Freed from the Conscience

I think very few people really have an accurate understanding of the conscience. We have been taught in orthodox Christianity that it is the Holy Spirit convicting us of sin—telling us what we ought or ought not to be doing. It is that which tells us what we are doing wrong and causes us to feel condemned. It never tells us that we are doing something right; it just makes us feel guilty for the wrong that we do. Yet we have been taught to look upon the conscience as a good thing and to be careful not to “sear” it by violating it.

But, in truth, the conscience is a function of the law, which came by Moses, not of grace which came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17). When we are “under the law,” attempting to be loved and accepted by God by our works of righteousness, our conscience is “educated” to alert us to the violation of whatever laws we have set for ourselves that causes us to believe we are earning that love and acceptance. Some people, depending upon what “articles of faith” they subscribe to, feel convicted by their conscience if they wear makeup or jewelry, celebrate Christmas, go to movies, dance, play cards, or get a divorce, while other “born again” Christians can do all those things without feeling any conviction at all. Paul’s conscience didn’t bother him when he was having Christians killed; on the contrary, he thought he was doing God a service. So I think it is safe to say that we cannot equate the conscience with the Holy Spirit. No, it is just our beliefs about God and what He expects of us rising up to condemn us when we violate those expectations.

We could go so far as to say that the conscience is the “devil” or “Satan” who is, according to Scripture, “the accuser of the brethren . . .  which accused them before our God day and night” (Revelation 12:10) since that is precisely what the conscience does—accuses us day and night. Those of us who have spent our lives “under the law” can testify to this relentless activity of condemnation.

Let’s look again at those verses in Revelation:

Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world:. . . . 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

We see that the “devil” was “cast down” when “the kingdom of our God” and “salvation” came. The writer of Hebrews tell us that it was at the cross that this “devil” was destroyed and we were delivered from the “bondage” brought in with the fear of death that brought in the law:

Hebrews 2:14   Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;  15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

When we know that we have been “reconciled” to God, that He is not “imputing our trespasses” (2Corinthians 5:19), that He has separated us from our sins “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalms 103:12) and does not even remember them because He is “merciful to our unrighteousness” (Hebrews 8:12), we do not need a conscience to convict us of sin—for we can now be led by the Spirit of truth who guides us into all truth (John 16:17), who is constantly saying to us:

Isaiah 30:21 This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

God has now written His law in our hearts (Hebrews 8:10) as He promised He would (Jeremiah 31:33), thereby enabling us to be guided by the Spirit within (what Paul calls “walking in the Spirit” (Gal 5:16)) rather than by outside legislation (the Mosaic law, as well as other rules and regulations) enforced by the conscience.

The law was our “schoolmaster” which led us to Christ that we might be “justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24), the faith that the Christ both “authors” and “finishes” (Hebrews 12:2) since “no man is justified by law in the sight of God” (Galatians 3:11). Indeed

Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.

Once faith has come, we must “become dead to the law” that we might “bring forth fruit unto God” (Romans 7:4).

Even so, we must become “dead” to the conscience and “alive” to the Spirit within, which gently corrects, but never condemns:

Romans 8:1   There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

When we are guided by our conscience, we experience nothing but guilt and condemnation, with a little self-righteousness. We are “walking after the flesh” because the conscience is “flesh,” even when it prompts us to do good “works” that appear to be righteous. For “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). That’s why God made Jesus our righteousness (1Corinthians 1:30), giving us His righteousness as a free gift (2Corinthians 5:21; Romans 5:17), not to be earned by any amount of good works (Ephesians 2:9).

And that’s why we are told that the “blood of Christ” “purges” our conscience “from dead works to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14). To live by the conscience is to live “under the law,” attempting to serve God by “dead” “works of the law,” by which, as we have already noted, no one is justified. That is not serving God at all, just a concept of God that we are “married” to (Romans 7:1-4) which I call the “law god” and who Paul says is “dead” (Romans 7:5). We are rather to serve the Christ within, “the living God” who is continually guiding us by the Spirit, not by the conscience.

