What does the Bible say about our conscience?

The Bible passages below can be used in sermons, prayers, or pastoral care focused on the human conscience.

• 2 Samuel 24:10, David's heart is stricken
• Psalm 16:7, my heart instructs me
• Acts 23:1, Paul says he has lived with a clear conscience
• Romans 9:1, conscience confirmed by the Holy Spirit
• 2 Timothy 1:3, a clear conscience
• Titus 1:15, a corrupt mind and conscience
• Hebrews 10:22, an evil conscience

Sermons about the human conscience can point out that the conscience can be weak or strong, valid or invalid, reliable or unreliable. The conscience is formed by many things, including one's upbringing, friends and acquaintances, and sources of moral authority.

Though the conscience is a universal aspect of human consciousness, Christians are called to pay attention to the voice of their conscience. This is because the Christian conscience is informed by the Word of God, and therefore it functions as a God-given early warning system against wrongdoing. In Romans 9:1, Paul writes of a conscience that is not an independent moral entity, but one that is informed by the Holy Spirit.

Sermons about conscience can explore the ways in which Paul brings up matters of conscience in his correspondence with the Corinthian church. Some in the congregation are scrupulous about meat sacrificed to idols; others are not. Paul calls the former a weak conscience and the latter a strong one. The weak conscience needs to be further informed about the freedom the gospel provides; the strong, better-informed conscience needs to be respectful of the weak. That respect is necessary because of the importance of not violating conscience. A clear conscience (2 Timothy 1:3) is an important goal in the Christian life — a concept that could form the core of a sermon about conscience. To live with a bad or evil conscience spells danger for the Christian because it means that we are overlooking or disregarding what our conscience tells us is wrong (Titus 1:15). A clear conscience also promotes our relationship with God, as we see in Hebrews 10:22, which speaks of a heart sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.

Sermon ideas about conscience

Following are sample excerpts from Zeteosearch.org sermon resources about conscience:

• "From whatever perspective, then, we consider the times in which we live, the nature of the human person, and the exercise of human conscience, we are inescapably and immeasurably immersed in the mystery of our relationship to one another through which we come to the inseparably personal and common good." Article about Theology by Francis Etheredge from Homiletic and Pastoral Review
• "The Second Reading commands Christians to keep their conscience clear. But this commandment is hard to hear, isn't it? If we are honest with ourselves, we know how unclear our consciences are." Scripture Meditation by Elenore Stump from The Sunday Website
• "That the conscience of mankind may be so aroused, that we shall no more eat the bread of oppression, but work together in comradeship and justice." Prayer by William E. Orchard from Gathered Prayers