Romans 2:15 “who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.”
And so we see that from the moment that Adam sinned, that man’s conscience became an integral part of man’s being. We have seen that when they ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil that the eyes of their consciences were opened. The eyes of man’s conscience were not opened to be able to simply distinguish between good and evil however. In other words it was not a passive intellectual knowledge that man received when he partook of this fruit. It was an active knowledge of knowing to choose that which is good and reject that which is evil, for their immediate response to the knowledge of their nakedness was to try covering themselves. For now in their sinful condition, their conscience convicted them of the sin of walking naked in the presence of God. In the passage of scripture quoted above the apostle Paul, in writing to the church at Rome, also teaches us that man’s conscience is given to him to guide him to choose good over evil. In this passage the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul teaches us that the spirit of the born-again believer and their conscience work together, to either convict the believer of wrong doing or agree with the believer when they do that which is right. Because of this particular truth many assume that the spirit and the conscience are one and the same thing. That assumption is completely erroneous however, because as far as unbelievers are concerned their spirit and their conscience will always be completely contrary to each other. As far as believers are concerned however, while it is true that their conscience will never disagree with their spirit, it is not true that their conscience will always agree with their spirit. So why is that? The reason for that is because the conscience performs one role only, i.e. to guide mankind to do that which is good and reject that which is evil, and in this role the conscience and the born-again spirit are always in agreement. The spirit of the believer however will guide the saint in every area of life. For example the spirit of the believer will guide the saint to make correct choices in life which are neither good nor evil, but merely beneficial to the saint when they make the right choice. In those instances the conscience of the believer remains silent, for it has no role to play. And so we see from this passage that the function of the conscience is simply to guide mankind to do that which is right and reject any wrongdoing.
1 Timothy 1:5 “Now the purpose of the commandment is love, from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul tells us that the love of God can only function from a good conscience. A good conscience is one that does not convict us of sin. This means that we have to be obedient to our conscience as it guides us to do that which is good and to shun evil. Although Paul is speaking to believers in this passage of scripture the same principle applies to all men, in that all men should always strive to have a good conscience.
Romans 9:1 “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit.”
The way that our conscience operates is that it will convict us if we do that which is evil, or it will bear witness (agree) with us if we do that which is good. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul stated that his conscience was confirming that he was not lying, for our conscience will always convict us if we lie because lying is evil. And so in this manner the apostle Paul always ensured that he did not violate his conscience in any way, for he had learned that his conscience was a safe guide given to him by the Lord to keep him away from sin and steer him toward righteousness.
Romans 13:1-5 “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. (2) Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. (3) For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. (4) For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. (5) Therefore, you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit teaches us that obeying the authorities which God has put in place, will have the effect of our conscience bearing witness with our spirits that what we are doing is right. Conversely, the Holy Spirit is also implying that our conscience will convict us if we disobey authorities, because it is wrong to rebel against the authorities that God has put in place. And so we can see from these passages of scripture that the function of the conscience is to guide mankind to do that which is good and reject doing that which is evil. It is important to note that our conscience only acknowledges what God says is good and what God says is evil and reacts accordingly. The reason for that is because it was the fruit of tree of knowledge of good and evil that God had planted that awakened the conscience of mankind.
Michael E.B. Maher
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