In Romans 2:15, the apostle Paul teaches that the conscious enables people to judge their thoughts, words, and actions. The conscience can be over scrupulous (1 Cor. 10:25) or “seared” by abuse (1 Tim. 4:2). And it can be enlightened by further knowledge of truth (1 Cor. 8:7), and it acts according to the light it has.
About those that have a seared conscience, Paul wrote, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:1-2).
These evil people that speak lies have become insensitive to the truth as they deceive others. They can’t feel guilt at wrongdoing in the same way that searing by a hot iron makes human flesh incapable of feeling. In this condition it is difficult for the Holy Spirit to convict their hearts. An example of that is Judas Iscariot that had his conscious hardened that it no longer can see right from wrong (Luke 22:3 ; John 6:70; 13:27).
In contrast, Paul speaks of a good conscious saying, “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith” (1 Timothy 1:4-5). A good conscious yields to the convictions of the Holy Spirit and obeys the Word of God. Love proceeds only from pure, undivided heart, and loyal faith.
The apostle Paul admonished Timothy to “fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience” (1 Timothy 1:18–19). Timothy was to be guided by leadership of Paul and the prophets of the church but God’s Word would be the ultimate weapon in the “warfare” (v. 18) against the deceiving teachers (vs. 3–7).
Christians today will have great success in their lives differentiating between good and evil, gaining victory over sin when they follow the convictions of the Word of God and their enlightened conscious.
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
