Functions of the Conscience & How To Present The Gospel

I was reading through R.R. Byrum's (COG Anderson) Christian Theology concerning the original moral nature and state of man and read some interesting things on the conscience and thought I would post them here for discussion.

Byrum holds that there are 3 distinct functions of the Conscience.

Discrimination -- this function of the conscience determines whether certain moral actions and reactions are right or wrong based on the persons personal standard of ethics.

Impulsive -- this function of the conscience feels a sense of duty to do what it has determined as right and to refrain from that which it has determined as wrong.

Retribution -- this function of the conscience feels a sense of approval or remorse depending on whether the course judged by as right was followed or not.

On meditating on this I can see how important it is for the conscience to be educated by the Word of God so that a persons personal standard of ethics matches what the Word of God teaches.

Also what comes into this equation is how a person views there ability to obey what the Word of God teaches.

If people are taught that it is not possible to keep the commandments of God, even after conversation when they are assisted by the Spirit of God, this will in effect make it easier for a persons conscience to bear the guilt of disobedience.

Some hold it impossible to keep God's commandments and that we will sin in word, thought, and deed daily. Others hold that it is possible by the grace of God to keep his commandments based on scriptures like 1Cor 10:13, 2Pet 1:10, 2The 3:3, Jud 1:24.

I would like to open up some discussion on this point. Again lets try not to polarize this discuss into an Arminian/Calvinist discussion as that will just get this thread locked and end our discussion!

I have been studying original sin, total depravity, the different theories of the atonement, the function of conscience, and a number of other related subjects to better understand how we are not present the gospel to different classes of people.

How we are to present the gospel to people is all a very interesting subject.

Note: There are no direct quotes in this post so the quote function was not used.

Perhaps examining the passages dealing with evangelism is Acts would be helpful?

For example, when Philip is teaching the Ethiopian eunuch, he expounds Isaiah 53 to him. Doubtless, this would have included an explanation of the need for a substitute and the purpose of Christs' death, thus involving such topics as sin.

I would suggest that the exposition of Scripture is the preferable "method" of evangelism. Personally, I would rather spend a decent amount of time going over the Scriptures with just 5 people than to spend the same amount of time standing on the street passing out 100 small tracts to the passers-by.

-- Taylor

Human conscience is dynamic, it can grow into maturity with God's grace but it can also degenerate into perversion, vileness, apathy, into insane obsessions and compulsions, into doubts and scruples of a legalistic mind.

I believe that by God's grace we will be able to conform with God's moral standard that stems from a clean heart, and it is the same grace that will keep us safe and beloved in case we sin as we go on with our Christian faith.

Christian perfection for me is more of a command than a definition, it is the state and the evolution to which the christians were sanctified and being sanctified. No one will attain Christian perfection by a perfect exposition of the term, it is by grace through faith alone that we will be made perfect, and be graceful also with others weaknesses.

"...Surely profound words do not make a man holy but a vituous life makes him dear to God...I would rather feel contrition than know the definition thereof..."(The Imitation of Christ).

Indeed, how our predessesors lived their lives can bring our faces to the ground, but it is by God's grace that he maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.

And in God's grace, in simplicity, with trembling, in faith let us do as commanded,"Be ye perfect", "Be holy", ... "Let us run with patience the race that is set before us,looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith.." (Heb 12:1-2).

This is one of the mysteries of a Christian life:

1Jo 2:3 And hereby know we that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
1Jo 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him:
1Jo 2:5 but whoso keepeth his word, in him verily hath the love of God been perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him:
1Jo 2:6 he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked.

And that we attain through the gospel of repentance, grace, and faith...With the Holy Spirit, "and having come, He will convict the world concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment; " (John 16:8 YLT).

Human conscience is dynamic, it can grow into maturity with God's grace but it can also degenerate into perversion, vileness, apathy, into insane obsessions and compulsions, into doubts and scruples of a legalistic mind.

"For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts..." (Mat 15:19). I would see the heart, spirit, soul as the spiritual part of a person. This is where evil proceeds from.

The conscience is a monitor that based on the persons personal standard of ethics indicates whether moral actions and reactions are right or wrong and based on this provides the person with a sense of duty to do what is right and refrain from what is wrong. The conscience also feels approval or remorse for the things that are none or not done.

The conscience can be keep by the grace of God void of offense (Act 24:16), it will convict when it is shown a person has done wrong (Joh 8:9), and when it's sense of duty to do the right and refrain from the wrong is overridden it will become seared.

So while the conscience can be educated by the Word of God and the Spirit of God, can be convicted, seared, and even defiled, It is the heart that becomes perversion and vile.

When given over to sin it is the heart of man that is deceitful and desperately wicked and can not be known.

Yes, in a strict sense conscience is the moral sense of right and wrong. The conscience can be seared to varying degrees or it can be 'weak' or scrupulous to varying degrees.

A weak conscience can result to obsessive-compulsive personality disorder or obsessive-compulsive anxiety disorder which can advance to frank psychosis.

