Bonus Post: On Conscience, Christian Liberty, and Preferences

I have been thinking lately on the place of conscience, Christian liberty, and how we should relate to one another with our preferences. As a young Christian, I had a very low tolerance for any Christian liberty, and the result was that I was overly prescriptive for those around me, and honestly, I was extremely proud about what I had seen in the Bible. It was not just a way, it was the way to obey God. Thankfully the Lord rerouted my ideas and helped me to value those who were doers of the word, rather than doers of my preferences. Here are a few thoughts on the subject that I wanted to share here.

Conscience

God has given to each person a conscience which helps to discern what is right and wrong (Rom 2:15). God has given a conscience to those who are saved and unsaved. The conscience is like the check engine light of the soul, alerting to the fact that something might not be right. And while the conscience is a guide, it is not infallible. There are those with a weaker or stronger conscience (1 Cor 8). Sometimes the conscience is weak and forbids something that is not actually forbidden by God. Other times it can be seared, allowing what God has forbidden (1 Tim 4:2, Titus 1:15). Even though the conscience is fallible, it is the Christian duty to walk according to our conscience, because to disobey the conscience is faithless, and therefore sin (Rom 14:23).

We must strive to have a good and clear conscience (1 Peter 3:16, Acts 23:1). We need this good and clear conscience within ourselves and before God. Having a good and clear conscience means that there is nothing in our lives for which our conscience pricks us. We have lived our lives as best we know by the direction of God in His word. No matter what anyone else says, we have walked in integrity both before man and before God.

And this is a most important point: Our conscience is subservient to the Holy Spirit through the Bible. Since our consciences are fallible, our consciences must be submitted to the Word of God. If our conscience is pricked when it shouldn’t be, we should yield to God’s word. If our conscience is not pricked when it should be, we should yield to God’s word. The conscience is never to rule over the Spirit and the Bible, but is a servant of the Spirit to guide us.

Christian Liberty

I’m defining Christian liberty as the freedom that God gives each Christian to best choose how to obey Him and live for His glory. To clarify, sin is not included in Christian liberty. Christians are not free to sin. Christians are bound to obey God. Christians are slaves to righteousness and not to sin (Rom 6:18). Christians are not allowed to use liberty as a cloak for vice (1 Peter 2:16). Liberty is not to include things that God has clearly forbidden or commanded. Denials of Christian doctrine are also not included within Christian liberty. Those who do not “hold fast” to what God has revealed in His word are not Christians. God, the Trinity, the Bible, the Gospel, How to be saved, etc… are absolutely essential to being a Christian.

But, where there is nothing clearly commanded, Christians must walk by Biblical principles found in God’s word and use them to instruct their conscience. We should all be fully convinced in our own minds (Rom 14:5). Within this seeking of Biblical prudence, there is freedom. There is also liberty for each Christian in how to best apply the commandments of God and to best avoid the prohibitions of God. Where God has not given direct prescription for how to best apply His commands, we must use Biblical principles to best follow the Lord. (Rom 14).

Preference

This means that there will inherently be things of preference and differences in application in how we follow the Lord. I am defining preferences as the specific ways that we choose to follow the Lord in matters of opinion. Christians will disagree about preferences. Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 8, and 1 Corinthians 10 are passages that deal with this exact issue. Preferences of application cannot be sin. This would exclude it from the category of Christian liberty. If your application of the word leads to breaking of a direct command or prohibition, then it is no longer a legitimate application (See Mark 7).

Each person is directed by his own conscience in the matters of preference. We are to pursue a Spirit-directed, Bible-saturated conscience when making decisions about matters of preference. Within the categories of preference, there are degrees of freedom. Some issues have a wide variety of faithful preference options while some will have very few faithful preference options.

Differences in Preference

What do we do when there is a difference in preference over opinions within the body of Christ? Since these preferences are only binding to the person whose conscience holds them, no other person may have their liberty defined by any other person’s conscience (1 Cor 10:29). To force someone else to obey your opinion is to add a commandment to God’s word and to be guilty of teaching as doctrines the commandments of men (Mark 7:7). We are not to quarrel over opinions. Rather, we are to welcome the other person and bend over backwards to accommodate one another in these matters of conscience (1 Cor 8). We must be fully convinced in our own minds about these issues of preference. To disobey these convictions (or to cause someone else to violate them) is sin. The great challenge for the Christian is have our consciences directed by the Word of God.

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Our consciences must be washed in the blood of Christ (Heb 9:14, 10:22). There is no one who can have a good and clean conscience apart from the saving work of Christ. He alone can cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve Him. No amount of right living gives us a clear conscience. It can only be obtained by the precious blood of Christ. May we be those who have this clean conscience, and we may welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us.

Jacob Crouch 2024