Adam lived in a perfect world. The soil was fertile, and plant life flourished. Animals lived in harmony with each other and the first couple. While there was work to do, it was productive and without struggle. There was no shame, no fear, no pain. God came down and visited Adam and his companion in the cool of each evening, walking with them in the beautiful garden where He had placed them. How could anything go wrong?
What went wrong was that Adam and Eve ate from the one tree God specifically instructed them to leave alone. The luscious fruit from every other tree in the Garden could be eaten, but the fruit of the Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil tree was off-limits. Why would God deny them this one thing? Well, that is what Eve wondered. Although they had already been made in the image of God and lacked nothing, the serpent (Satan in disguise) suggested that God was holding out on them. “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Why would God withhold this? Knowledge is a very good thing, isn’t it? Yes, the desire to learn is strong and can lead us to growth and to happy, productive living. But this forbidden fruit gave no ordinary knowledge; it was of a very specific kind: the knowledge of good and evil. Determining what is good and what is evil, and then choosing between the two, is a burdensome task. We wrestle with it almost every day of our lives, and God would have spared His friends in the Garden that troubling experience. But no, “knowing” has a special lure, and Eve did just what we probably would have done. She looked at the fruit and decided that it was not only attractive and delicious, but that it was also much desired because it would make one wise. And Adam concurred.
Up until now, Adam had known only good and the enjoyment of it. Now he learned that there was evil also, and it was not all that easy to avoid it. He had known only peace and contentment, an easy companionship with his wife, and intimate fellowship with God. Now he was finding life included difficulty and pain; there was shame and sorrow and loss in his family; there were many degrees of separation between him and God. All because now he carried the burden of a personal knowledge that there was good and there was evil.
I learned, as a child, that conscience is that inner awareness that tells us what is right and what is wrong. I learned that to avoid the unpleasant consequences of my misdeeds—often not punishment but dreadful self-condemnation—I must obey my conscience. I became a very serious, sensitive child, worried about offending God or displeasing those around me. However, I was mistaken in my belief that conscience would show me right and wrong. Conscience tells us only to do what is right. It is not always a reliable guide as to what indeed is right, because it does not, of itself, discern right from wrong. We are not born knowing right from wrong; we have to be taught that. The lessons may be too few and too sketchy, or too many and too harsh. They may be mistaken, or even missing altogether. The light first given to the newborn child may be dimmed or completely extinguished by the other humans with misguided or unheeded consciences who surround him or her.
The problem with the “Let your conscience be your guide” measurement of behavior is that it is not Scriptural. Nowhere does the Bible tell us, “”There is therefore now no condemnation to them who walk according to their conscience.” (Romans 8:1) It is not conscience that produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. (Galatians 5:22, 23) We could never say, “The conscience is life because of righteousness!” (Romans 8:10) It is only the Holy Spirit of God that enables us to walk in freedom, rather than condemnation. It is the Spirit indwelling us that produces lasting spiritual fruit. It is the Spirit who is life and gives life.
On the other hand, an overwrought conscience can crowd out the piercing action of the Word of God in a person’s life, the Word that is so powerful it determines the thoughts and intents of the heart and separates the earthly from the Divine. Such a conscience may subsume the gentle working of the Holy Spirit who is given to us as a Comforter, Teacher, and Guide.
We cannot escape conscience, nor would it be a good thing to try. But much of the unhappy burden of conscience is relieved by our relationship to God through Christ. It is no accident that Jesus is presented as “the second Adam.” Through Him, we humans have another chance to get it right.
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