A Seared Conscience

Passage: 1 Timothy 4:1-16

This is a passage I’ve always read one way, but recently saw through different eyes. In his first letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul refers to people who have “seared their consciences as with a hot iron.” To this point I’ve assumed Paul’s referring to people whose repeated immorality has deadened their consciences and sense of shame, such that they no longer feel it when they’re sinning. Generally I’ve pictured the kinds of sensational and salacious sins that we church people whisper about in our congregations and rail against in our culture. However, a closer examination reveals that Paul’s talking about a different set of preoccupations. The people to whom Paul refers are people whose misguided religious practices have seared their consciences, deadening their senses to the true Word and Spirit of God. Paul warns Timothy and his church to watch out for people whose religion has been informed by superstition, folklore, legalism, and extrabiblical teaching. Paul invites his church to live out the freedom of the Gospel – freedom to fully enjoy the gifts and experiences God has given. Freedom to approach God through the blood of Jesus rather than through the rigors of an elaborate system of rules and prohibitions. A seared conscience, according to Paul, is not a conscience that doesn’t know right from wrong. It’s a conscience that is dead to the Spirit of God. The way to ward off the influence of such people is simple: hear the Gospel; embrace the Savior; know the Scriptures. Let your conscience be revived by the Spirit.