Since the mid-sixties, much attention has been given to the subject of consciousness. At that time, LSD became a household word, Hare Krishna and other Hindu-based religions gained popularity, and Charismatic Renewal became a movement in the Body of Christ. Indeed, it was a time of greatly increased awareness about many things, and that awareness changed many things in American and Western European society. It was during this time that modern psychology came to the forefront of attention. By the early seventies, it seemed in many ways as though a new day was dawning and mankind would move into a new age much different from the Common Era. As the new era failed to come, disappointment arose among many for multitudinous reasons, and then became a 'great malaise' as President Carter called it. The promised Utopia never materialized. The Vietnam Conflict, terrorism, détente, and Watergate became prime time television. In just a few years, consciousness had changed. During the eighties, self-help therapies became the rage and the stigma which had once clung to the psychiatric profession evaporated to the extent that even Fundamentalist and Pentecostal churches embraced many of its ideas. By the nineties, essentially Hindu philosophies (in the form of New Age philosophies) were merging with psychiatry and medicine so that American and European societies are more eclectic and syncretic than ever before.

I think it's important to note that the twentieth century AD/CE is the timespan in which the progression of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Darkness have developed quicker than any other previous century. In the late 1800's, many different quasi-Christian sects emerged as well many truly Christian groups. No truly new Christian or secular doctrines were unveiled, but old truths and errors reemerged from forgottenhood. Even the very dynamic debate over Evolution (Darwinian) versus Creationism which become such a hot issue then was debated by ancient Greek physicians such Galen and Hippocrates. Old European witchcraft resurfaced in various forms such Theosophy and Mesmerism and were incorporated into 'Christian' religious beliefs among some sects. But at the same time, Yahweh was busy preparing his own people for the next great movements of his Spirit in them. The Pentecostal revivals of the early twentieth century marked a major transition from truth typlified by the Brazen Altar and the Brazen Laver (Outer Court) to truth typlified by the Inner Court (Holy Place) and its contents, the Lampstand, the Table of Shewbread, and the Altar of Incense. Around the middle of the twentieth century, many different revivals swept around the earth as the Spirit of God revived more of the teaching of Jesus and the original apostles in the Latter Rain revival, the Healing revivals and Born-Again revivals. The Charismatic revivals of the 1960's and the Faith revivals also contributed to the restoration of all things in preparation for Yahweh to move his people from the Church Age into the Kingdom Age. Again, none of these things is new; all are attested in the early Church in some form or another. And the same is true of modern secular philosophies as all grow unto the Great Harvest. The serpent has his garden, and Jesus has his. And all of these developments have contributed to development of various consciousnesses. Man has so exalted himself beyond any thing he has ever accomplished previously that it is staggering to consider.

These are but a few examples. No doubt, you can think of many other developments and movements which focused on consciousness in some way. Without giving too much attention to the Kingdom of Darkness, but simply noting its parallel growth with regard to the growth of the Body of Christ, as we approach this new eon in Yahweh's purposes, we need to understand that Yahweh wants our consciousness to correspond to his purposes and to his consciousness.

It is not by accident or merely through promotion and propaganda that the late twentieth century is marked by a very common and clear preoccupation with the mind of man. In the world, this preoccupation has led to the acceptance of modern psychological theories as if they were truth and laid the foundation for the resurrection of many seemingly dead religions. This is because idolatry ultimately focuses in man worshiping himself and his own attributes and most (if not all) self-help theories are based on developing 'self-esteem' through acts and disciplines of human will and wisdom.

But Yahweh has his own consciousness to share with his people, a consciousness which Jesus has purchased through his own blood for those who will believe him for it. This consciousness of God is not available to everyone, for it requires the faith of Christ and it requires an ongoing and deepening repentence. It only for those who are born of God, for those who respond to the Word of God when he speaks and believe. And it is available for those who will turn from their own beliefs and begin to believe the Lord and his Word. Who will call upon the name of Jesus for this? Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Yahweh has made the provision in his Son and he wants to so raise us up into his consciousness that we will see his glory and never desire the old consciousness again. May Yahweh Elohim sanctify your consciousness as you read! May your heart turn to the Lord so that you see his glory and be metamorphosed into the image of his Son Jesus! May every veil of flesh dissolve in his Presence!