Because the sense of sinfulness or having committed a sin is primarily a role of the conscience, in this respect, it is inevitable that the gospel must have effect to one's conscience for the conviction of sin.

Unregenerated human beings are capable of being convicted of sin and to follow a resolution not to give in to what they considered morally wrong thoughts or actions. Now, what is supposed to be different with Christians in this regard, or shoiuld we succumb to the saying " Christians are not perfect they are just forgiven".

How we are to present the gospel to people is all a very interesting subject.

There is a very good book written by Hallesby called [url=http://www.amazon.com/Conscience-Christian-Classics-O-Hallesby/dp/0851112307]Conscience[/url] and it's a classic.

The conscience has been called that unaffiliated member that judges our actions independently. It is the judge that stands afar off making decisions based on what we believe is right and wrong. Lots of people are effected by teaching and preaching that is more than bible or has to be built upon so-called bible principals. These become the commandments of men.

This is why I get a little testy when folk pour out their personal convictions on other peoples consciences. I believe in what we can call 'liberty of conscience'. That is to say that a person is to approach the scriptures sincerely with an open heart and be prepared for God to take away or add to things that they esteem as right and wrong.

The old timer holiness folk seemed in many cases to only add and add and add to the list of wrongs until almost nothing remained that was not sin. Any kind of amusement was sin. These types of bondages do not promote the general spiritual health and welfare of believers.

Paul makes a challenging statement in Romans 9:1,

[color=000066]I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, [/color]

This is the Holy Spirit at work in Paul affirming the counsel of the conscience. This is more than a conscience as the unregenerate know it; but this is a conscience superintended by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit and the word agree. This is God that is greater than our heart and knows all things searching also as Paul reflects upon the truth of his statement. This is Paul in the light of his conscience and under the searchlight of heaven.

I think we need this attitude when we approach our conscience. An overly sensitive conscience is as dangerous as a seared conscience. They are equal and opposite errors, I think.

I think it is interesting how Paul used his conscience. While those that were of a 'weak' conscience were hung up on meats and drinks his focus was different:

[color=000066]For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward. (II Cor. 1:12) [/color]

His conscience was letting him know if he had been behaving himself aright towards others in this world and in the preaching of the Gospel.

TaylorOtwell wrote:
I would suggest that the exposition of Scripture is the preferable "method" of evangelism. Personally, I would rather spend a decent amount of time going over the Scriptures with just 5 people than to spend the same amount of time standing on the street passing out 100 small tracts to the passers-by.

And yet Paul didn't quote a single vere of Scripture on Mars Hill. Go figure ;-)

Now, what is supposed to be different with Christians in this regard, or shoiuld we succumb to the saying " Christians are not perfect they are just forgiven".

I think the answer to this is found in Hebrews 9:

[color=000066]Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, [u]that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience[/u]; (V6)

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:(v9)

Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, [u]that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;[/u]

Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an 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, [u]purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?[/u] [/color]

There is a sense in which we have to be 'made perfect in our conscience'. I think this is very important. We need to walk before God with a clear conscience or a 'perfect' conscience; but that perfection is made perfect by the application of the blood of Christ.

There is a natural sense in which when we sin we know that the right price will remove that offense. Even children have this sense. If the child does something bad to his mother he might offer her a flower to [i]propitiate[/i] the offense. The conscience is designed to purge when the blood of Christ is applied to it to bring relief to a believer that is approaching God.

Adam and Eve sought to flee from God. Why? Their conscience had not been purged. So this is a very real process that takes place in our lives as we [u]acknowledge[/u] our sins that are riding on our conscience. The blood of Christ will purge the conscience so that the sense of offense is removed and the person can continue to approach God eye to eye or face to face.

The unregenerate have no such desire to approach God so I would say their sense of guilt on the conscience is proportional to how near to God's unique presence they are. God puts His finger on things which is different than the conscience, I think. He may utilize the conscience to do, but it is God's working.

And yet Paul didn't quote a single vere of Scripture on Mars Hill. Go figure

Except for the fact that he was speaking Scripture. :-)

This is certainly no minor topic.

[b]Ecclesiastes 3
11.[/b] He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also [color=FF0000]set eternity in their heart[/color], yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

[b]Romans 1
28.[/b] And even as [color=FF0000]they did not like to retain God in their knowledge[/color], God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

It is important to remember that the conscience, when handled skillfully, with the equipment of the ministry by the Holy Spirit, is our ally against the stubborn, hardened heart of the unrepentant. Sinners supress the truth in unrighteousness and they hate the Light because it reproves them and exposes their deeds to be evil.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is three-fold in this regard:
[b]1)[/b][u] conviction of sin[/u]: that is who we are
[b]2)[/b][u] conviction of righteousness[/u]: that is who God is
[b]3)[/b][u] conviction of judgment[/u]: puts the previous two together.

