conscience

Eternal redemption

Passover was a key celebration for the Jews that was established the night they were delivered from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12:1-13) and continued through to the night before Jesus’ crucifixion (Matthew 26:17-25). On the first Passover, the Israelites were instructed to kill and eat a lamb that was “without blemish, a male a year old” (Exodus 12:5) and to “take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it…The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:13). The blood on the doorposts and the lintel of the houses was a sign that the people inside had been redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Hebrews 9:22 tells us that “under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Jesus’ disciples prepared the Passover meal for him, not knowing that he was going to be crucified the next day. It says in Matthew 26:26-29:

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Jesus’ institution of what is now referred to as the Lord’s Supper was intended to replace Passover as the key celebration of God’s people. Paul indicated in his first letter to the Corinthians that he had received instruction from Jesus to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of him, “until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

The redemption that Jesus provided through the shedding of his blood was different than that of the Passover lamb because it was a permanent solution to the human problem of sin (Hebrews 10:13). It says in Hebrews 9:11-14:

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Jesus’ sacrifice is described here as an eternal redemption that is able to purify our conscience from dead works. The Greek word that is translated conscience, suneidesis (soon-iˊ-day-sis) means “co-perception, i.e. moral consiousness” (G4893). The conscience makes it possible for us see things the way God does. The conscience is “that faculty of the soul which distinguishes between right and wrong and prompts one to choose the former and avoid the latter (John 8:9; Romans 2:15; 9:1; 13:5; 1 Corinthians 10:25, 27-29; 2 Corinthians 1:12; 8:7; 1 Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:15; Hebrews 9:9, 14; 10:2, 22).”

Jesus is described as the mediator of a new covenant in Hebrews 9:15. A mediator is a “gobetween…one who intervenes between two parties” (G3316). Christ is our intercessor, a reconciler between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5) because he redeems people from the violation of God’s law (Hebrews 9:15). Hebrews 9:22 tells us, “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Hebrews 9:23-28 goes on to explain, “Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”

Our eternal redemption is only partially realized here on earth. Sanctification, the process of restoring the divine image of God in man, is completed at death, when the Lord returns for our bodies. “Once we die and go and be with the Lord, our sanctification is completed in one sense, for our souls are set free from indwelling sin and are made perfect (glorification). However, since sanctification involves the whole person, including our bodies, it will not be entirely completed until the Lord returns, and we receive new resurrection bodies (Philippians 3:21)” (Fundamentals 2024, pg. 33). Paul spoke of this in his first letter to the Corinthians. Paul said, “For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:53-57).

Living in harmony

Paul indicated that one of the marks of a true Christian is living in harmony with those around you (Romans 12:16) and said, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:17). Paul expanded on this topic when he talked about the example of Christ. Paul said, “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves” (Romans 15:1). The Greek word that is translated failings asthenema (as-thenˊ-ay-mah) refers to “a scruple of conscience” (G771), so Paul was talking about a person with a strong conscience being obligated to tolerate the behavior of a person whose conscience is less developed. Paul was talking about this because he had just said, “it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats” (Romans 14:20) in reference to eating meat sacrificed to idols (1 Corinthians 8). Paul’s comment about not pleasing ourselves had to do with the Christian liberty that allows believers the freedom of acting according to their own conscience (Romans 8:1-2).  

A stumbling block is an offence that causes a believer to sin or fall away from the truth of God’s word (G4625). Paul explained that not every believer has the same knowledge of God’s word, therefore, a person might not think something is a sin when it really is. Paul said of eating food sacrificed to idols, “For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble” (1 Corinthians 8:10-13). Paul indicated that wounding someone’s conscience is a sin against Christ. That is because a weak conscience when it is activated by the wrong criteria produces shame and has to be retrained according to biblical standards (1 Corinthians 8:1-10).