I suppose, I could go on a crusade about modern psychology, culture, or self-help therapies, but that would not necessarily focus in on the pervading (if nonetheless invisible) problem of CONSCIOUSNESS. Consciousness in its rawest form is essentially 'sentience', that is, the combined awareness of myriad sensory impulses enter in through our natural (and spiritual) senses. Beyond that stimulation lies the realm of our interpretations of those stimuli. The word 'consciousness' in its core meaning comes from a Latin verb scire, which means 'to know', but more precisely, 'to separate one thing from another' or 'discern' [AHDofIER]. Thus, our notion of consciousness relates to the way in which we interpret what we perceive. Its Indo-European root is identified as *skei- (meaning 'to cut, split) and *skei- itself is considered to be the extended form of the Indo-European root *sek- (meaning 'to cut'). Scire is likewise the word from which we get the word SCIENCE and CONSCIENCE. 'Science' is really nothing less than the gathering and interpretation of measurable information. And 'conscience' (con- means 'with') is essentially 'with-discerning'. And so it is that conscience is associated in English with the notion of discerning good from evil, right from wrong, etc.

However, conscience and consciousness are actually the same thing, both words being simply variant forms of the same original Latin word, which is the verb conscire. From conscire comes conscientia, which means "knowledge shared with others, 'being in the know', joint knowledge; knowledge shared with oneself, i.e. consciousness, especially of right or wrong" [Cassell]. It is from conscientia that 'Conscience' appeared in English as a loan word. The other word from conscire, also borrowed into English, is the word conscius, which means "sharing knowledge with others, privy to a thing, cognizant of; an accomplice, fellow-conspirator; sharing knowledge with oneself, i.e. conscious, especially of right or wrong" [Cassell]. conscire itself is defined simply "to be conscious of guilt" [Cassell]. It should be no surprise, given these definitions, that the notion of conscience is closely associated with guilt in British, Canadian and American cultures. Although I have not researched it, it appears to me that the KJV translators may have simply followed the Latin Vulgate rendering in choosing to render suneidêsis as »conscience«. Thus, we have essentially inherited a substitute Latin word and its meaning when it might have been better to simply coin a new word to translate suneidêsis and leave the Latin word with the Romans.

Although I have heard some teach that the conscience is intrinsically created within man at conception in the sense of God's law being written on our hearts while still in the womb, I don't really believe this. First of all, God's law being written upon the heart is a New Covenant reality, not a natural one. Israel did not receive the tables of the Law through until AFTER they left Egypt. It follows then, that the Law of God is not written upon our hearts until AFTER we have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into Yahweh's kingdom of light. Additionally, I should also mention here, that, if you look up every reference to »conscience« in the New Testament (the word »conscience« doesn't appear at all in the KJV Old Testament), you will find no verse that ever says that man has a good conscience before he repents and believes, nor any verse which suggest that man has any Conscience from birth.

Paul wrote in Romans:

If God's law had been written on Paul's heart in the form of his conscience, he wouldn't be able to say this: »I was alive without the law once«. In fact, Paul's discussion in Romans 7 shows that he had to be taught or exposed to the law. That exposure came through either another person or through reading the Torah or both. Let us therefore ignore or otherwise banish the notion of 'Conscience' (that is, ethical knowledge) from this study for purpose of considering the notion of consciousness without resorting to some kind of 'either/or' mindset, understanding also that the perception of good versus evil is a subset of suneidêsis itself, but not the whole of the matter.

One common belief that people seem to profess is that of 'common sense'. The problem with this belief is that it implies an intrinsic or instinctive wisdom native to man in his natural state. Everything we know is essentially learned, whether through experiences, through instruction, or through observation. We learn from other people around us from the time that we are born. We are instructed in different things. We observe. And so, things that are common to many from their learning seem to be 'truth' in some way. In our natural, albeit unspiritual state, we are able to learn many things. It is true that Yahweh has given each of us certain natural abilities, for he is the one who forms each of us in the womb, and he is the one who imparts ability. It used to be thought that animals knew how to survive by instinct alone, for so it appears when we them in the wild. However, a study involving birds revealed that they had to be taught by other birds how to locate food in order to survive well. If such is true of birds, which have nowhere near the intellectual capacity of human beings, then it is also true of us.

