… and a good conscience…
Summary: Paul’s words are intended to guide us to a better understanding of godly love (agapē). The second key to success that he provides deals with having a good conscience.
Where are we again? (It is easy to get lost in these word studies…)
Paul’s whole sentence reads, “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience …”
Paul is telling Timothy to “command” those who teach false doctrines, etc., to “knock it off,” as my dad used to say when I was a kid.* He goes on to say that the goal of this command is love. Not romantic love, but godly love (agapē).
Now he is explaining where this “agapē” love comes from. He started with a “pure heart,” and now he is pointing us to a “good conscience.”
So what does he mean by that?
When the Pharisees tested Jesus by asking him to identify the “greatest commandment in the law” (Matthew 22:34-36), Jesus answered by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).
In saying this, Jesus divides our inner being into three parts. The “mind” is where we think and reason. The “soul” is our sense of “self.” The “heart” is the central part of our being, most closely associated with our will. The Bible says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23).
The heart is also where we “feel” God searching our motives. If our hearts condemn us (1 John 3:19-21), we call that a “guilty conscience.” If our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God (ibid).
Paul’s point seems to be that a good conscience is key to having a godly love for others.
Is this true?
Having a conscience that condemns us feels awkward and uncomfortable. People who resist the conviction of their conscience harden their hearts (Proverbs 28:14). It is not hard to see how having a “hard heart” would make it hard to love.
On the other hand, a clear conscience opens the door of the heart to God’s Word. The more we obey God, the more we share God’s love with those around us.
Application: Think of your conscience as a spiritual compass. True north points to God’s will…
Food for Thought: What is life like for people with a “seared” conscience? (1 Timothy 4:2)
*If you haven’t heard the expression before, “Knock it off!” means “Stop doing what your doing because it is driving me crazy and if you don’t stop I won’t be responsible for what happens to you.”
What is life like for people with a “seared” conscience? (1 Timothy 4:2)
The conscience is the God-given moral consciousness within each of us. If this is seared, cauterized, made insensitive, it will no longer function properly. It becomes like spiritual scar tissue, which will no longer processes right and wrong, like the hide of an animal scarred with a branding iron, numb to further pain. The heart of an individual with a seared conscience has been desensitized to moral feelings of right and wrong.
Romans 1:28. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.
A reprobate mind refers to a mental and spiritual condition where an individual has become so hardened against God and all moral truths that they lose the ability to effectively discern right from wrong. The reprobate mind is one which is no longer capable of feeling conviction the Holy Spirit for their sins, and so they give up their bodies to whatever works or feels best.
Thank you, Ron!
I like the phrase “spiritual scar tissue.”
What is life like for people with a “seared” conscience? (1 Timothy 4:2)
People with a seared conscience are desensitized to sin. They rely on a subjective understanding of good and evil, and pursue gratification based on “whatever they can get away with.” Without external pressure from society or others, they lack self-control, which is why they usually do things in secret, or feel greater empowerment when in a group of like-minded individuals.
The Bible tells us that practicing sin is lawlessness. Someone with a seared conscience is actively unresponsive to conviction and lives a lawless life. They are living in open rebellion to God.
I John 3:4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
I would also say that people with a seared conscience live in decline; they are unable to recognize it, but their life disintegrates before them. As they look around and wonder why their life is in decline, they can only complain about it, and don’t recognize that there is a God-given morality within each of us, nor the toll sin has taken on their lives.They keep continuing down the path of destruction.
Psalm 32:3-4
3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
That’s all a bit dark, but sin is dark. But here is the good news: God has made it possible to be redeemed from a seared heart. I know this personally. God’s word can pierce even the hardest heart. All it takes is for one to see their life in the light of the truth to know that they have sinned, and need a Savior. Sometimes that doesn’t come about until they reach the end of themselves. Christ is that Savior. Through Christ, we are forgiven and are redeemed.
Hebrews 4:12
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Ephesians 1:7
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
Thank you, Chris!
And thanks for pointing us to our hope in Christ! It is truly amazing how the power of God works through his Son, Jesus, to restore lives — even to the point of healing broken and hardened hearts.