Acts 24:16 says, “Because of this I also exercise myself to always have a conscience without offense toward God and men.” Second Timothy 1:3a also mentions, “I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers in a pure conscience.” Acts speaks of “a conscience without offense,” while 2 Timothy speaks of “a pure conscience.” Moreover, 1 Timothy 1:19 says, “Holding faith and a good conscience, concerning which some, thrusting these away, have become shipwrecked regarding the faith.” Verse 2 of chapter four mentions, “By means of the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, of men who are branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron.” Ephesians 4:19 also says, “Who, being past feeling [conscience], have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness in greediness.” These verses show us the importance of the conscience in a Christian’s living.
A Christian who wants to grow in life must do three things: first, thoroughly confess his sins before God; second, carefully deal with his sins before man; and third, consecrate himself to God absolutely. If the saints are willing to take these three things to the Lord and practice them in a serious way, they surely will have progress in life. However, if they only take these words as doctrines, they will not receive much help from them. These words are only guidelines; only when the saints seriously walk the way of the Lord will these words be profitable to them. The experience of these three matters—confessing our sins to God, confessing our mistakes to man, and consecrating ourselves absolutely to God—may vary in sequence. These three matters are like a threefold cord, and no one who takes the Lord’s way can neglect them.
Moreover, after a Christian has thoroughly confessed his sins, carefully dealt with them, and consecrated himself to God, he also has to deal with his conscience. This is the necessary pathway for a Christian to take. After we confess our sins before God, deal with our sins before man, and consecrate ourselves to God, we will immediately have a feeling deep within us. This feeling is not merely a realization in our mind, but a feeling in the depths of our being that we have to deal with our conscience and obtain peace in our conscience. Therefore, it is extremely important to know the origin, the position, and the function of the conscience.
In simple words, the conscience comes from God. People who know God should know that before the fall of Adam, man lived before God and had no need of the conscience. For example, when we are in the sunlight during the day, there is no need of a lamp or any other kind of light. Only those who are not facing the sun have the need of a light. The need of the conscience arose as a result of the fall, when man left the face of God. In the beginning man lived before God, who can be likened to the sun. Originally man received light directly from the face of God. Although candlelight is weak, it is not without function; when the sun has set, the candlelight starts to function. It is the same with the function of the conscience. When man was living before God and had the light of God, the conscience was not used and the function of the conscience was not expressed because man had no need of it before God. We see from human history that man fell not long after he was created. He fell from light into darkness. After the fall there was a distance, a barrier, between God and man. At that point the Bible shows us that God took the definite step to activate the function of man’s conscience. This may be likened to lighting a lamp when the sky is getting dark. We have to bear in mind that the function of the conscience was activated after man’s fall.
The position of the conscience is to represent, or we can say, stand in the place of, God inside of man. Thus, although living according to the conscience is good, it is not the highest condition. The highest condition is that man would live before God directly. Why do we need a lamp? We need a lamp because the sky is dark. Why do we need the conscience? We need the conscience because man is fallen. Since man fell and left the face of God, God was forced to use the conscience as His representative in enlightening man. Human history can be divided into several dispensations. The first dispensation is called the dispensation of innocence; it is the time when man received direct ruling from God. After the fall the second dispensation, the dispensation of conscience, began. At that time man had both sin and a conscience within him. Although man had fallen into the darkness of sin, God still preserved a conscience, a lamp, for man. The conscience of man was still able to enlighten man and manifest its function. This was how the conscience was activated.