When people talk about 'conscience' in the ethical sense, they often say, "It's common sense". The problem is that iniquity is present in all people and corrupts perception (as we shall see). Some things that are called 'common sense' by the majority of people are in fact sinful. So we need to leave this notion of common sense behind and go on with Jesus, for he is our Wisdom (1C 1:30; Co 2:1-4). Before I believed, I was estranged from the wisdom of God. I didn't know it at the time, but I have learned over the years that I was much more foolish than I could perceive. I believed things which were not true (although they were quite popular) and created numerous problems for myself by operating out of those things. My life gradually became more and more miserable, since, being dead in tresspasses and sins, I could only sow to the fleshly nature and reap corruption. The concurrent fact of all of this was that I could not perceive that the very things which I thought were right were themselves the very causes of my troubles. It was only through the repentence and faith that God gave me that my life began to truly change for the better.

The whole point of this is that the morality that I knew, which I considered to be 'good Conscience' was wrong. When Paul he was alive once »without the law«, he is saying that he once lived in effect without Conscience.

Consider the two trees in the Garden (Gn 2:8-9). One was the Tree of Life. The other was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If they had simply eaten from the Tree of Life, they would have partaken of immortality (Gn 3:22) and never died. When they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, death started working in them (Gn 2:17; 3:7-19). The reasoning associated with the Tree of Life is not ethical reasoning, but a reasoning which flows forth from the Life of the Spirit of God, for Jesus is the Tree of Life (Jn 1:4; 15:1). But the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is ethical tree, concerned with good versus evil. Most of the great philosophers of antiquity concerned themselves with this topic, ever attempting to determine which was which. But while Yahweh says »learn to be good« (Is 1:17, CVOT), he doesn't say to debate morality, but rather to choose Life (Dt 30:19). Ethics do not impart life, but Jesus' words do. The natural man is very much concerned with ethics and morality, but not with Life. In fact, Paul wrote this concerning the disposition of the flesh: »For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace« (Ro 8:5-6, KJV).

What I am going to present in this writing is not a teaching on Conscience, but about CONSCIOUSNESS, for that is the true meaning of the word translated as »conscience«.

If you open Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (for the KJV) and look up the word 'consciousness', you will not find it in there, but you will find the word 'conscience'. If you look up 'conscience', it is #4895G, suneidêsis, which Strong defines "from a prol. form of 4894; co-perception, i.e. moral consciousness". #4894G is the verb suneidô, which means "to see completely... to understand or become aware... to be conscious or (clandestinely) informed of". In Liddell & Scott, the primary definition which is given is "joint knowledge, consciousness" without any qualifying adjectives, it secondary meaning being given as "conscience". Young defines it as simply "a knowing with oneself". The verb form suneidô is used in Acts 5:2 referring to a man named Ananias, where it says »...his wife also being privy to it...«. If we go one step further, we can break suneidêsis into its two parts, the prefix sun- and the root eid-. Sun- comes from the exact same Indo-European root as con- in 'consciousness', *ksun-, which means 'with'. Eid- comes from the Indo-European root *weid-, which means "to see". From *weid- we also get several words which appear in English - 'wise', 'wit', 'vision', 'view', 'idea', 'idol', etc. A more precise translation of suneidêsis then would be something like 'convision' or 'with-wit'. Unlike 'conscience' or 'consciousness' (which are borrowed from Latin), in which the focus is that of 'cutting' or 'splitting', the emphasis in suneidêsis is 'seeing'. Thus, the consciousness discussed in the Scriptures has to do with our views and perceptions, and not necessarily or specifically with 'conscience' or 'morality', although both concepts can be included within the sphere of consciousness.

(Please note that in all quotes from the KJV, I have retranslated »conscience« as »consciousness« for the purpose of making the excerpts more direct in their application to consciousness.)

We will get back to suneidêsis shortly.

