The conscience we are seeking to discover here goes above and beyond the natural, beyond developmental training, beyond historical insight. The conscience we seek to develop is one which is a reflection of the changed heart, the new creature, the new man in Christ. It will serve you where the old one will fail you.

1 Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

1 Corinthians 10:23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

In 1 Corinthians 6 Paul was telling them that there was a better way than the natural law. Believers in Corinth were taking their problems to court to be settled by unbelievers. In verse 7 Paul wrote “Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?” The old man, the old nature, said I’ve been wronged; I have a right, maybe even an obligation to redress this wrong. The old man’s conscience would allow judgment, retribution, an accounting. The new man with a new heart, with a new conscience seeks God’s will and abides in His commandments. What was at stake in Corinth was more than material goods, money or a good name. What was at stake was their relationship with their brethren, their relationship with God, the condition of their hearts and perhaps even someone’s salvation.

“Will we bind God by our judgments, or will we free God to transform our enemies—even ourselves—by grace?”  James Edwards – The Divine Intruder