How can I get a clear conscience?

Answer

Conscience can be defined as “an inner feeling that acts as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behavior.” For those with a biblical worldview, the conscience is the part of the human soul that is most like God “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:”, (Genesis 3:22). Those who disbelieve God have a difficult time explaining the existence of the human conscience. Evolution cannot account for this facet of the human spirit, which cannot be explained by a “survival of the fittest” mentality.

The conscience of man was awakened when Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”, (Genesis 3:6). Before that, they had known only good. The word knowing in Genesis 3:5 is the same word used elsewhere to describe sexual intimacy (Genesis 4:17;1 Samuel 1:19). When we choose to “know” evil by intimate experience, our consciences are violated and emotional discomfort takes over. Whether we acknowledge God or not, we were created to have fellowship with our Creator. When we do wrong, we sense that we are at odds with our created purpose, and that feeling is deeply disturbing.

It was God whom Adam and Eve had offended; yet God Himself provided the solution to their violated consciences. He slaughtered an inInnocent animal to cover their nakedness «Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. », (Genesis 3:21). This act foreshadowed God’s plan to cover the sin of all mankind.

Humans have attempted various methods to clear their consciences, from charity work to self-reflection. Throughout history, mankind has made efforts to appease their conscience, but to no avail. Consequently, they often resort to drowning out that inner voice that pronounces them guilty. Addictions, immorality, violence, and greed frequently stem from a guilty conscience.

However, since all sin is fundamentally against God, only He can redeem a violated conscience. Similar to the events in the Garden of Eden, God offers us a covering through the sacrifice of something perfect and blameless (Exodus 12:5;Leviticus 9:3;1 Peter 1:18-19). God sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to serve as the ultimate, flawless sacrifice for the sins of humanity (John 3:16;1 John 2:2). When Jesus was crucified, He bore every sin we would ever commit. Every violated conscience, sinful thought, and evil deed was placed upon Him «who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. », (1 Peter 2:24). All the righteous wrath that God has for our sin was poured out on His Son (Isaiah 53:6;John 3:36). Just as an innocent animal was sacrificed to cover Adam’s sin, sTo the perfect Son was sacrificed to cover ours. God Himself chooses to make us right with Him and pronounce us forgiven.

We can have our consciences cleansed when we bring our sin, our failures, and our miserable attempts to appease God to the foot of the cross. The atonement of Christ forgives our sin and cleanses our conscience “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22). We acknowledge our inability to cleanse our own hearts and ask Him to do it for us. We trust that Jesus’ death and resurrection are sufficient to pay the price we owe God. When we accept Jesus’ payment for our personal sin, God promises to cast our sins away from us “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12; cf: Hebrews 8:12).

In Christ, we are freed from the stranglehold of sin. We are set free to pursue righteousness and purity and become the men and women God created us to be “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” (Romans 6:18). As followers of Christ, we will still commit occasional sin. But, even then, God provides a way for us to have our consciences cleared. First John 1:9 says that, “if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Often, with that confession comes the knowledge that we must make things right with the ones we have offended. We can take that step with the people we have hurt, knowing that God has already forgiven us.

Our consciences can remain clear as we continually confess our sin to God and trust that the blood of Jesus is sufficient to make us right with Him. We continue to “seek first tThe kingdom of God and His righteousness” «But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. », (Matthew 6:33). We trust that, despite our imperfections, God delights in us and in His transforming work in our lives (Philippians 2:13;Romans 8:29). Jesus said, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” «If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. », (John 8:36). We live with a clear conscience by refusing to wallow in the failures that God has forgiven. We stand confident in His promise that, “if God is for us, who can be against us?” «What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? », (Romans 8:31).