What does it mean to be have a clear conscience?
"Always be ready to make your defense when anyone challenges you to justify the hope wihich is in you. But do so with courtesy and respect, keeping your conscience clear..." 1 Peter 3:15a-16a
So what does it mean to have a clear conscience? Today's understanding and the Biblical context of the term conscience differ. To keep one's conscience clear thousands of years ago meant a moral-religious comprehension referencing the pain experienced when one has acted wrongly, as in already taken place. Where today, "in good conscience" is perceived more as guide for future decisions.
In Acts 24: 15-16, Paul gives us a picture of a clear conscience to holding hope & belief in the resurrection of good and wicked alike. In Timothy 3:9, it states, "They [deacons] must be [people] who combine clear conscience with a firm hold on the mystery of faith."
Timothy, who's mother was a Messianich Jew and his father was a Gentile, "gives thanks to the God of my forefathers, whom I worship with a clear conscience...," in 2 Timothy 1:3. He referenced the "tears they shed" and the "sincerity of your faith, a faith that was alive in Lois your grandmother and Eunice your mother before you, and which I am confident, now lives in you."
In Romans 2:12, gives us insight into the what it means to have our conscience bear witness onto our daily lives. For Gentiles have the law inscribed on our hearts, so our judgement will be the same as the Jews that were given the law under Moses. (paraphrase)
So that whisper we hear, how are we to fully know if it is the Holy Spirit or the self?
Again in Romans 2:15, "they show what the law requires is inscribed on their hearts and to this their conscience gives supporting witness, since their own thoughts argue the case, sometimes against them, sometimes even for them."
This is one of the many thousands of examples in how the Word is Living today as well as yesterday. For to have a clear conscience, one has to have committed actions in line with faith and hope, yet it is also inline with what nature teaches us. That the inmost self must follow the instruction of the Holy Spirit. And the "Spirit dwells in our hearts." 2 Corinthians 1:22
We are told that we will be judged on our hearts. Therefore this "renewing of the mind and the heart" (Romans 12:1-2) is a constant process. Like the largest organ of the body, the skin, that is in constant state of renewal and growth, so must the shales fall from our eyes. For we have been given that sight in one moment, but this life of living in a clear conscience is to be able to look back clearly and without shame. Yet at the same time move forward in the Light of the Spirit.
The responsibility of doing God's will can not come solely through a moral guide or today's understanding of conscience, but by love you give God by grace. Your very self, the worship you give offered by the mind and the heart. For obedience to the Holy Spirit is the continual process that "allows you able to discern the will of God, and to know what is good, acceptable and perfect." Roman 12:2
"..So let us make our approach in sincerity of heart and full assurance of faith, inwardly cleansed from a guilty conscience, and outwardly washed with pure water." Hebrews 10:22
The whole of Scripture is a story of faith. And when studying conscience and faith, I began to utter that I do not have this type of faith. The faith in Scripture, these undeniable stories of obedience and belief. In my mind, I confessed that I did not have the faith like that of Sarah. And the Lord said this to me, "Follow my will, renew your mind and Colette, the faith will come." It was clear as if the Lord was sitting across the table from me!
"My daughter, do not think lightly of the Lord's discipline, or be discouraged when he corrects you; for whom the Lord loves he disciplines; he chastises every daughter whom God acknowledges." Hebrews
12:5-6
For this clear conscience we seek, it is a continual unfolding of our faith, our hope and our discerning obedience to the Holy Spirit enscribed on our hearts.
