Editorial
From the Newsletter of Revesby Presbyterian Church
July 2007
Rev Dr Peter Barnes
Every so often, the word ‘conscience’ parades across the public stage. In recent times this has been associated with the practice of occasionally allowing a conscience vote in the state parliament, although it is not immediately obvious that conscience votes have proved to be any more inspiring than the usual party-line votes. As might be expected, the Bible has much to say on the issue of conscience, and Westminster Confession asserts boldly that ‘God alone is Lord of the conscience’ (WCF, XX, ii).
A good conscience is something to be prized.
The apostles set great store by a good conscience. Paul declared that he was innocent of the blood of all people because he did not shrink from declaring the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26-27). To Felix the governor, Paul declared: ‘I take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man’ (Acts 24:16; see too Acts 23:1; 2 Tim.1:3). The journey towards a clear conscience begins with a recognition of our sin and what God has done in Christ to deal with it. To cite John Newton:
With my burden I begin:
Lord, remove this load of sin;
Let Thy blood, for sinners spilt,
Set my conscience free from guilt.
The book of Hebrews possesses a yet greater authority, and in it we read: ‘For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?’ (Heb.9:13-14) It is the blood of Christ that gives the Christian a clear conscience – hence the admonition: ‘let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.’ (Heb.10:22)
In the midst of all his rancorous disputes with the congregation at Corinth, Paul could testify: ‘But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me’ (1 Cor.4:3-4). If we know the free grace of Christ in acquitting us before God, and then His ongoing grace each day, we will possess something very precious – a clear conscience. As Robert Candlish put it: ‘I cannot look my God in the face if I cannot look myself in the face.’
So important is the conscience that even one that is ill-informed is to be respected. Christians are allowed to eat meat that has been offered first to some idol but not if this will harm the conscience of someone else, be he Christian, Jew or pagan (1 Cor.10:28-29). In the late nineteenth century John Henry Newman gained some notoriety amongst his fellow Roman Catholics by declaring that if he were obliged to bring religion into after-dinner toasts, he would drink ‘to the Pope, if you please – still, to Conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards.’ There are few things more consoling than a settled conscience and few things more
excruciating than an accusing one.
Conscience is not infallible.
Yet, as we have already seen, conscience is not our final authority; there is something above it. John tells us that ‘whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything’ (1 John 3:20). Despite Calvin’s view, it seems that John here is referring to the morbid conscience, one that is overly sensitive. In 1 Corinthians, however, Paul raises the possibility of possessing a conscience that is not sensitive enough. Paul was not aware of any failure on his part with regard to his apostolic duties, but added that he was not thereby acquitted (1 Cor.4:4). A conscience may so sensitive as to devise its own torture chamber, or, in contrast, it may be so insensitive as to fail to see the elephant on the path.
All humanity – Christian or otherwise – possesses conscience which bears witness to the law of God which is written upon all our hearts (Rom.2:15). This means that even those who refuse to believe the claims of Christ are not devoid of conscience. The scribes and Pharisees once brought an adulterous woman to Jesus in order to test and accuse Him, but when Jesus declared, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first’, they were convicted by their consciences and slunk away (John 8:7-9). That episode reveals that the conscience can be at work even when the Holy Spirit has not regenerated a sinner. It is a stage removed from the point where the conscience can be described as ‘seared’ (1 Tim.4:2).
The conscience is subject to the Word of God.
When Robinson Crusoe began to build an enclosure for his goats, the first problem that he faced was that it would be so large that those animals that were inside it would remain as wild as those outside. The same can be true for the conscience. I once met a fellow who boasted to me as to how he was pressing on with the Lord, and then added he would be away for the weekend at a Madonna concert. Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones lamented: ‘I have known a drunken man tell me that he is relying upon the Cross’. An adulterous woman who says to herself, ‘I have done no wrong’ is greatly deluded (Prov.30:20), as was the rich young ruler who thought he had kept the commandments from his youth (Luke 18:18-21).
In short, conscience is a voice of God, but because of our fallenness, it is not the voice of God. A conscience vote does not guarantee a vote for goodness or decency. The apostle Peter writes: ‘But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defence to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed’ (1 Pet.3:15-16). A good conscience is good, but the Word of God is perfect.
With warmest regards in Christ,
Peter Barnes