While I was considering further this word suneidêsis, it occurred to me that I should check whether the word appears in the Septuaginta or not. It appears exactly one time in Ecclesiastus 10:20. The KJV version of this verse is this:

Where the KJV has the word »thought«, the Septuaginta has the word suneidêsis. These words are translations of the Hebrew word maddâ'. maddâ' is defined by Strong as "intelligence or consciousness" [#4093H] and is derived from the verb yâda' which Strong defines as "to know (prop. to ascertain by seeing)" [#3045H, bolding mine]. In other words, the emphasis on maddâ' is the exactly the same as in suneidêsis - vision. maddâ' appears six times in the Hebrew Scriptures, thus pertaining to humanity. It is translated in the other verses as »science« or »knowledge«, but never as »conscience« as suneidêsis is in the New Testament. (It is also worthy to note that it is never translated as gnôsis in the Septuaginta, but as either sunesis, a synonym for suneidêsis which means 'meeting together', or fronesis, which means 'purpose, intention' [L&S].) In four occurrences, maddâ' is associated with Solomon. In the remaining two occurrences, it is associated with Daniel and his friends in Babylon. In all occurrences, it is only associated with the children of Judah. The significance of this seems to be the notion of intelligence or consciousness being associated with a people of praise, for 'praise' is the meaning of the name 'Judah'. Daniel (and his friends) and Solomon were both known for their supernatural wisdom and both worshipped and praised Yahweh.

When Solomon asked Yahweh for »knowledge«, he was literally asking for CONSCIOUSNESS or INTELLIGENCE, consciousness with the purpose »that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people...«. Solomon's humility in this incident in noteworthy, for he humbled himself before Yahweh in his response to Yahweh and followed his father David's instructions concerning wisdom, for he could have relied upon his royal authority or David's legacy in continuing to reign as king. (It is thought by some that the first nine chapters of the book of Proverbs was actually written by David.) Earlier on this very day (according to our modern definition of 'day') Solomon had worshipped Yahweh in Gibeon by offering 1000 burnt offerings upon the brazen altar of Moses. This meant that Solomon had first satisfied the requirements of the sin offering, the trespass offering, the meal offering, and the peace offering. In other words, Solomon had dealt with his sins before Yahweh according to the Torah. And so, he was right with God.

In Hebrews 9:9, it is written concerning the service of the High Priest on Yom Kippur, »for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience«. The New Testament word for »conscience« in this verse is suneidêsis, that is, maddâ. What the writer of Hebrews is saying is that the sacrifices which were offered were not able to make one mature or complete with regard to their consciousness. Indeed, Yahweh forgave sins through the sacrifices and accepted them as worship, but the consciousness of the offered remained unchanged. I believe Solomon must have had some awareness of this deficiency after offering so many burnt offerings. When Yahweh appeared to him, his need must have become quite acute and apparent to him much as it happened to Isaiah when he saw Yahweh on his throne. When the prophet saw Yahweh, he said »Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Hosts« (Is 6:5, KJV-OTR). This happens when Jesus appears to people. Our weaknesses and sins become apparent and easily perceptible. Solomon must have realized his need just as soon as Yahweh appeared.

The dimensions of the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle of the Congregation were 10x10x10 cubits, totaling 1000 cubic cubits. Given the correlation through the number 1000, Solomon was seeking (in type) some kind of Most Holy Place experience. And Yahweh responded by coming to Solomon in the dream. And Yahweh responded to Solomon's request:

Both times, the word »knowledge« is maddâ'; Yahweh gave Solomon exactly what he asked for. We have some record of the effect of this consciousness combined wisdom in Solomon's writings in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs. The result was that Solomon wrote some of the most practical and at the same time profound things ever written by any man. Jesus said that if we asked the Father, he would give us good things, even the good things of his Spirit. Yahweh said something similar to Jeremiah:

Remember, maddâ' comes from a verb meaning "to ascertain by seeing". Taken together, these Scriptures can be understood to indicate that this consciousness is given so that the Spirit of God can SHEW us things we do not know, and, that he desires to do so. Solomon was asking for vision, for the ability to see things through the Spirit.

