“Our Conscience”

BIBLE READING: Romans 14

               The story is told of a magic ring among the ancients which had the appearance of any other ring, but which was possessed of extraordinary qualities.  Whenever an evil thought passed through the mind of the man who wore the ring, or when he was tempted to do evil, the ring pressed painfully upon his finger.  This is only a story, but each of us does have such a “ring” – the conscience.  We should respect it.

               A small boy defined conscience as, “Something that makes you tell your mother before your sister does.”  Conscience is an umpire.  The umpire reacts on the basis of values previously acquired.  An umpire without knowledge of standards is a poor umpire.  The conscience is not a guide.  It is an umpire that reacts on the basis of previously acquired standards.

               Romans 14 deals a lot with the issue of conscience and how we relate to our brothers and sisters in Christ.  But how important is conscience?  The Bible gives us a sound principle to apply to all situations: We should never violate the conscience.  If there is a questionable matter before us, we should follow the course of action in which there is no doubt.  Here is the principle: “The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God.  Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves… and whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:22-23).  The Bible describes those who violate the conscience continually as, “seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron” (1 Timothy 4:2).  Repeated violation of the conscience will result in no feeling of right or wrong.

               If our training has been correct, then the conscience will react at the right time and in the right way, on the basis of that training.  But if our training is lacking, the conscience may not react at all.  For example, Paul persecuted Christians because he believed it to be the right thing to do (Acts 7:57-8:3).  Later, he said, “…I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day” (Acts 23:1).  He admitted his error but pointed out that his actions were in good conscience.  It is possible to have a good conscience and be in error.

               Conscience is not a guide (basis of right and wrong) in religious matters, just as it is not a safe guide in other matters.  When traveling the highways, we do not follow conscience about the road to take; we use a road map.  In matters of health, we do not follow conscience; we go to a reliable source.  In religious matters we must follow the only reliable guide – God’s Word.