The Bible is hard to believe, mostly because the gospel is so\nincredibly bold in its promise to the believer. Nowhere is that more evident\nthan in issues of the conscience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conscience is largely seen as that which internally\naffirms or condemns us. We talk about a \u201cguilty conscience\u201d when people live\nand breathe under the shame and guilt of their own sin. Conversely, a \u201cclean\nconscience\u201d often refers to people knowing they have acted righteously or in\ngood faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The radical statement of the gospel is that our conscience\nis clean, not by anything we have done, but by the blood of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hebrews says it most clearly. Contrasting the act of Jesus\nwith the repetitive acts of sacrifice done in earlier times, the author\nproclaims \u201chow much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal\nspirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience<\/em> from dead works to serve the living God\u201d\n(Hebrews 9:14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea is most assuredly not<\/em> that a person\u2019s conscience is cleansed from repeated acts of\ncontrition and reparation. Instead, we trust in the once-for-all sacrifice of\nJesus. We are clean by trust that his blood is enough. He forgives us, and it\nworks. A cleansed conscience is found in trusting Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He goes on in chapter 10, saying \u201cwe have been sanctified\nthrough the body of Jesus Christ once for all\u201d in v.10. That\u2019s a reference to\nour actual cleanliness being in Christ. We don\u2019t have confidence in the purity\nof our own repentance, our own reparation, our own deeds of contrition. We\ntrust that we are holy and set apart once and for all by Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then in v. 22, again, \u201clet us draw near with a true\nheart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil\nconscience and our bodies washed with pure water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pretty strong language. We have assurance by trust. We trust\nthat our hearts are clean. Why? Because of what Jesus has done. That\u2019s it.\nJesus has done it, we trust it, and we help each other come back to the cross\nas our only hope. The condemnation we escape is not because we\u2019ve escaped sin,\nbut in the midst of the sin we trust in the cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amazing, incredible, freeing, life-giving. We stand with a\nclean conscience not by our actions, but by what Jesus has done. We trust in\nhis sacrifice, and it is enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Surprisingly, that\u2019s often rejected in our Christian\ncircles. People often return to the law (really, shockingly, exactly what Hebrews\nis fighting against) to try and get a clean conscience based on their own\nactions instead of the blood of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So you get teachers pushing people to \u201ccleanse their\nconscience\u201d by their own deeds. As if by relying on their own reparations,\ntheir own acts of contrition, they will be able to cleanse themselves. Teachers\npromote a straight law-based \u201cbe good by doing good\u201d approach, and urge people\nto advance their own conscience by paying for their bad deeds. They imply that the\nbeliever will feel better (and thus have a better conscience) if they do\nsomething nice for whomever they have injured; if they pay back debts; if they can\nsay that they have \u201cmade up\u201d whatever they have done wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This mix of law and gospel confuses and deceives. The self-oriented\nmotivation to feel better about oneself based on deeds is a bald use of law to\nbring assurance. Hebrews will have none of it. The law will at the end only\naccuse. How can it help to do a good deed so that one\u2019s own heart will not be\nguilty? How much is enough? And what kind of motivation is that? Basing cleansing\non personal achievement of repentance and reparation will either lead the\nlistener into pride (at how clean they\u2019ve become) or despair (that they can\u2019t\ndo enough). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Examples given for this kind of self-cleansing of the\nconscience include the prodigal son (Luke 15) or Zaccheus (Luke 19). But the younger\nson isn\u2019t thinking rightly\u2014he doesn\u2019t even get out the words of reparation before\nthe father (God!) restores him beyond his wildest dreams. And Zaccheus is\novercome with gratitude and wonder, not following laws of reparation.\nSpontaneous good deeds\u2014yes! Cleansing your own conscience\u2014no way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So hear the law: you are grimy and besmirched, your hardened\nheart beyond repair. And then hear the gospel: your conscience is cleansed and\nyou are holy, by the work of Christ alone. Have confidence, real assurance. You\nenter into his death and his resurrection. He has done it, this amazing savior\nof ours, and by his blood we are cleansed forever. Stand tall, no matter what\nyou have done, because Jesus Christ has paid it all. He has declared, \u201cit is\nfinished.\u201d This is the wondrous good news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Bible is hard to believe, mostly because the gospel is so incredibly bold in its promise to the believer. Nowhere is that more evident than in issues of the conscience. The conscience is largely seen as that which internally affirms or condemns us. We talk about a \u201cguilty conscience\u201d when people live and breathe … Continue reading Rescuing a Clean Conscience<\/span>