When Nebuchadnezzar laid seige to Jerusalem, destroyed the city, and deported its inhabitants (including the king, Jehoiakim), he knew about the prophecies of Jeremiah the prophet concerning him, and released Jeremiah to remain in Judah and dwell anywhere he wished in the land (Jr 39:11-14). For example, Jeremiah had prophesied this:

This must have remained in Nebuchadnezzar's memory. After the fall of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar returned to Babylon and must have had time to consider this: that a prophet in Judah had prophesied of his invasion, the details thereof, and the king's success in taking the city. This seems to be the background for the opening of the book of Daniel.

In the phrase »understanding science«, the word »science« is a translation of the Hebrew word maddâ. Thus, Nebuchadnezzar was looking for someone who understood consciousness. Perhaps Nebuchadnezzar was considering Jeremiah's prophecies concerning him when he made this request, considering that Jeremiah (and at least one other prophet) had prophesied accurately about in the name of Yahweh without the use of any of the divinations which were common in Babylon. He must have thought these Judeans had something distinctly different and valuable in their God. The faith of Yahweh must have seemed somewhat exotic to him. Unlike the Mosaic worship and teaching of Yahweh as the only true God, the Chaldeans believed in a pantheon of different gods, of whom a deity named Marduk was the chief. But for Nebuchadnezzar, this Yahweh was specifically connected with his overthrow of Judah and Jerusalem though Jeremiah's word. It seems to me that the king wanted to know something more about this Yahweh.

The word translated as »knowledge« in verse 17 is maddâ'. Nebuchadnezzar evidently got what he wanted. At the time, the king probably did not know that these four children would change his life forever through their faith and relationship with the Lord. Combined with skill in all learning and wisdom, this consciousness enabled Daniel and his friends to exceedingly excel Nebuchadnezzar's most experienced 'spiritual counselors'. As with Solomon, this maddâ' was GIVEN. The Scripture does not say whether the king or the four Judean children had asked Yahweh for this or not, it simply records the facts of Nebuchnezzar desire and Yahweh's impartation of it to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. It appears that Yahweh was answering the desire of Nebuchadnezzar's heart. (Ultimately this would contribute to the king's recognition and acknowledgement of Yahweh in Daniel 4.)

We should note here that Yahweh was very generous in his giving, even as James wrote: »If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him« (Ja 1:5, KJV). It should be noted that the Chaldeans were especially well known for their academic skill and their astrology, which was really also astronomy, not simply divination alone. Even as Yahweh gave Solomon maddâ combined with wisdom which excelled all others before and after in great measure, so Yahweh gave these Judean youths ten times the consciousness, that is, this great ability to see via the Spirit of God, skill and wisdom which the Chaldeans had. So when James writes »liberally«, he doesn't mean a smidgen of wisdom or a pointer here or there, he means much, much more than that. In the words of Paul: »Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory...« (Ep 3:20-21, KJV).

One of the things that stands out in these passages is the grace of God toward these young people (Solomon was a young man when he became king). This is evidenced by the fact that the Hebrew Scriptures record FIVE who received maddâ' from Yahweh. And the number 5 is that number which signifies the grace of God. In all of these examples, Yahweh gave a superabundance of maddâ' along with wisdom. And this maddâ' is called suneidêsis in the New Testament. This is the Old Testament backdrop to the New Covenant's 'consciousness'.

