Greek Word Study | 4893: conscience (suneidesis)


The NIV Thematic Reference Bible says, Conscience is “an innate ability to discern the difference between right and wrong, which Scripture describes as having its origin in God himself.”  It is “the faculty, given to every individual, that is capable of producing guilt, or reassurance in the case of innocence.  Though never wholly reliable, the conscience is cleansed when the individual turns to God for forgiveness.  It is possible for the conscience to become deadened through lack of use.”  “Human beings have a built-in ability to know what is right and wrong.”

The Transformation Study Bible (1 Pt 3:16-17) says, “Conscience may be compared to a window that lets in the light of God’s truth.  If we persist in disobeying, the window gets dirtier and dirtier, until the light cannot enter.  This leads to a corrupted conscience (Titus 1:15).  A dead conscience is one that has been so sinned against that it no longer is sensitive to what is right and wrong (1 Tm 4:2).  A person’s conscience can become so poisoned that it approves actions and activities that are bad and accuses the good.  If we are to maintain a clear conscience, we must deal with sin in our lives and confess it immediately (1 Jn 1:9).  We must keep the window clean.  We must also spend time in the Word of God and let in the light.”

The MacArthur Study Bible (1 Pt 3:16) says, “The conscience accuses by notifying the person of sin by producing guilt, shame, doubt, fear, anxiety, or despair.  A life free of ongoing and unconfessed sin, lived under the command of the Lord, will produce a clear conscience.  This will cause your false accusers to feel the shame of their own consciences.”

The MacArthur Study Bible (2 Cor 1:12) says, “The soul’s warning system, which allows human beings to contemplate their motives and actions and make moral evaluations of what is right and wrong.  In order to work as God designed it, the conscience must be informed to the highest moral and spiritual level and best standard, which means submitting it to the Holy Spirit trough God’s word.”  

The MacArthur Study Bible (Rm 2:15) says, “That instinctive sense of right and wrong that produces guilt when violated.  In addition to an innate awareness of God’s law, men have a warning system that activates when they choose to ignore or disobey that law.  Paul urges believers not to violate their own consciences or cause others to, because repeatedly ignoring the conscience’s warnings desensitizes it and eventually silences it.”

The Dake Reference Bible says there are 12 Kinds of Consciences:
  1. Awakened (Jn 8:9)
  2. Seared (1 Tm 4:2)
  3. Purged (Heb 9:9, 14, 10:2)
  4. Pure (Acts 24:16; 1 Tim 3:9; 2 Tim 1:3)
  5. Weak (1 Cor 8:7, 10, 12)
  6. Defiled (Tit 1:15)
  7. Witnessing (Rom 2:12-15; 9:1; 2 Cor 1:12)
  8. Good (Acts 23:1; 1 Tim 1:5, 19; 1 Pet 2:19; 3:16, 21; Heb 13:18)
  9. Convicting or healthy (Mt 27:3)
  10. Satisfied (1 Cor 10:25-29)
  11. Evil (Heb 10:22)
  12. Perfect (Heb 9:9)

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