SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/18/2018 10:48 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Confrontation
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 23:1
Message of the
verse: “1
Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, "Brethren, I have lived my
life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day."
Let us begin by looking at the words
“looking intently” from John MacArthur’s commentary: “Looking intently is from atenizo, which means ‘to gaze upon,’ ‘to
fix one’s eyes on,’ or ‘to stare.’ Some
have seen this as further evidence of Paul’s eyesight; others suggest that he
was looking to see whom he could recognize.
But more important, Paul’s look was one of conscious integrity. He knew he was innocent of any wrongdoing,
and he had complete confidence that God was with him. Because of that, he did not cower in fear or
guilt.”
Paul addresses these men in the
Sanhedrin as “brethren” something a bit different that Peter and John did, and
this is probably because he knew many of these men, and another reason was that
he was probably on this group of rulers himself.
Paul then tells them that he has
lived a life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day, and I
would suppose that since we believe some of these men knew Paul that this would
not set well with them because of what happened to Paul after he met the risen
Lord on the road to Damascus.
What does this mean that he lived
his life with perfectly good conscience before God? MacArthur writes it “does not mean all his actions
had always been right. It does mean that
Paul felt no guilt for anything he had done, in spite of the Sanhedrin’s
accusations. It should be noted that the
conscience does not determine whether actions are morally right or wrong—Paul’s
conscience had once permitted him to persecute Christians. Conscience is the faculty that passes moral
judgment on a person’s actions (Rom. 2:14-15).
But it does so based only on the highest standards of morality and
conduct perceived by that individual. It
is thus neither the voice of God nor infallible. A conscience uniformed by biblical truth will
not necessarily pass accurate judgments (cf. 1 Cor. 4:4). Before his conversion, Paul had not.”
John MacArthur goes on to write more
about the conscience and since this subject is not completely understood by me,
and perhaps others I will go ahead and quote it so that if it is clear to you
who read this then this will reinforce or perhaps add to what you know.
“It is possible for the conscience
to be damaged, dysfunctional, even destroyed.
The Bible speaks of a weak conscience (1 Cor. 8:7, 10), a wounded
conscience (1 Cor. 8:12), a defiled conscience (Titus 1:15), an evil conscience
(Heb. 10:22), and, worst of all, a seared conscience (1 Tim. 4:2)—one so
covered with scar tissue from habitual sin that it no longer responds to the proddings
of divine truth. Obviously, a conscience in one of those states will not always
assess things properly.
“On the other hand, the Bible
commends a good conscience (1 Tim. 1:5; 19; Heb. 13:18; 1 Pet. 3:16, 21), a
blameless conscience (Acts 24:16), and a clear conscience (1 Tim. 3:9; 2 Tim.
1:3). Such a spiritually healthy
conscience results from the forgiveness of sin based on the atoning work of
Christ (Heb. 9:14; 10:22). Christians’
consciences, informed by the standards of God’s Word, are able to assess
accurately their actions. Christians thus need to
strengthen their consciences by constantly exposing them to the truths of
Scripture. Paul had such a fully
and rightly informed conscience, and it was not accusing him.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I suppose
that I have always had a conscience that accuses me of things that I really had
nothing to do with, and so this little study on the conscience has been a
blessing to me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Work on the
truths of what my conscience is suppose to do.
Answer to
yesterday’s Bible question: “Mary
Magdalene” (John 20:1, 15).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘I am Esau thy
firstborn’?”
Answer in our
next SD.
8/18/2018 11:17
AM
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