So much for the saying, “Let your conscience be your guide”!

I know that what you are reading here can be very unsettling, the reason being that we are still afraid, just as the Romans were, that to encourage people to abandon the law (and the accompanying conscience that came in with the law) and live by grace will give them a license to sin (Romans 6:1, 15).

But, in reality, the opposite is true. Like the law, the conscience produces a walk “in the flesh” that actually encourages sin:

Romans 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

I feel I must address two Scriptures specifically because they are the ones most often used to support the argument that the conscience is an ordination of God designed to let us know when we are doing something wrong. One of these Scriptures actually uses the word “conscience” while the other is Jesus Himself speaking of the Holy Spirit, which most orthodox Christians believe speaks to us through the conscience.

Let’s look at the words of Jesus first:

John 16:7   Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;

Christians read this passage and immediately assume that it is telling us that Jesus is sending the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin. But if we look up the word “reprove” in the Greek, its actual meaning is to “confute” or “admonish,” not “convict” (although it is translated that way in other passages). To “confute” is to prove something to be wrong. If the Holy Spirit “reproves” the world of sin, He is proving that the world’s idea of sin is wrong—”because they believe not on me.” The world believes that sin separates us from God and not repenting of it can lead to everlasting torment eternally separated from the presence of God. They also believe that the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin so that we will repent and assure ourselves an eternity in heaven.

No, sin is not even acts of wrongdoing (sins (plural) which are but the effects of sin). Sin is rather the carnal mind of man which fosters in us the false belief that there are two powers (one good and the other evil—(See Belief in Two Powers and the belief that we are separated from God and his love, from which we can never be separated (Romans 8:38-39). We are alienated from God only in our minds (Colossians 1:21), not in reality. He brought us forth out of Himself; he is the loving Father of us ALL (Ephesians 4:6). Like the prodigal son, we have to “come to ourselves” and make our way back to the bosom of the Father from whence we came (Luke 15). We must “know” and “believe” the love that God has for us (1John 4:16) and that “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5). When we “know” and “believe” this, our idea of sin is righted. We now know that

2Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

In other words, Jesus was made to be that carnal mind of humanity which thinks it is separated from God (hence His cry, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”) and destroyed that “devil” (Hebrews 2:14) by taking it to the death, thereby delivering “them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:15). Because He had taken our humanity (or sinful flesh—(Romans 8:3)) upon Himself, even the man Jesus feared death:

Hebrews 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

But He took that humanity to the death (taking all humanity—the “body of sin”—(Romans 6:6) with Him) and rose from the dead no longer a man of flesh, but now a Life-giving Spirit (1Corinthians 15:45). And so did we! Sin can no longer dominate us because we “are not under the law” (Romans 6:14).

We now totally understand what the writer of Hebrews is saying and rejoice when we hear it, knowing that the Holy Spirit has indeed done its work of correcting our idea of sin:

Hebrews 10:1   For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.  2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. . . . we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

We are now responding in great thanksgiving to the love of this wonderful Father who has dealt the death blow to the conscience, which is nothing more than a sin consciousness. Our conscience has at last been “purged” so that we can “serve the living God.” Now we have a “righteousness without the law” (or conscience) consciousness, knowing that Jesus is our righteousness (1Corinthians 1:30).

The other Scripture I want to address is from Paul:

1Timothy 4:1   Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;  2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

We see here that Paul is referring to people who have “departed from the faith.” We learned earlier that the law was our “schoolmaster,” but only until “faith came,” at which time we were no longer “under” that schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24-25).

In this same letter Paul tells us why the law was needed, or what purpose it served:

Galatians 3:19   Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made.

For those to whom faith has not yet come (or who depart from the faith), the law (and the conscience which always operates where there is law), serves the purpose of keeping their behavior in check. That is of course why we have the laws of the land—because everyone is not listening to and following the guidance of the Holy Spirit within. Indeed, many are not even aware that there is a Holy Spirit that they can be led by, even though they are believers:

Acts 19:1   And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,  2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

And that is precisely the function of the various ministries in the church—to teach the people what they have received in Christ and what is the function of the Holy Spirit in their lives—rather than placing a bunch of laws on them which instills the fear of death.

