Notes from a message preached on the Epistle of the Romans:
Romans Chp2 Vs1: 'Conscience an Echo out of Eden' - JS Gillespie (11/11/2008
- The Corruption and the Condemnation of Conscience (v1)
- The Source and the Standard of Conscience (v2)
- The Problem and the Purpose of Conscience (v3-4)
- The Response to and the Results of Conscience (v5-12)
- The Evidence and Experience of Conscience (v13-16)
The Corruption and the Condemnation of Conscience (v1) Anyone who can appreciate that there is a problem with the list of 23 moral evils in Romans 1:29-32 has a major problem on their hands – they are fit for hell! Gen39:6-21 – can we perceive that there is a problem, an injustice in the events of Genesis chp 39? Can we discern in this story of Joseph that there is injustice, unfairness and sin? Can we see:
- “unrighteousness” in the dealings of Potiphars wife with Joseph? He did only good (Gen39:6,8,9) and she rewarded it with evil.
- “fornication,”
- “wickedness,”
- “covetousness” - she desired what was not hers – Joseph
- “maliciousness” - acted with revenge and spite when she failed to get what she wanted (39:17ff), she didn't just accept that things were not going to go her way!
- “envy” - wanted to take away from Joseph what she could not have!
- “murder” - her actions could easily have resulted in the death of Joseph as per the baker of Genesis 40.
- “deceit” - she deceived her husband
- “malignity”
- “whisperers” - Constructing and concocting a story before her husband returns (Gen39:14)
- “Backbiters” - with vengeful hatred on Joseph
Anyone who can appreciate that there is a problem with the list of 23 moral evils in Romans 1:29-32 has a major problem on their hands – they have a conscience. Sometimes it is easier to see the significance of these sins in the context of human actions rather than simply in a list of events. We know that certain things are right and some things are wrong If they are wrong for others they are wrong for us too! The first time we read of conscience coming into action in Genesis 3:7; by verse 12 it is corrupted – instead of being used to convict Adam of his own sin he is using it to criticise and condemn his wife!
The Source and the Standard of Conscience (v2) What is the source of human conscience? Conscience has its origins back in Genesis chp 3 Conscience comes to us as an echo out of Eden! Conscience is a universal pointer to an absolute standard of right and wrong Conscience at it simplest is the inner awareness in the heart of man that his actions have a significance beyond the immediate context in which they occur. Conscience involves at least 3 separate components: A knowledge of an absolute standard of righteous (Rom 2:15; 9:1) An awareness of a responsibility towards God: (1 Peter2:19; 3:21; Acts 23:1; Acts 24:16) A warning or conviction when we have fallen short of that standard / when we have broken or offended that standard (1Co8:7,10,12; 10:25,27,28; 2Co1:12;4:2; 1Tim1:19;3:9;4:2; Heb9:9,14; 10:2,22) How did that conscience come to be? Romans 2 makes it quite clear that conscience is a reflection of the standards of the creator (2:2,3,15) Man first experienced the stirrings of conscience in the garden of Eden Conscience was not the direct product of sin, conscience was not created by sin and Satan – sin and Satan are not creatorial, only Christ is creatorial: “(Joh 1:3) All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (Col 1:16) For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” Sin cannot truly give rise to light but rather to darkness It is not sin that gives us a knowledge of Gods standards but rather God Himself: “(Joh 1:9) That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” But it was in the garden of Eden that the conscience first fired up as man created in the image of God, with the knowledge of Gods character, reflecting the nature and standards of the Creator sinned against his creator. Something foreign to that creation and those to standards God had given was introduced into that creation and man perceived that this was alien to his creator – these were the first stirrings of conscience. It was not that sin created conscience but rather conscience triggered a response to sin in the heart of man! Jag yourself with a needle and you feel pain, the needle does not create pain however, the nerve cells, the prostaglandins, the prostacyclines, the electrical impulses in the nerve cells, the connections to the spinal cord and to the brain cause pain, the needle only triggers the process set up by God from creation. The conscience came from God (Rom2:2) the standards are Gods (Rom2:2,14) sin merely triggers the response.
The Problem and the Purpose of Conscience (v3-4) No sooner did Adam perceive the effects of conscience on his soul than he misused it: Gen 3:12 – to accuse another, to accuse Eve, but if Eve's behaviour was wrong then so was Adams! Conscience had a purpose, not only was conscience an echo out of Eden that tells us that we have eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but it is also an echo that reminds us that there is a tree of life! The message of this book is that there is such a tree of life! “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” (Act 5:30) “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.” Conscience is not only the emptiness that comes form eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil it is also the gnawing, painful hungering and yearning after the fruit of the tree of life! Praise God for conscience! The true purpose of conscience is not only to convict of sin but it is to convert the soul Conscience is designed to prove to our hearts that we are sinners and that salvation can never be on the basis of how good I am but rather if I am ever to be saved it must be upon the basis of what and who God is. Salvation can only be possible if God is “forbearing” - patient, forgiving of the repentant sinner (v4) Conscience has its final work not only in convicting of sin but in casting me upon the grace and mercy Conscience is not there for me to be critical of others nor to be scathing of God but rather to convict of my own sin. Believers 252: “Here conscience ends its strife and faith delights to prove, the sweetness of the Bread of Life, the fullness of thy love.”
The Response to and the Results of Conscience (v5-12) I can do 1 of 2 things: Reject conscience and harden my heart (v5) – The Barrier of Conscience. This was interestingly Adams first reaction in the garden of Eden: to hide! To hide under the fig leaves (3:7) and to hide behind the trees in the garden (3:8) and to hide behind his wife (3:12). Convicted of sin he knew that there was a problem within, his response was impulsive rather than intelligent, reactive rather than reasoned – he felt his sin exposed and so hide.
Respond to conscience (v7) - The Brokenness of Conscience
(Psa 111:3) “His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever.” They seek for the 'work of God' - “Glory, honour and immortality” is the work of God. down through the generations there have been those who have responded to conscience, to the light of creation and to the light of conscience and on that basis have, even in the days before the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ have been given further light:
Abel: (Heb 11:4) “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” - the same conscience that drove his father to cover and hide drew Able to bring of the firstlings of the flock as a sin offering to God to make reconciliation between God and man!
Job: (Job 1:8) “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”
Noah: (Gen 6:8) “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”
Job, Noah and Daniel: (Eze 14:14) “Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.”
David: (1Sa 13:14) “But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.”
(Heb 11:13) “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
(Heb 11:40) “God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.”
(Heb 12:23) “To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect”
The Brokenness of Conscience. Leads me to all sufficient grace!
The Evidence and Experience of Conscience (v13-16) In giving me conscience God has given me a terrifying gift – He has given me the ability to comprehend His basis of judgement We saw that in creation God gave me the ability to comprehend His character in that creation (Rom1:19-20), so too in conscience God has given me the ability to understand His basis for judgement and His verdict against me! No one will be in hell who does nor understand why they are there! Hell will no doubt come as a shock to many but perhaps not a surprise. Conscience is the evidence for the prosecution against me (v14-15) God has laid up in the very nature of your being, in the very foundations of your heart the ability to understand why He casts you into hell. The ability to understand what is happening and why it is happening. That ought to make us tremble if we are unsaved.
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