Paul referred to the principle of edification or the building up of the body of Christ as the reason for not pleasing ourselves when we make a choice to do something that might cause a fellow believer to stumble. Paul said:

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. (Romans 15:2-7)

Paul indicated that living in harmony is a gift from God. In the same way that gifts of the Spirit enable individual Christians to minister to one another (1 Corinthians 12), so living in harmony promotes the collective growth of the church or body of Christ (Ephesians 4:15-16).

The Greek word that is translated harmony in Romans 12:16 and 15:5, phroneo (fron-ehˊ-0) comes from the word phren (frane), which means “to think, have a mind-set, be minded. The activity represented by phroneo involves the will, affections, and conscience” (G5426). Thus, harmony could be thought of as a type of collective conscience or what Paul referred to in 1 Corinthians 2:16 as “the mind of Christ.” Jesus used the Greek word sumphoneo (soom-fo-nehˊ-o), which means “to be harmonious” (G4856) to refer to an agreement between two or more individuals (Matthew 18:19; 20:2). Thinking like someone else is necessary for you to reach an agreement. The Bible was meant to be the impetus for agreement between Christians because it established a set of known facts that were universal. And yet, there is often disagreement about the meaning of the Bible’s content and the reliability of its sources.

The mind of Christ is not so much a set of facts that everyone agrees on as it is a mindset or way of thinking for believers that distinguishes them from others and unifies them in their beliefs. Paul identified this mindset as one of humility in his letter to the Philippians. Philippians 2:1-8 states:

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Paul said that believers are to count others more significant than themselves and to look not only to their own interests, but also to the interests of others (Philippians 2:3-4). Paul indicated that the way Jesus obtained this mindset was by humbling himself and becoming obedient to his Father’s will (Philippians 2:8).

Living in harmony is easy when everyone does their part, but Paul’s final instructions indicated that was not the case in Rome. Paul said, “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naïve” (Romans 16:17-18). Paul’s sharp criticism of those in the Roman church who were causing divisions and deceiving unsuspecting Christians was based on his experience with conflict in other churches such as the ones in Corinth (1 Corinthians 6:5-6) and Philippi (Philippians 4:2).

Paul’s final comment suggested that the key to living in harmony is to be clear about what is good and what is evil. Paul said, “I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil” (Romans 16:19). The Greek word that is translated innocent, akeraios (ak-erˊ-ah-yos) means “unmixed” (G185). What Paul likely meant by being unmixed was that you can’t compromise your values if your goal is to live in harmony. Regarding sexual immorality defiling the Corinthian church, Paul stated, “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (1 Corinthians 5:1-6). Paul went on to say, “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

A clear conscience

The Mosaic Law and its corresponding religious system which was put in place when the Israelites were delivered from bondage in Egypt were only meant to be an example of God’s forgiveness of sins. They were a foreshadowing of things that were to take place in the future. The writer of the book of Hebrews pointed out that a physical system of sacrifice was flawed because it could not permanently remove the effects of sin (Hebrews 8:7-9). He explained, “Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience” (Hebrews 9:6-9)

The ultimate goal of God’s plan of salvation was the perfecting of the human conscience. The Greek word translated conscience in Hebrews 9:9 is suneidesis (soon-i’-day-sis). “Suneidesis literally means ‘a-knowing,’ a co-knowledge with one’s self, the witness borne to one’s conduct by conscience, that faculty by which we apprehend the will of God, as that which is designed to govern our lives. The word is stressing that we receive input from our surroundings [temptations, decision-making events, etc.] and we are driven to make a decision. We compare what we know with our conscience [con — ‘with’ , science — ‘knowledge’], our knowledge base about this input. If we follow our conscience we act according to what we know to be true about the situation and the consequences/blessings of our decision. We can violate our conscience by overriding that knowledge” (G4893). The reason why the New Covenant was a better covenant was because God said that he would “put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts” (Hebrews 8:10). When we are born again, God gives us the ability to discern his will and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the power to do what our conscience tells us to.

