Acts 23:1 (KJV) A Good Conscience Still Gets Convicted

Acts 23:1 (KJV)
And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.

Imagine the pressure Paul was under at this moment. He had been:

• captured, 
• threatened, 
• mistreated and 
• misunderstood

Things he had done and said, that were intended to calm and convince the audience of his accusers, had backfired into an inferno of violent and irrational behavior. He was an experienced and successful articulator of the doctrines of the Christian faith but he had been utterly incapable of pacifying much less convincing this crowd.

Paul now stands before the one group powerful enough to make all of this go away. He begins with the thought; “I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.”

Likely our first impression is that Paul has in mind, “Since I got saved.” I want to entertain the argument that is not what he meant. Perhaps he meant that all of his mature life he had lived in a growing and ever developing path towards the knowledge of God.

• He had a good conscience about studying under Gamaliel
• He had a good conscience about practicing the faith of the Pharisees 
• He had a good conscience about witnessing and endorsing the stoning of Stephen
• He had a good conscience about persecuting, binding and hunting down Christians 

until the day he met Christ on that road to Damascus. After which:

• He had a good conscience about giving his life to Christ 
• He had a good conscience about telling as many of his brethren as possible about the Lord and
• He had a good conscience about winning all the Gentiles he could to the very same Lord

All of us are in a state of growing consciousness concerning things around us and concerning those things that are spiritual. For that reason, while it is important to live in all good conscience, it is essential that we do not trust our conscience exclusively. It can lead us astray. We need a higher rule with which to guide us. We need God’s Word.

Saul of Tarsus lived in all good conscience toward God even before his salvation but the Bible tells us that he did live under conviction even then.

• He wrestled with the evil that he would not but did anyway and
• He kicked against the pricks of the Holy Spirit

Live with a good conscience, obey the Word of God and don’t ignore the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others

Acts 23:1 (KJV) A Good Conscience Still Gets Convicted

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at Bible Baptist Church Fundraiser. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.