A Clear Conscience
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2018 · 11 February 2018
Last Sunday we looked at what happened to the Apostle Paul when he was taken prisoner by the Romans, after he was attacked by the Jews. Some Jews had spread the rumor that Paul was anti-Jewish, and against the culture of Judaism. So they started a riot, which was designed to end in his death. In the middle of this attempt, the Romans intervened, saved Paul’s life, and started to take him into the barracks, going up the steps to Fort Antonia, which was adjacent to the temple ground.
At the top of the steps, the apostle asked for permission to speak to the Jewish people, and Claudius Lysias, the commander of the troops, allowed Paul to do that, figuring that he would then find out what crime this man had committed. So Paul told about was his testimony about how he was a Jew, how he revered his Judaism, how the traditions of Judaism meant much to him. He was not anti-Jewish. He did not desecrate the temple. And he was not against the law of God.
The commander still did not know why they wanted to kill him and so he planned to scourge Paul to find out the truth. While he was stretched out to receive punishment, Paul quietly introduced that he was a Roman citizen. Immediately in a panic, they cut him loose, because it was a crime punishable by death. So the commander still did not know the crime for which Paul is accused of.
His only recourse then was to take Paul to the Jewish Sanhedrin, and place him before the tribunal of his own people, who then could explain the accusation against him. Now, as we approach this particular passage in which Paul speaks to the Jewish council that has been gathered by Claudius, we are reminded of continuing Jewish opposition to the Gospel. All the way through the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John we see this.
Well in Acts, we have that same hardening process that surges with the apostolic ministry. Acts is divided into three parts. The first part Acts 1 to 7, describes the spread of the gospel in Jerusalem; Acts 8 through 12 has to do with the spread of the gospel in Judea and Samaria; Acts 13 through 28 has to do with the spread of the gospel to the uttermost part of the earth. Those are the places of witnessing: in Jerusalem, in Judea-Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.
And along with the apostolic preaching of the cross, in each of the three sections came the rising tide of Jewish antagonism. In the first section, on the Day of Pentecost when the gospel was first introduced in Jerusalem, there were 3,000 people saved. There was no opposition. The miracle of different languages was so remarkable that the best they could come up with was ridiculing the apostles as if they were drunk.
In the second phase after that in Acts 8, the persecution started from there under Paul; and the church was scattered into Judea and Samaria, which brought the gospel to the next area, which meant evangelism in new dimensions and new territories. And so from Acts 8 to Acts 12, opposition increased. Finally climaxing, as it goes on into Acts 13-14 with the Jews cursing and blaspheming in Antioch of Pisidia, and stoning Paul in Lystra.
The third phase of Jewish opposition comes as the gospel goes to the world, and everywhere Paul goes, Gentiles and some Jews are saved, but the majority of the people turn against him in violence. Finally, Paul takes his journey all the way to Rome, and it in Acts 28:25-27 it all ends up with a final denunciation of Israel because of their opposition, “So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word.” The Jews departed.
“The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, 26 saying, “Go to this people and say, “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you will see, and not perceive; 27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.”
Now, this is the fourth time this has been stated in Scripture. And, this comments on the indifference of Israel. So we see that one of the themes running through the book of Acts is the same as it was in the gospel, Jewish antagonism. And, as much as our hearts go out to Israel, and as much as we love the people of Israel, we still see it today, the same kind of antagonism from the Jews.
Well, this is just typical of the reaction to the gospel, and what is so astounding about it is that the Messiah, Christ fulfilled every Messianic prophecy. He was everything that they anticipated the Messiah to be and more, and yet they rejected Him and continued to reject Him, which shows that the religion which God gave them to lead them to Messiah, was ignored and it became an end in itself.
Now Claudius Lysias puts Paul in front of the tribunal of his own people in Acts 22:30. So the commander of this garrison of soldiers at Jerusalem, brings the Sanhedrin into Fort Antonia. Usually, the 70 members of the Sanhedrin meet in the hall of an amphitheater forum. The high priest was the president, and as the 71st member, he would usually sit in front.
But on this occasion, Claudius Lysias had gathered the Sanhedrin in the basement of Fort Antonia, and he brought Paul down to them. This is the fifth time that the Jewish council, had to evaluate the claims of Christ. The first time was at the trial of Jesus. The second time was in Acts 4 with Peter and John. The third time was before the Twelve in Acts 5. The fourth time was with Stephen. And now the fifth time with Paul.
So they had heard the truth from Jesus, Peter, John, the Twelve, Stephen and Paul. They had made wrong judgments based on impure motives all the way through; and here they are for the fifth time. God is gracious, right? The greatest evangelist of the gospel was face to face with those men, and they heard the truth five times. They condemned themselves because they believed not (John 3).
They were blinded by Satan; therefore, the light of the gospel could not shine on them. So Paul comes before the Jewish council to give an answer to a false accusation. The council was made up of high priests, and some special members of the family of the high priest; and also of elders. Now, an elder was the head of a tribal family. Also included were scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. And the high priest was the moderator.
