Dwight Childers I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers every night. (NASV 2Tim 1:3) At a glance this scripture doesn’t seem to hold much for us. It seemingly appears to be a statement of how much Timothy meant to the aged apostle. However if we examine the statement that Paul makes here, if we kind of roll it around in our mind a little, it becomes clear that there is more here than first meets the eye. A couple of questions come to mind. Paul makes the statement “I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did”. Now when you think about it, this is a radical statement. First it tells us that Paul was a follower of his conscience, and it is even more radical when you consider that Paul, before his conversion, was a persecutor of Christians. He stood in agreement at the murder of Stephen, and waged a war against the Lord’s church. (Acts 9:1-2 NASV) (1) tells us this “Now Saul (Paul), Still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, (2) and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Paul himself makes this statement in 1Tim 1:13 “…I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor, and a violent aggressor……..”. So as I see it the first question we could ask is, can we use our conscience as our ultimate guide in spiritual matters? Obviously the answer is NO. We can’t ignore our conscience, but at the same time we can’t rely it as our supreme guide. Only the word of God can be our ultimate influence in all matters spiritual. The conscience is only as good as it has been taught. Paul (Saul) before his conversion took his lead from his forefathers. He was living out what he had been taught. His forefathers missed it greatly concerning the coming Messiah, and Paul was just practicing the doctrinal views past along to him by those he loved and trusted for guidance at the time. Secondly, Paul says in 1Tim 1:3 that he served God with a clear, or pure conscience. How could this be? I mean here you have a man that tried to destroy the Lord’s church, the kingdom of God, how could this man have a clean conscience when it comes to sin? The same way you and I can. Through the blood sacrifice that was made on our behalf by our Lord Jesus, to take sin out of the way between man and God. Look at the next verses. Hebrews 10:1 For the Law……..Can never by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near (2) Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? This doesn’t mean that the people would not remember the sins thy had committed, nor does it mean that would never sin again. It does mean that that they would have no more guilt. When we are in Christ we should have no more guilt for sin, past, present, or future. Those sacrifices could not make the people clean, but Jesus’ sacrifice did. No offering could take away sin and make the people clean except one, and that was Jesus. No sacrifice could take away the consciousness, or guilt, of sin except the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. All of our sin, past present and future, and all of God’s wrath was placed upon Jesus. Jesus took care of the sin problem between man and God. Hebrews 10:10 says. “By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”. Jesus’ sacrifice was a one time offering, never to be repeated, because it was enough. Sin is not between man and God anymore. Christ paid the price man could not pay, because man’s payment could never be enough. Hebrews 10:12 “but He, having offered ONE sacrifice FOR SINS for ALL TIME sat down at the right hand of God”. This sacrifice covered all sin, for all men, for all time, that is, once for all. Hebrews 10:14 “For by ONE offering He has PERFECTED for ALL TIME those who are SANCTIFIED”. Let’s back up on that verse…. If we are sanctified, then we have been perfected for ALL TIME, and this was accomplished by ONE offering. When we have made Jesus our Lord, we have become a new creature, and sin is no longer an issue between us and God. 2Cor 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature the old things passed away, behold, new thing have come……… We still have the same body, and the same emotions, feelings, and sometimes we will sin in the flesh again, but the save part of us, our spirit, has been reborn. The eternal part of us has been sanctified for ever. Our spirit is as perfect as it will ever be. Notice the next verse. Verse 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the WORLD to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them…….The world has been reconciled to God through Christ. How? God is not counting their trespasses or iniquities, against them. The difference between the saved and the lost is faith in Jesus and what He did for us. The only thing that stands in the way of a sinner and salvation is unbelief. So yes, Paul, understanding his position with God, in that salvation purges us from the guilt of sin, could say he served God with a pure, or clean conscience, and so can we.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 04:52:04 +0000