It is not at all surprising that the Holy Spirit would have much to say about consciousness in the Scriptures. When you consider that consciousness, like sentience, has to do with perception, and that we draw from our perceptions in making various judgements of our own about various things, it is apparent that opinion and consciousness are related to one another. The Greek word for 'opinion' was the word doxa. In the New Testament, doxa is translated in most translations as »glory«. In the Septuaginta, doxa was used to translate the Hebrew word kâbôd, which means 'weight, splendor, copiousness' in Exodus 16:7: »And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD: and what are we, that ye murmur against us?« (KJV). In this particular chapter of Exodus, Yahweh gave the Israelites their first taste of Manna after they had seen his kâbôd appear in the cloud (Ex 16:10). This was Yahweh's response to their complaint that they would die of hunger. Really, it was an expression of Yahweh's opinion and illustrates the difference between the Israelites' perception of Yahweh and Yahweh's perception of Yahweh. While the Israelites focused on Moses and Aaron with suspicion, Yahweh's focus was on demonstrating his care for them, his power, and the fact that he himself was standing with Moses and Aaron. The Israelites failed to believe in Yahweh's good will toward them. Nevertheless, Yahweh had Moses prophesy concerning the Manna provision and then brought it to pass. Yahweh was clearly showing his favorable opinion toward them in this miracle. This is somewhat similar to Jesus' making statements to certain ones in the Gospels that they would see the glory of God and then performing a miracle. And each miracle expressed something of God's opinion. As it is in this passage, the shining forth of Yahweh's glory and the expression of his opinion are related one to the other. The Israelites did not perceive God properly, but Moses »endured, as seeing him who is invisible« (Hb 11:27). They did see his glory, however, and that must have been encouraging. In other words, Moses' consciousness of God was markedly different from theirs.

In looking at the following types of consciousness specifically mentioned in the New Testament, it important to remember that each example has to do with WITH-SEEING, with 'joint- knowledge'. If we are joined to the Lord through the Holy Spirit's working, then our consciousness, our 'co-perception' will necessarily be drawn into agreement and participation with Yahweh's consciousness. As labor together with Jesus, it is likewise his desire that we SEE TOGETHER with him. For this reason we shall start off with...

The 'with-seeing' or consciousness which God gives is a consciousness which is directed »toward God«. It says of Jesus in John 1:1: »within beginning was the Word, and the Word was toward God, and God was the Word« (translation mine). Most translations rendered this phrase »toward God« as »with God«, but the Greek text says pros theon [UBSGNT], which literally means 'toward God'. In fact, the preposition pros is cognate with our English words 'fore' and 'forth'. Jesus' whole being was directed toward the Father. As we are being conformed to his image, our consciousness is likewise more and more facing in God's direction. Paul knew this and wrote: »If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.« (Co 3:1-2, KJV). When we do this, we set ourselves in agreement with Jesus.

The phrase »toward God« in this verse is pros ton theon in the Greek text. Paul endeavored to have 'co-perception' without offence toward God. And he exercised himself therein, he did his very best, to have that consciousness. This suggests two things to me. First, that he sought to have nothing in his consciousness which would offend the Lord, and secondly, that saw God without allowing himself to be offended at either God or other people. (I will deal with »void of offence« in more detail later.) We can relate the first aspect to Paul's instruction to Timothy to »Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed« (2Ti 3:15, KJV). This means that we need to apply ourselves diligently to maintaining a right relationship to the Lord. We need to believe, to repent, to wait on the Lord, to listen when he speaks, etc. Another Scripture verse we could bring to bear on this is Mark 12:29-31:

So, Paul's exercise was to fulfill these two great entrustments.

Here »toward God« is eis theon in the Greek text [UBSGNT], literally INTO God. The answer of a good consciousness into God. This is salvation through baptism. Jesus lived in the Father (Jn 14:10). John 14:1 literally says »believe ye into God and into me believe« (translation mine). Jesus said that those who believed and were baptized would be saved. So this good consciousness toward God is the result of believing and being baptized. I remember being baptized in water. I went into the water expecting only to fulfill the (seemingly) ritual requirement of baptism in the name Jesus, but when I came out of the water, I knew I was different. I felt clean. I was aware that I was different inside. I was experiencing this answer of a good consciousness (and conscience) into God. The same life which raised Jesus from the dead raised me into newness of life. It is important to understand here that this kind of consciousness is characterized by literally believing into God. So then, the consciousness which God gives includes faith as a component. Taking the step to be baptized in water once we believe, having the name of the Lord Jesus invoked over us by his servants, is an example of what James meant when he wrote »Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.« (Ja 2:17-18, KJV).

In this verse, »consciousness toward God« is not the most literal translation. Instead of »for consciousness toward God«, the literal rendering is actually »through consciousness of God«. Peter also wrote that we might suffer wrongfully for doing will of God (1P 3:17), for well doing, our works displaying our faith. In fact, this consciousness of God which he gives us may become the very instrumentality that brings on the grief and may be the context within which we bear it. Peter understood this through his own experiences. Some people simply find it offensive that others know Jesus. Some consider it insane. Then they attempt to discredit our testimonies by interpreting them as merely psychological phenomena or by creating some kind of natural explanation for the things we share.

