Acts 24:16 –   Conscience and knowledge

In this, I am exerting myself also, to have a conscience which is no stumbling block toward God and men, continually.

What Paul says here in front of the governor Felix, he also writes several times in his letters. He was always after a clear conscience. But what does he mean by that?

The word for “conscience” here literally means “co-knowing.” We still recognize this in the the English and French conscience. It refers to science that you share with another. Conscience is the ‘built-in’ human knowledge that comes from GOD. That ‘conscience’ may be weak (1Cor.8: 12), contaminated (Tit.1: 15) or even seared (1Tim.4: 2), but originally it is the Divine science that resides deep within every human being. That is how every person knows that GOD is there.

Because of this conscience, man also knows how to distinguish truth from lies. For example, in 2 Cor. 4: 2, Paul writes that he exposes the truth of GOD’s word and is such a recommendation for every human conscience. He did not commit fraud, but submitted ‘the receipts’. That was Paul’s daily drive: to expose the truth. So that no one could deny what he said was true. What an example of true honesty

Delen: