personal sins are a burden to the conscience of the ignorant believer, not realizing or knowing He’s been forgiven of all his sins.
Ephesians 1:7
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; [Emphasis added]
We didn’t earn or deserve this forgiveness, but it was provided for us when Christ paid the full penalty for all our sins on the cross of Calvary. What a relief to one’s conscience it is to know that! It is this that should motivate us to want to serve Him every remaining day of our lives. For more information about our forgiveness please see my articles about it—
Forgiveness: Are the sins of everyone forgiven?
Forgiveness: How complete is it?
Forgiveness: What is the “gotcha” passage?
Forgiveness: What should we conclude about it from Scripture?
Having a clear conscience causes us to be confident in our relations with others. It creates in us a new and totally different attitude. So much of why people think and act the way they do is due to what’s going on in their conscience. What relief and joy is provided when we know we’re completely forgiven by the grace of God! People walking around with a guilt complex are walking timebombs that can explode at any moment, causing suffering to all around them. But knowing we’re forgiven and having a clear conscience opens doors of opportunity to be of service to others. The apostle Peter provides us with some words of wisdom about all this—
1 Peter 3:15-16
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation ANASTROPHE = behavior] in Christ. [Emphasis added]
Do YOU have a clear conscience? Are you harboring guilt over various things? Do you not realize that God has forgiven you of all your sins? Shouldn’t you now forgive yourself for your foolishness? Who is being affected by your attitude? Don’t you think it’s time to accept your forgiveness and even offer it to others who’ve hurt you?
Ephesians 4:31-32
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
All this is a part of what it takes to build a good conscience. Such is not a matter of can or can’t; it is a matter of your will. If you’ll choose to do this each day, you can. By the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word in your life, it can all be done.
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. [Emphasis added]
This is not an unreasonable command. One step at a time you can make the applications. Why not begin right now! You’ll have a clear conscience if you do, knowing you’re choosing each day to work at doing what our Lord asked of you.
