Chapter 23: Conscience and the Will
Keep in mind that the context of this chapter is Marshall's teaching on how the spirit and soul of man relate with one another. Chapter 22 was about the link between the intuition of the spirit and the mind of the soul. Faith enables us to take the risk of trusting the spirit's intuitive knowing over and above the natural mind of the soul. This does not in any way diminish the importance of the natural mind; it simply puts it in right relationship with the spiritual mind and is the vehicle through which spiritual truth is understood and communicated for the edification of both oneself and others around us. He concluded the chapter by making reference to the 3 gifts of the Spirit in I Cor. 12 (word of knowledge, prophecy and speaking in tongues) that most relate to the maturing and operation of intuition within the believer.
(It's important to pause here once again to acknowledge that we are referring to a Christian, one indwelt by the Spirit of God who is trained (not necessarily formally) in the Word, and also to acknowlege that we will never be infallible nor complete in these areas, which is why we walk and function in them humbly and alongside others in the Body of Christ who complement us.)
In chapter 23, Marshall links the conscience with the will of the person, showing that the human will is subservient to the conscience, which is part of the human spirit. This is what obedience is all about: "When conscience says, 'You ought', my will should respond, 'I will.'...There is no function of the human spirit more crucial to living out of the spirit than the conscience..."
However, the author acknowledges that some aspects of obedience need to be examined because of serious misunderstandings within the Church about true obedience. A couple of examples of wrong thinking on this are:
- Obedience is like a "moral medicine" - it's unpleasant so must be good for us.
- Obedience is conformity, "one of the most dangerous features of modern society".
Romans 6:16 shows that "obedience merely as obedience is not of itself necessarily good." My understanding as a young Christian was twisted in this; I was raised in the fear of authority, and while this was partially correct, I wasn't taught how to disagree rightly with authority. (This came, not only from family upbringing but from the culture at large that was bent towards authoritarianism; also Christian theology that got some of its biblical interpretation from culture, relayed this message of obedience and submission unhealthily.)
Because of the Lord's mercy and healing, my parents' humility, mentoring through great books, God-designed circumstances and my own obedience to Truth, I now have a much wider space in my spirit where the Spirit of Jesus continues to increase and I can stand up, look into the face of God, know who I am in His eyes, and agree or disagree healthily. I'm still maturing in this, but it's a wonderful freedom! (I would highly recommend Leanne Payne's book, Crisis in Masculinity, to you related to this...)
A fundamental truth about God must be understood in order to grasp the nature of godly obedience and submission; and that is: "...God has committed Himself in a remarkable way to maintain each person's moral freedom." In other words, God Himself never, in the slightest way, coerces a human to love and obey Him. We, however, in our fallenness and sin, do this all the time in our relationships, either by the force of sheer strong human will or by manipulation. God gains our allegiance purely through wooing us. He is the greatest Lover and wins the love of humans through wooing, never through force. (This concept, by the way, is important to get hold of in order to properly understand what biblical submission is about, because the nature of true mutual submission must have at its core the nature of God, which always makes room for the person's moral freedom, his voluntary response - biblical submission is never forced.)
Marshall goes on to say that "The Holy Spirit, indwelling our recreated spirit, will not move out into the soul life without the free response of our will. Omnipotence will not crush even such a fragile thing as finite, feeble human will, so deeply is God committed to our moral being."
Because of this reality, when a person is in right relationship with God (i.e., having been won by His love), "love is primarily expressed in obedience." Obedience is not something coerced from us but given willingly and gladly (Psa. 40:8;110:3).
"One of the apparent paradoxes of the Christian life is that obedience makes us free...Obedience and surrender, surprisingly, mean freedom and selfhood." So the more one obeys his conscience (which must continually be cleansed from dead works), the more freedom he experiences. This speaks volumes about the amazing nature of our God - He wants free and mature children and servants, love slaves, that He can entrust with His nature and mission on earth. He wants us, like Jesus, to be free to do whatever we want to (not in the absolute sense since we aren't perfect in love and obedience) because we are so aligned with His heart that His law is written internally on our hearts and we delight to do His will! We don't need the external laws because we love His law. The ongoing process of obeying His good will/law writes it on our hearts and we do it naturally.
The world and the flesh and the devil do not like people to be free. Free people are a threat to all of our systems in which we find identity and security in this life.
Rather than let this get too long, I'm going to quote highlights out of the chapter that I believe will be helpful to you as you partner with the Spirit to increasingly live out of your spirit rather than the natural powers of the soul:
- How then do we get free? There is only one way: that is by total obedience to the lordship of Jesus...But why does Jesus want to be Lord? Not so that He can 'lord it over' us...He wants to be Lord because He is the only one wise enough to guide our lives properly, and the only one strong enough to keep us free from Satan.
- How does Jesus set us free today? In the same way He set people free during His time on earth - by the power of the Holy Spirit (Lk. 4:18)...When we respond in obedience, the power of the Holy Spirit is released into the area of the human will.
- God's commands are also His enabling. When we respond with our weak human obedience to His commands, the power of the Holy Spirit can reach across into our human will so that the weakest-willed Christian can 'do everything through him who gives me strength.' (Phil.4:13)
- Not only is the power to do the will of God available only through obedience, but obedience is critical in knowing the voice of God...I may say I want to hear God speak, but actually I want to be selective in what I hear.
- Ultimately Jesus decided not on sense evidence, but by what He 'heard' in His spirit...His judgement was always right: because His obedience was perfect, therefore His 'hearing' was unimpaired.
This chapter concludes with touching on three of the nine spiritual gifts (I Cor. 12) that are particularly connected to the conscience: the word of wisdom, discernment of spirits, and faith.
"Wisdom...is related to attainment of goals...and because it is directive, calls for obedience." I can't speak a word of wisdom/direction into the life of another if I am not obedient to the Lord's word in my life
"It is impossible to over-emphasize the importance of a clean conscience in the ministry of deliverance, because the presence of an evil spirit is ultimately known by discernment not by symptoms...Discernment is knowing the truth about a spiritual situation; and because it is the conscience that bears witness to truth, accurate discernment needs a clean conscience."
"Faith always requires a response from the will as well as the mind...Believing in the Scriptures always has a strong volitional element; therefore trusting and obeying always go together. (Heb. 11:8)"
As I have mentioned a few times before, the practice of "listening prayer" is vital in obedience. In the place of getting before God, listening to His word to me personally through the Scriptures, then obeying what I believe He is saying to me, I begin to develop my "hearing" to recognize His voice. Journaling is one of the best practical ways to practice listening prayer because it forces me out of passivity in relating to God.
Next week we will cover chapter 24 which is about worship and the emotions. Just a reminder that the next book which we will begin in a couple of weeks is Wounds that Heal by Stephen Seamands. Grace and peace to you this week!
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