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Stephen Nutter
The Conscience A Blameless Conscience Providence Reformed...
“ Summary, Part 5 (final) ” ROM 8:4, 5-8 – The contrast between they who walk in the Spirit and they who walk in the flesh. JER 31:33-34 – the Old Testament prophecy of this. Differences between Christians and non-Christians in the knowledge of God and His Law: a) only available to Christians, as we are regenerate. JN 17:3. b) only Christians take delight in God’s Law; He writes His Law on our hearts in regeneration, and His Spirit gives us delight in that Law, even in conviction. EZ 36:27, ROM 7:22. PS 119:165, PROV 28:1 – Delight in the Law brings great peace. CLOSING CONSIDERATIONS: 1) Everyone has a conscience. 2) Because of this, Christians have a beachhead in the unconverted for the Gospel. 2 COR 5:11. 3) For us to win the unconverted, we must maintain blameless consciences ourselves because: a) our own conscience will accuse us otherwise, b) their own conscience will reject our hypocrisy. 2 PET 2, GEN 19.
Ian Migala (4/23/2013)
from Minneapolis, Minnesota
“ Summary, Part 4 ” The conscience of a non-Christian still passes judgment, and its owner will shout it down in the name of science, occupation, patriotism, progressivism, and any other idol he holds. 1 COR 2:14 – the things of God are foolishness to the non-Christian because they are spiritually (not naturally) appraised. God created the natural and the spiritual, and the natural man is not attuned to the latter. Practically, this means the following: a) The heathen’s conscience is defective because it is not illuminated by God’s Spirit nor informed by His word. b) Its deficiency causes it to approve of evil and disapprove of good, and it is evident in his moral and religious life. ROM 1:28, 3:18. c) This deficiency further damages their conscience. We see this in political correctness, which is a reprogramming of society’s thinking yet no less a judge. The legalization of abortion has since opened us to late-term abortion. The Hindu Sati practice of widow-burning, the Islamic practice of honor killing are extreme examples of how far a deficient conscience can reach. What is the cure for a deficient conscience? Regeneration: washing in the blood of Christ and illumination by the Spirit of Christ. EZ 36:25-27 – an illustration of how a new, spiritual heart affects the way a person lives.
Ian Migala (4/23/2013)
from Minneapolis, Minnesota
“ Summary, Part 3 ” Job defended his blameless conscience against his friends (JOB 27:5-6). If we are blameless before God and men, let our accusers rant on and expose themselves. 3. THE DIFFERENCE IN CONSCIENCE BETWEEN HEATHENS AND CHRISTIANS. After The Fall, we were no longer captivated by the voice of God. But God still speaks to us by general revelation through the creation and through the conscience. The creation teaches us about the goodness and generosity of God. The conscience teaches us enough to convict us, though it does not convert us: it shows us our sinful state and our need for a Savior. They without the special revelation will be held accountable by the general revelation and will be condemned by the witness of their consciences (ROM 2:14-16). Pointed appeal to an unsaved one’s sin will usually be met with sneers, but they know deep down that they’re in eternal peril and that light has been shed on that which they’ve suppressed. Many are good, decent citizens and friends, earnestly living up to the light they have. But that doesn’t mean that they love God, even if they acknowledge His existence and even say that they love Him. Do they love His chastening, judgment, and glory, let alone His precepts and supremacy?
Ian Migala (4/23/2013)
from Minneapolis, Minnesota
“ Summary, Part 2 ” 2:1-2 concludes that unbelief and its attending behaviors are not a part of a natural process, but the result of deliberate supernatural judgment on unbelief. In verses 14-15, Paul illustrates the inescapable fact that we are created in the image of a moral God. John Murray wrote that the law written on the heart of Adam is the law rewritten on the heart of his prodigy: all of us. This innate law implies two things: 1) an absolute moral standard, 2) judgment based on that standard. 2. THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CONSCIENCE’S VARIOUS FUNCTIONS. ROM 2:14-16 – Paul paints a courtroom scene where a person stands charged by the law, and the judge (God) hears the witnesses: the conscience’s standard, its testimony, and its judgment. But the conscience also has a fourth function: reward or execution. PROV 18:14 – Solomon uses the word “spirit” to speak of the conscience; a guilty conscience is so hard to bear. PROV 17:16 – A guilty conscience has a psychosomatic effect. Cain didn’t seek repentance, but instead bore his guilt for the rest of his days. Judas knew his sin, but he didn’t repent, either. Paul’s own example in the source text is the opposite example. In 1 COR 1:12, he offers a blameless conscience as the foundation of a bold, joyful life in Christ.
Ian Migala (4/23/2013)
from Minneapolis, Minnesota
“ Summary, Part 1 ” Paul appeals to his blameless conscience enabling him to speak with boldness. There are three important differences: 1. PAGAN VERSUS CHRISTIAN UNDERSTANDING REGARDING THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF THE CONSCIENCE. Pagans do not order their lives according to God’s precepts, and thus have an unbiblical understanding of the conscience. They do not see it as God-given, but as native or contrived. Among the different pagan views: a) Evolutionary: people gradually arrive at their assumptions of what is right and wrong. b) Individualist: each person comes to his own understanding of right and wrong. The Christian view is that the conscience is God-given and resident in all men: a part of the image of God that affirms or accuses based on God’s standard. ROM 1:18-19 – Paul establishes that people have consciences. Without them, the Gospel would have no beachhead. Men innately know God, but try to suppress that knowledge in unrighteousness. Paul further asserts that this knowledge is so clear as to leave us without excuse. Evolution leads to the conclusion that we are not made in God’s image. Paul goes on to say that as we continue to suppress the truth, God judicially pulls the curtain over our eyes (verses 24-32).
