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Jeremiah 6:9–15
“Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; nor did they know how to blush” (Jer. 6:15a).
When the Bible speaks of the conscience, it points to two functions: accusing and excusing. With our innate knowledge of God’s requirements, the conscience is designed to be troubled when we sin. The Holy Spirit works through it to bring us under conviction and drive us to repentance. This is the accusing function of conscience. But the conscience also may assure us that we have done right. The Christian is always the target of criticisms that may or may not be valid. Even among believers there is wide disagreement over what is proper behavior. But if we know God’s requirements well, our conscience will excuse us even if we are criticized for something we do.
But the New Testament clearly teaches that the conscience is not suitable to serve as the final authority for ethical human conduct. The reason is that while God’s standards do not change, the human conscience can and does. It may become either less or more sensitive to the things of God.
A conscience becomes less sensitive to God’s requirements when it becomes “seared” or “calloused.” This is what happens when a person grows accustomed to sin. His heart becomes hardened, and God may even remove all restraints and give him over to his sin (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28). Such hardening of the heart happened to the ancient Israelites through their incessant sin. Jeremiah the prophet charged that everyone in the nation was “given to covetousness” and false dealing (Jer. 6:13). They had committed “abomination” (Jer. 6:15), an unspecified but clearly heinous sin. Their consciences should have accused them of wrongdoing. But because they had sinned repeatedly, their consciences had become calloused. Thus, they were not in the least ashamed of their evil deeds. As Jeremiah puts it so poignantly, “Nor did they know how to blush.” They had come to the point where their consciences were excusing when they should have been accusing. This is the essence of corruption—calling good evil and evil good.
Of course, the conscience also can be sensitized improperly by illegitimate taboos, such that it accuses when it ought to excuse. The goal of believers must be to make the conscience more sensitive to God’s requirements through exposure to His Word. We will examine this change in tomorrow’s study.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Do you know any particularly “hard” people, who can sin with no apparent regrets or shame? It may well be that their consciences have become calloused through repeated sin. Spend time praying for them today, asking that God would soften their hearts by His Spirit, that they might feel remorse for violating His law and seek the Savior.
For Further Study
- Romans 2:5
- Ephesians 4:19
- 1 Timothy 1:19
- 1 Timothy 4:2
- Titus 1:15