The effect of Jesus’ death on the cross was a complete cleansing or purging of guilt from every believer’s heart. The writer of Hebrews explained that the blood of Jesus was able to do what the blood of animal sacrifices could not. He said, “For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:13-14). Jesus’ sacrifice of himself was able to “remove sin’s defilement from the very core of our beings” (note on Hebrews 9:14). The key to accomplishing this was Jesus’ entrance into heaven and appearance before God as the intercessor for all mankind. It says in Hebrews 9:26-28, “But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

Guilty conscience

While Jesus was teaching in God’s temple, the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman to him that they said, “was taken in adultery, in the very act” (John 8:4). The religious leaders hoped to trap Jesus in a situation where he would say or do something that contradicted his own teaching and make himself out to be a hypocrite like they were. The men that brought the adulteress to Jesus suggested that she should be stoned according to the Mosaic Law, but Jesus’ compassion for the woman caused him to say to them, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:7). The phrase “without sin” means without any sin. In other words, Jesus was making sinlessness a requirement for executing judgment against the woman that had committed adultery. It says in John 8:9, “And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.”

Jesus used the example of these men’s guilty consciences to teach the Pharisees a lesson about his divine purpose as the savior of the world. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). The Pharisees were used to condemning others for their sins against God, but Jesus wanted them to know that it wasn’t necessary for them to judge lawbreakers. God was able to bring conviction of sin, or give someone a guilty conscience, through the love and compassion of his son Jesus Christ. The two Greek terms Jesus used, phos (light) and scotia (darkness) were meant to show the contradiction between love and hate in our actions toward others. Scotia (skot-ee’-ah) is used of secrecy and describes a condition of moral or spiritual depravity. The men that condemned the adulteress might have been guilty of adultery themselves or some other crime that could be punished by death. It may have been their own guilty consciences that caused them to lash out at this woman and expose her to public humiliation.

Jesus’ statement, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12) was a declaration of his ability to expose the inner thoughts and feelings of people trapped in a lifestyle of sin. It says in John 8:9 that the men that wanted to stone the adulteress were convicted by their own consciences when they heard Jesus say, “He that is without sin among you.” The human conscience is a mechanism by which God is able to reveal his will to us (4893). The Greek word suneidesis (soon-i’-day-sis) means “co-perception.” Another way of saying it would be to see both sides of the story. We are usually aware of our own thoughts and feelings, but not those of others, and in particular, the thoughts and feelings of God are typically hidden from us or outside of our awareness, but our conscience enables us to see what God thinks about our behavior. After the men that were convicted by their own consciences left the scene, Jesus asked the adulteress, “Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?” (John 8:10). The woman’s response acknowledged her submission to Jesus’ authority. She said, “No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more” (John 8:11).

 

We all have a conscience

It’s easy to assume that a Godless person is also a lawless person, but that is actually not the case. Paul said in Romans 2:14-15, “For when the Gentile, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another…” The conscience inside every person bears witness to God’s law. Even if they have not been told it is wrong, everyone knows killing another person in wrong.

A person that does not violate his conscience will do well in life regardless of whether or not he has a relationship with God. The purpose of having a relationship with God is not so that you will know what is right, it is so that you will do what is right. It is possible to do what is right without the help of God, but every human effort will fail at some point because we are not perfect and have a sin nature.

The Edomites, the descendants of Jacob’s twin brother Esau were most likely good, hard working people. The only problem was that they married into a bad family. “Esau took wives of the daughters of Canaan” which means he brought himself under the curse issued by Noah. Esau made a conscious decision to do what he knew was wrong. For many years, hundreds of years, his descendants prospered and established a thriving community in the land that was to be inherited by his brother Jacob.

Esau’s intention was to beat the system. He thought he could keep his brother from receiving the blessing promised to him by joining forces with the Canaanites and teaching them how to do things right. In addition to kings that reigned over the people, Esau’s sons became dukes (1 Chronicles 1:51-54), guides that were familiar with the customs of the people that could through association teach them different ways of doing things (5021). Knowledge was transferred from generation to generation so that learning became a part of the lifestyle of the Canaanites and led them to increasingly successful practices over time.