If you missed part one, click here to read part one for context.
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Speaking of the unsaved, Paul wrote in Romans 2:15, “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 law written in their hearts is an inward sense of right and wrong. That is one matter. But the conscience also bearing witness is another matter. The conscience bears witness based on that inner sense saying either, “You did right” or “You did wrong.”
Paul wrote in Romans 9:1, “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost.” The truth in Christ is one matter. The conscience also bearing…witness is another. The conscience bears joint witness to what one believes.
The conscience then is a moral guide with a two-fold function. First, the conscience functions as a moral compass exhorting you to obey what you believe is right and warning you to shun what you believe is wrong. Second, the conscience functions as a moral monitor that assesses your choices, either commending you when you obey or condemning you when you disobey.
A toddler once disobeyed his mother’s rule to not take an ornament off their Christmas tree. As the mother came into the room, she saw him putting the ornament back on the tree and heard him say, “My sin will find me out.” Even toddlers have a conscience!
The first reason to exercise yourself to have a healthy conscience is that the conscience bears witness to what you believe. In the next article we will consider the importance of what one believes.
John Van Gelderen
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