“Smack Down”: Your Conscience, Romans 2:14-15

A guilty conscience – there is nothing worse! You feel a knot in your stomach, sweaty hands, and have the weight of guilt upon your shoulders. From where does your conscience come? Why are some people very sensitive to it and why are some very calloused to it? All of these answers can be found in the Word of God.

I used to think that the Holy Spirit was my conscience. But that cannot be true because before I was saved, I remember having a guilty conscience about things I had done. Everyone – Christian or not – has a conscience. One time I accidently walked out of Bargain Town USA (anybody remember this store – anybody?) with a shirt thrown over my shoulder. I had intended on putting it back on the rack before leaving, but just forgot. Well, I got all the way out to the car with it and decided to just take it with me. I had gotten away with it – so I thought! I felt guilty about it for awhile. My conscience accused me over and over. But guess what? I kept ignoring it and it finally quit bothering me. That is really all our conscience can do – accuse us or defend us as it says in Romans 2:15.

So what is it within ALL of us, saved or not, that causes this kind of “conviction”. Romans 2:14-15 says the following: For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,…”
Ok, lets look closer at this. The Gentiles represent those people who are “unsaved”. Paul was writing to Christian Jews in Rome who looked down their noses at Gentiles and thought they were pretty much less than human. The Jews prided themselves in keeping the law. But, Paul is saying that sometimes these unsaved Gentiles do some things like they might know the law (10 Commandments). What’s up with that? Read on and you see God said that the work of the Law is written on their heart and their conscience is bearing witness to it.

Think about it. Every people group, no matter how barbaric, has some standards of right and wrong, morality if you will. Where did they come from? God wrote some basic morals on our hearts before we were even born. So what in the world happens to some people? Well, when their conscience convicts them of something, they can ignore it and if that is done long enough, the conscience quits bothering them. Our conscience isn’t going to save us from our sin, but it will lead us to God if we do not repeatedly knock the thing back down. That is why my conscience eventually quit bothering me about that shirt. I kept ignoring my conscience. The moral law written on our heart also helps explain why unsaved people can be morally good, but lost as a goose! They have been sensitive to their conscience, but have not yet bowed a knee.

Here are three basic reasons why our conscience is not the thing that “saves” us and is not the Holy Spirit.
1. Our conscience can be defiled: Titus 1:15
2. Our conscience can be seared: I Timothy 4:2
3. Our conscience is weak: I Corinthians 8:7

This is why we cannot depend on our conscience. The word defiled means that our conscience can become stained. This can happen through our life experiences and exposures. The word seared means our conscience can become hardened through repeated “smack downs”. Don’t you know people who no longer have any guilt about things they do wrong? This explains that behavior. Finally, our conscience is weak and it cannot be trusted totally to make our decisions. We can talk ourselves right into the wrong thing and right out of the right thing.

So what is the relationship between the Holy Spirit and our conscience. Once we accept Christ’s payment for our sin, the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us. He can then use our conscience and we become more sensitive to sin in our lives. The conscience itself cannot do this alone because of the reasons we talked about above.

I just think it is the coolest thing that God wrote something on our hearts before we were even born that can lead us to seek more light and eventually lead us to Him. If you are not a Christian, maybe God has been using your guilty conscience to lead you toward Him. Don’t keep “smacking” it down! Eventually, it may not get back up. If you are a Christian, allow the Holy Spirit freedom to work in your life so that your conscience works in tandem with Him.