1 Corinthians 8:7-13 “However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. (8) But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. (9) But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. (10) For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol's temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? (11) And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? (12) But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. (13) Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.”
We have already looked at the above quoted passage of scripture to show that it is possible for believers to weaken their consciences. Nevertheless in this passage the apostle Paul is teaching us that it is also possible for believers to weaken the consciences of fellow believers. In this passage the apostle Paul speaks about Christians who still worshipped idols because they were new believers and were therefore still ignorant in many areas of their Christian walk. In this passage Paul tells us that the reason that they were able to worship idols even though they were Christians was because their consciences were weak. In other words even though their consciences would have tried to convict them of the wrongful practice of worshipping idols, because of the weak neural pathways between their conscience and the rest of their brain the voice of their conscience was being drowned out so to speak. We have seen earlier that many believers come into the kingdom of God with weak consciences, and it is therefore easier for those believers to ignore their conscience, simply because the conviction from their conscience is weak. Paul then goes on in this passage to teach us that Christians, who have knowledge and are not influenced by idol worship, should do all that they can to bring their brothers out of their bondage and not do things that would further wound their already weak consciences. What is important to understand here with regards to the conscience, is that Paul tells us that it is possible for believers who have knowledge to wound the consciences of weak believers, if through their behaviour, they don’t take into account the weakness of their brother’s conscience. This principle obviously not only applies to idol worship, but any other action that knowledgeable believers take in the presence of weak brethren.
1 Timothy 4:1-2 “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, (2) speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.”
It is entirely possible for believers to ignore their consciences to the point where their consciences become completely ineffectual in convicting that believer of sin. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul reveals this truth to us. The individuals referred to in this passage were once in the faith and had since departed from the faith. So why is that? The bible says that they had given heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. That did not happen overnight, i.e. they did not wake up one morning and decide that they were no longer going to follow Jesus, and now they were going to follow demons. The bible says that their consciences had become seared with a hot iron. In other words at one time they started paying attention to doctrines of deceiving spirits and their consciences convicted them not to do so. But as time went on they continued to ignore their consciences, and slowly their consciences became more and more wounded. These believers, described by Paul in his letter, had reached the point where their consciences had become completely seared. Natural tissue that is seared with a hot iron no longer has any feeling, because all of the nerve endings have been destroyed. In the brain the principle is exactly the same, for the neural pathways between the conscience and the rest of the brain eventually become completely severed. Because the conscience of a believer that has become seared in this manner is no longer able to convict them of sin anymore, the believers that reach this stage will therefore commit the sin to death (1 John 5:16) and thus depart from the faith.
Michael E.B. Maher
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