Which gives very good insight into the quotation:
"Hell is eternity in the presence of God. And, Heaven is eternity in the presence of God with a Mediator." - R. A. Finlayson
Mind you, this doctrine of heaven & hell is very "[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/article_pdf.php?aid=544]Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God[/url]" by Jonathan Edwards.

Just as both Peter and Jude, in particular, parallel Sodom and Gomorrah as a testament against those who would live ungodly lives in our day ([b]2 Peter 2:6; Jude 1:7[/b]). For the Scriptures bear witness of the word of God: "I will go down now" ([b]Genesis 18:21[/b]). And indeed, when the holiness of God came in to the midst of an unholy people, for whom there was found no Mediator, "then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven". What fellowship has the Light with darkness? Sinners cannot abide within the Presence of the Spirit of Life, who is a consuming Fire and a devouring Flame. The depraved and seared conscience can still understand this witness for the Holy Spirit confirms it to be the same which God has revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness, and it is the same which the Father has testified concerning His Son, that Christ Jesus stands as the only Mediator between the sinner and the holiness of the Holy One, for He has taken His stand as Intercessor, in the gap, between the living and the dead, between the Justice of God's furious wrath against all unrighteousness and the condemned sinner upon whom the wrath of God abides.

Now, the only difficulty for the christian, other than proclaiming the good news of this gospel with understanding, is skillfully applying this upon the sinner's consciences. For we must have the wisdom which only comes from the fear of the Lord; so that we may convince others of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. And this can only be done by revealing how it is that a life lived without obedience to the Spirit of Christ has no inheritance to eternal life. The recompense of sin is death & the reward of unrighteousness is hell. Such understanding only comes from God Himself revealing the knowledge of our own wicked hearts and from holiness of life, a cleansed heart, purity of conscience, and conviction of faith in the Holy Spirit to speak with boldness and sow in tears of sympathy for "such were we" ([b]1 Corinthians 6[/b]) after the example of our own High Priest, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" ([b]Hebrews 4:15[/b]). Even as John Wesley when asked how He preached with such fire. His words were: 'I set myself on fire and people watch me burn.'
To remember how Christ so loved us while we were yet sinners and enemies against God, dead in our sins, and without hope in the world.

John Angell James has said, "The sins of the people, are the deepest afflictions of a true minister's heart."

Richard Baxter has said, "Methinks, if by faith we did indeed look upon them as within a step of hell, it would more effectually untie our tongues ... He that will let a sinner go down to hell for want of speaking to him, does set less by souls than did the Redeemer of souls; and less by his neighbor, than common charity will allow him to do by his greatest enemy. O, therefore, brethren, whomsoever you neglect, neglect not the most miserable! Whatever you pass over, forget not poor souls that are under the condemnation and curse of the law, and who may look every hour for the infernal execution, if a speedy change do not prevent it. O call after the impenitent, and ply this great work of converting souls, whatever else you leave undone."

Charles H. Spurgeon has also said the following, "You cannot do your friend a greater kindness than to admonish him in the Lord, nor can you wish your enemy a greater injury than to go unrebuked."
"A poor wretch dies of starvation, and men cry out because bread was not given him; but when souls sink into damnation for lack of knowledge, they who withhold the bread of heaven will not allow their consciences to trouble them."

For we must have the wisdom which only comes from the fear of the Lord; so that we may convince others of the exceeding sinfulness of sin.

I think that what we really need is the word of His Grace towards the hearers; that is, to be used as Oracles of God. What I mean is, there has to be a sense in which when we speak it is God speaking to the people. This is the written word lifted from the sacred book by God and applied to the person by the Spirit.

There has to be an absolute consciousness of our inability so that we lean completely on God to bring about what He wants to say. The people have to respond to God-they cannot respond to [u]me[/u]. In this sense I do not believe that winning souls is a craft as Finney would have suggested. It takes the wisdom of God to win souls. This is the sword of the Spirit in the hand of God.

Anyone can string together words that make a person feel guilty. That takes no genius. Sinners do it everyday with a their tongues. But our objective must be to be the mouthpiece of God speaking to the hearts of the hearers so that they respond to God as He deals with them. This requires sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and a willingness to follow the leading of the Spirit. There has to be an absolute abandonment of our own abilities and an absolute trust and dependence on God when handling souls.

That is a good addition RobertW but does not stand as a substitute to what I said.

I think that what we really need is the word of His Grace towards the hearers

There has to be an absolute consciousness of our inability so that we lean completely on God to bring about what He wants to say.

The people have to respond to God-they cannot respond [u]to me[/u].

But our objective must be to be the mouthpiece of God speaking to the hearts of the hearers so that they respond to God as He deals with them. This requires sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and a willingness to follow the leading of the Spirit. There has to be an absolute abandonment of our own abilities and an absolute trust and dependence on God when handling souls.

TaylorOtwell wrote:

And yet Paul didn't quote a single vere of Scripture on Mars Hill. Go figure

Except for the fact that he was speaking Scripture. :-)

He may have been speaking under inspiration, but technically Scripture is the Tanakh (Old Testament).