Craig T. Owens

…my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit (Romans 9:1). 

Conscience is that God-implanted part of a human soul that can distinguish between…

• …the morally good and the morally bad 
• …the things that attract God’s presence and the things that repel God’s presence
• …commending things and condemning things
• …the things that please the Holy Spirit and the things that grieve the Holy Spirit

Sin corrupts a conscience. Sin tries to blur the lines between good and evil. Sin looks for loopholes. 

Paul said his conscience was aligned with the Holy Spirit—my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. 

The word for witness is the Greek word martyreo. Martyreo helps me distinguish because of personal experience OR divine revelation. In the case of a Holy Spirit-baptized Christian, it isn’t OR, it’s AND. Jesus used the same word when He said the baptism in the Spirit would empower His followers to be martyreo (Acts 1:8). 

The Holy Spirit aligns my conscience with God’s righteousness. The Spirit grieves when I fall short, and He rejoices when I obey. 

Following the other uses of martyreo in the New Testament, we can see that a Spirit-aligned conscience…

• is convicted of sin
• love God and love people, and lives in loving ways toward them 
• keeps me from offending others
• keeps my Christian testimony bright 
• helps me handle God’s Word correctly
• helps me follow God’s laws
• keeps me pure (see Acts 23:1, 24:16; Romans 2:15; 1 Corinthians 8:7, 10, 11; 10:25-29; 2 Corinthians 1:12, 4:2, 5:11; 1 Timothy 1:5, 19; 3:9; 4:2; Titus 1:15; Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 3:16)

Can you say with Paul, “My conscience is aligned with the Holy Spirit”? You can if you make it a daily habit to listen for the Spirit’s voice and then obey His promptings. 

Don’t let sin corrupt your conscience, but let the Holy Spirit align your conscience with God’s righteousness.