CONSCIENCE

What it is, how to train it, and loving those who differ

By Andrew David Naselli & J.D. Crowley

Crossway. 157 pages. £11.99

ISBN 978-1-4335-5074-4

What music can we listen to? What books should we read? What movies can we watch? What computer games can we play? Should we buy fair trade products? Can we smoke or drink alcohol? How should we date? Can we get tattoos? How often should we exercise? How many children should we have? The Bible does not directly answer any of these questions. As a result, it is perhaps unsurprising that many Christians will respond to them differently. Our differing answers reflect the diversity of our consciences, what we all instinctively believe to be right and wrong.

Conscience issues shape our lives in significant ways, from what we eat for breakfast to how we rest and relax. Not only do they influence our lives, but they also have an impact on others. Churches split over service styles, Christians clash about political positions and couples disagree over approaches to parenting. Where one conscience comes into contact with another, issues inevitably increase in complexity. Our experience tells us that conscience issues are often contentious among Christians.

When we consider how our conscience influences us and impacts others, it is surprising that so little is said or written about the conscience. As a result, Naselli and Crowley have written this short guide to help us get to know our conscience better. Their aim is to put our conscience back on our daily radar and show from Scripture what God intended and did not intend for it to do. The book does this through six short chapters, which explain how our conscience works, how we can care for it and how we can avoid damaging the consciences of others.

The opening two chapters outline what the conscience is. Disregarding myths about an angel on our shoulder, Naselli and Crowley define conscience as ‘consciousness of what you believe is right and wrong.’ By quickly surveying all thirty references to conscience in the New Testament, their treatment is thorough and precise without being overwhelming. From these passages they establish two principles: we should submit to our conscience and God is the only Lord of our conscience. As a result, we must not only seek to live in accordance with our conscience but are to work at recalibrating it in accordance with God’s perfect judgements. They argue that every Christian should be able to echo the words of Martin Luther spoken almost 500 years ago, ‘My conscience is captive to the Word of God.’

Chapters three and four explain how we should deal with our own conscience. The perfect conscience is completely aligned to perfect standard of the Bible. However, as we have all naturally added to or subtracted from this standard, creating additional rules and regulations or removing legitimate instructions and commandments, our consciences are skewed. As a result, we need to recalibrate our conscience, removing from it instructions which are not from the Bible and adding to it those which are. By studying Scripture, we can recalibrate our conscience to reflect God’s commands. After all, the authors remind us that we should not aim to be stricter than God himself!

The final two chapters address the complexity of relating to the consciences of others. Through the technique of theological triage, we discover how to group beliefs into three categories: the fundamental beliefs needed to be a Christian, the denominational distinctives required to form a local church and issues that influence how we live our individual lives. It is within this final category that matters of conscience belong. Working through Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 10, assisted by their brilliant use of diagrams and illustrations, the authors help us to see the relevance of New Testament disagreements over dietary restrictions for the conscience issues we disagree about today. These passages direct us away from insisting on legalistic restrictions to the law of love. In bearing with and giving up our rights and freedoms for one another, we can magnify the gospel even when disagreeing over the most contentious issues. Naselli and Crowley suggest that this is the ultimate goal of Christian freedom. Christian freedom is not about being able to do whatever we want. It is the freedom to discipline ourselves to be flexible for the sake of the gospel.

The final chapter, which teaches us how to deal with conscience issues when working in cultures other than our own, is especially excellent and would be particularly helpful for anyone who regularly interacts with different cultures in life or ministry. In it Naselli and Crowley guide us in breaking down cultural barriers and communicating Christ clearly in order to convert others to him, rather than to our Christian culture.

In Conscience, Naselli and Crowley give us a short and simple introduction to this important subject. Their ability to survey and summarise a large number of Biblical passages in such a short book is to be commended, along with their brilliant use of diagrams, which really bring their illustrations and applications to life. Given everyone has a conscience, and are shaped significantly by it, all will profit from reading this book. There would be significantly less contention in our churches if we put in place the principles presented in it. Furthermore, each of us can benefit deeply from reading it, for as the New Testament scholar Ian Howard Marshall put it, ‘The possession of a good conscience is the best pillow for enjoying a peaceful Christian life.’

ALEXANDER ARRELL