Titus 1:12-16 (3)

To be sound in the faith requires a sound (healthy) mind and conscience.  The conscience involves the Creator’s law written on the heart (Rom. 2:15).  It is the reason Adam and Eve hid themselves; they knew they were guilty.

The conscience is that faculty in man by which he distinguishes between the morally right and wrong (awareness), which urges him to do that which he recognizes to be right and restrains him from doing that which he recognizes to be wrong (restraint), and which passes judgment on his acts and executes that judgment within his soul (guilt).

What happens if the conscience doesn’t send the correct message?  Could that happen?  Suppose the conscience is like the Ten Commandments (it’s not quite that simple but the conscience and the Decalogue have much in common).  A good conscience would recognize #1-10 and be obeyed.  It is without offense (Acts 24:16) and pure (2 Tim. 1:3).  Now consider:

·        A seared conscience (1 Tim. 4:2), because one has committed to false doctrine, omits one or two.  It may believe lying is an appropriate way to accomplish things, or stealing from the rich is okay because they have plenty.

·        A defiled conscience (Titus 1:15) is confused by societal messages such as relativism.  The messages it sends are muddled and thus without force.

·        An evil conscience (Heb. 10:22) is simply broken or misshaped.  It justifies evil and ridicules good.  All bad consciences are evil but some more so.

·        A weak conscience (1 Cor. 8:7) is one that sends too many messages.  It doesn’t just have #1-10; it has #11-25 as well.  

It is quite possible and quite likely that our conscience is defective.  The question is: how can an ailing conscience become a healthy conscience?  Again, consider the Biblical answer …

·        Through the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:9,14).  Heb. 10:22 calls us to draw near with a heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience … The Bible says that the guilt from our conscience is not just a feeling; it is real and must be atoned for.  Submission at the cross brings submission to the soul.  Many faults in the conscience are immediately corrected and by the cross there is power to correct the rest.

·        Through the renewal of the mind (Rom. 12:2).  We get it right in terms of what is right and wrong when we think Biblically.

·        Through walking in the Light (1 John 1:5-10).  Repeated disobedience makes the conscience defective.  Repeated obedience will secure the health of our conscience.  Walk in the light, confessing sin rather than justifying it.

Let us commit ourselves to the Biblical standard of a conscience with no offense against God or man!  Then we will not have the disconnect some of the Cretans had between their profession of faith and their lives (Titus 1:16).