The Sanhedrin had its own police for arresting people. They could take care of all punishments except capital punishment. For that they had to defer to the Roman government. That is what happened in the case of Jesus. The only time they were allowed to take a life was when somebody desecrated the temple. When a Gentile entered the temple, they had the right to kill him; and that is what they wanted to do to Paul.
But as a Jew, Paul was not allowed to be killed. But they twisted it so that Paul would die for desecrating the temple by bringing this Gentile into the inner part. Here are the four parts of the trial. The confrontation, the conflict, the conquest and the consolation. So let us start with the confrontation. Paul likes to confront situations. He is courageous. Now, this is the kind of courage is the kind that changes things.
Acts 23:1, “Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” The statement "looking earnestly" means he stared at them. He looked at them eyeball-to-eyeball. They were people he knew. Some of them were the students of Gamaliel, who had studied with him when he was younger. Many of them were Pharisees. They all knew who he was.
Paul had been the persecutor of the church and now they thought he was a traitor. Note the first thing he said, “Men and brethren.” That was not the proper way. Acts 4:8 tells, us how Peter addressed them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel.” Paul just told them that he was not in a situation of submission. He says, "all through my life, until now, I have done what my conscience has told me God wanted me to do."
Now what does that mean to them? They are not judging Paul now, they are judging God. My motives have always been pure. In Philippians 3:6 he says, "I was concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” Paul says to those guys, "You know this is true. You know how I operated within the Sanhedrin, you know how I persecuted the church. You know my zeal for God.”
Well, that really made them mad, because that made him right. He was saying, in effect, "I'm right. I'm doing what's right," and they knew this. 'I felt it was necessary to persecute Jesus of Nazareth.' Even when he was going around threatening slaughter against Christians, he thought he was doing the right thing. He was a conscientiousness man toward God. "I've always done what I believe God wanted me to do."
But our conscience is not always the key to truth. There are a lot of conscientious people who are dead wrong. Now, conscience can be used by God, and if our conscience is as God designed it, it will convict. But you can mess your conscience up. You can also have a defiled conscience, an evil conscience. Having a good conscience toward God isn't going to save anybody unless truth is involved.
The New Testament says you can have a weak conscience as described in 1 Corinthians 8:7. Titus 1:15 says, “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.” Hebrews 10:22 says, “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.”
1 Timothy 4:2 says you can have a seared conscience. That's a conscience that is covered with scar tissue. Scar tissue causes you not to feel anything and divine truth no longer creates any sensation. You have so defiled your conscience that it has become an evil conscience. In that situation, a person can believe what he's doing is right and be dead wrong. People can go to hell and not even realize it.
Conscience is that which makes moral judgment on your action. For a long time in Paul's life, his conscience was telling him what he was doing is great, and it wasn't. His conscience get corrected, when he got saved. It became in 1 Timothy 1:19, a good conscience; in Acts 24:16, a conscience that didn't want to offend God. And in 1 Timothy 3:9, it became a pure conscience.
The key is in Romans 9:1-3, “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh.” Paul tells everybody that he really has a heart for Israel. His conscience is his witness in the Holy Spirit.
When you can say, "I have a clear conscience, what you are simply saying is that, "I don't sense any guilt. My conscience tells me my acts are morally valuable to God." Our rejoicing is a testimony of our conscience: that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have behaved ourselves in accord with what the Spirit was doing through my conscience.
Well, the confrontation. Acts 23:2, “And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.” This is a new high priest, the son of Netavias, who started in 47 A.D. and went about 12 years after that, and then was assassinated. This high priest lost his cool, he was one of the most disgraceful and foul profaners of the office of high priest. The ancient historians have all bad things to say about him.
He became very pro-Roman, and really bowed to Rome, so much so that his own people began to hate him. Imagine a Jewish high priest who is pro-Roman. They hated him and, finally in 66 A.D., a group of Jewish insurrectionists started a war against Rome. One of the people they wanted to get was Ananias. They found him hiding in an aqueduct, dragged him out, and murdered him and his brother.
Now, here this Ananias commands one of his people to hit Paul on the mouth, which came as a shock to him. Verse 3 says, “Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?” He says, "You are a phony. You just look good on the outside. You are rotten on the inside.”
The high priest had violated the law, so he says to him, “Here you are, the great judge who's going to bring me the law, and you yourself are breaking the law." Jewish law says, "He who strikes an Israelite strikes the Holy One." The Jewish law safeguarded the rights of a man, and he was innocent until proven guilty. Paul wasn't even accused of anything, let alone judged on it and convicted.
What Paul said turned out to be a prophecy. It wasn't long until that was exactly what happened. God took his life, he was murdered. Paul was like a fiery dragon, breathing in and out slaughter. It is amazing that it took from Acts 9 to Acts 23 before we see this. Since his conversion, the Holy Spirit just made a different person out of Paul. That is real transformation.
If you learned about conscience, you learned a good thing. If you learned about boldness, you learned another good thing. I hope that God would give us that same kind of boldness that Paul had, and that same kind of commitment to live before the world with a good conscience. How is your conscience? Is it supported by the Holy Spirit? Let us pray.