But I digress. What I want to emphasize is that the conscience (and the law that produced it) is not for those who are led by the Spirit, but it is absolutely necessary for those who are not. To “sear” that conscience (cause it to be insensitive by continually ignoring it) proves to be very dangerous both to themselves and to those around them:

1Timothy 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,  10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;  11 According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

The “righteous man” that the law (and conscience) is not made for is not the man who never commits an act of sin. It is anyone who, through hearing this “glorious gospel,”  has awakened to his true identity as the one born of God who cannot sin:

1John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

He understands, as Paul did, that he must distinguish between his humanity that died with Christ and his true identity that is the “new creature” (see The New Creature) and “reckon” himself to be “dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:11). I believe every Christian should meditate on Romans 6-7 until this becomes his reality. Then he can begin to live his life from the within (where the Father, the Christ, the Holy Spirit dwell and speak from) rather than from the “without” where he is constantly being beaten up by the law and the conscience because he is depending upon keeping the law for his righteousness.

Remember, the law (and the conscience) is never satisfied; it is always making more demands. But when I, like Paul, know that

Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

I know that my Father is “well pleased” with His “beloved Son” who is now living my life for me. I am in that “beloved Son” and He is in me. We are one, as Jesus prayed in John 17 we would be. He guides me into all truth. I don’t need a conscience to correct me; I have the “Holy One” Himself performing that function:

1John 2:20   But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

1John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

This “Holy One” that I am “abiding” in has set me free from the law and from the constant guilt and condemnation that comes from the conscience when I cannot keep all the laws I put upon myself in my futile attempt to make my humanity (which is supposed to be “dead”) acceptable to God. My true identity as Spirit being is already accepted, has always been accepted and can never by unaccepted by the Father who begot me (1Peter 1:23), his offspring (Acts 17:28-29) and can never forget me or cease to have compassion for me.

Isaiah 49:15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. 16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.

April 14, 2017

I just returned from a Good Friday service which was a wonderful gathering of people who love God and are very grateful for the cross, as was Paul, and as are we all. But there was no distinction made between our humanity and our true identity, which is Spirit being that “cannot sin.” We were encouraged to see ourselves as wicked, unworthy “sinners” who are “washed” in the blood of Jesus (thereby being made eligible for Paradise) rather than reckoning our humanity to be “dead” and our true selves (the “new creature”) resurrected with Christ. Jesus is seen as taking the “punishment” for all our acts of sin rather than as becoming our sin (the belief that we are separated from God our Father) and taking that belief (the “devil”) to the death so that we are forever released from the fear of death which comes with this belief.

We are still left with a “sin consciousness” rather than knowing that our conscience has been “purged.” We may not be offering blood sacrifices which cause us to remember our sins year after year (Hebrews 10:1-3), but we are year after year seeing Jesus being offered by God as a blood sacrifice to appease His wrath against our sins rather than seeing God in Jesus reconciling us to Himself, not imputing our trespasses (2Corinthians 5:19).

I’m sure this is supposed to keep us humble and thankful. But I know from personal experience that until I received the revelation recorded in this contemplation, I felt mostly guilt and condemnation. Learning that I was created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:24), that I was chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the world” (not after Jesus was sacrificed for my sins and I repented of those sins and accepted that sacrifice), and that I am “holy and without blame before my Father in love” (Ephesians 1:4)—learning that my belief that I was separated from my Father and had to do or believe something to end that separation was just a lie of my carnal mind (the father of lies)—learning that I could never be separated from my Father’s love because He loved me before I took upon myself this human flesh—learning these truths is what has “purged my conscience from dead works to serve the living God”—these revelations are what has freed me from the guilt and condemnation, the fear that brings torment (1John 4:18) and replaced them with true humility and gratitude.