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Bible Dictionaries
Conscience
Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words
or lit., "a knowing with" (sun, "with," oida, "to know"), i.e., "a co-knowledge (with oneself), the witness borne to one's conduct by conscience, that faculty by which we apprehend the will of God, as that which is designed to govern our lives;" hence (a) the sense of guiltness before God; Hebrews 10:2; (b) that process of thought which distinguishes what it considers morally good or bad, commending the good, condemning the bad, and so prompting to do the former, and avoid the latter; Romans 2:15 (bearing witness with God's law); Hebrews 9:1; 2 Corinthians 1:12; acting in a certain way because "conscience" requires it, Romans 13:5; so as not to cause scruples of "conscience" in another, 1 Corinthians 10:28,29; not calling a thing in question unnecessarily, as if conscience demanded it, 1 Corinthians 10:25,27; "commending oneself to every man's conscience," 2 Corinthians 4:2; cp. 2 Corinthians 5:11 . There may be a "conscience" not strong enough to distinguish clearly between the lawful and the unlawful, 1 Corinthians 8:7,10,12 (some regard consciousness as the meaning here). The phrase "conscience toward God," in 1 Peter 2:19 , signifies a "conscience" (or perhaps here, a consciousness) so controlled by the apprehension of God's presence, that the person realizes that griefs are to be borne in accordance with His will. Hebrews 9:9 teaches that sacrifices under the Law could not so perfect a person that he could regard himself as free from guilt. For various descriptions of "conscience" see Acts 23:1; 24:16; 1 Corinthians 8:7; 1 Timothy 1:5,19; 3:9; 4:2; 2 Timothy 1:3; Titus 1:15; Hebrews 9:14; 10:22; 13:18; 1 Peter 3:16,21 .
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Conscience'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ved/c/conscience.html. 1940.