What would be worth the persecution? Paul said it was the glory of God which was to be revealed in his people (Ro 8:18). Stephen is good example of this.

The very people who killed Stephen saw the glory of God on his face with their natural eyes. The glory of God, the Shekhinah, was being revealed in Stephen. But what about his 'with-seeing'? What did Stephen see which enabled him to so gracious endure the murders' grief as they stoned him?

His testimony of what he perceived by the Spirit the straw that broke the camel's back. It was through consciousness of God that Stephen suffered wrongfully, being killed not for sin, but for righteousness. While they were stoning Stephen, his heart was turned toward Jesus; this was the direction of his consciousness. And he saw Jesus' glory as he died. So then good consciousness is consciousness directed to behold the glory of the Lord.

This same precept also applies to us:

This Consciousness Toward God affects the way in which we read the Scriptures. The phrase »to the Lord« in this passage is pros kurion in the Greek text [UBSGNT] - »toward Lord«, toward Adonai. Paul was speaking about the Jews in his day and contrasted them with the reality of Christ. Indeed, Paul was one earlier in his life consenting unto Stephen's death, and was subject to the same vail lying upon his own heart. In other words, he was speaking from his own experience combined with further revelation from the Holy Spirit. Paul knew the Scriptures, being taught by Gamaliel, one of the greatest teachers among the Pharisees. So he had religion. When he read the Scriptures, he understood them according to what he had been taught. Remember, Jesus did say that the Pharisees were blind guides leading blind people. Although Paul heard the message of Jesus and the Kingdom of God, he just couldn't SEE it when he read Moses and the Prophets. Once his heart turned toward Adonai, the Scriptures became a different set of writings. True, the text was the same, but now Paul was different. What had happened?

The lights went on and Saul met Jesus. Jesus spoke to him and revealed himself to his consciousness. Saul eventually became Paul. The impact of this experience was that Saul's previous theology, faith, religion, (call it what you will,) was destroyed by the Light. Although he was acquainted with the Scriptures and the Pharisees teachings and beliefs, now Saul had to relearn everything he had ever believed.

We are much like Paul. When Jesus first reveals himself to us, our belief systems are confronted with a reality so profound that we can't explain it away, a reality which begins to destroy our previous ideas and beliefs. What seemed to make sense is revealed as not making sense after all and we are called into a whole new realm of perception.

Many of the following verses deal with the causation of »good consciousness«.

The word translated as »good« in this passage is agathos. agathos means "intrinsically good" [#18G] and is cognate with our English word 'good'. The Indoeuropean root for it is *ghedh- which is defined as "to unite, join, fit" [AHDofIER]. Thus, Paul is referring to 'co-perception' which is unified, joined and fitted together. And the Holy Spirit is the one who does the unifying.

Consider this excerpt from Jesus' prayer to the Father in John 17:

Jesus prayed for us that we might be ONE, one within him and the Father, to the intent that the world might believe that Yahweh sent Jesus. And not only one, but perfect, mature, ripe in one. This kind of complete oneness with Yahweh requires a corresponding consciousness or with-seeing (suneidêsis) which is likewise unified with God. What the Spirit calls »good consciousness« is a consciousness which results from the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctifying us, that is, setting us apart unto God for him and his purposes. Following Jesus' example, we can see that prayer is involved in this unification. From his statements, we can see that we must be sanctified through the truth, indeed, through the word of God. And then there the fact of the glory which Jesus has already given for the purpose of generated the oneness. That glory will be seen as our hearts turn toward the Lord and the veil is taken away in Christ.

Here is one Yahweh's purposes in giving commandments. The Lord commands certain things and notifies us of some of his intentions in order to produce charity, that is, love, agapê, out of a clean heart, out of good consciousness, and out of unhypocritcal faith. agapê then, results in part from this intrinsically good, unified 'co-perception'. It says in Ecclesiastes »...a threefold cord is not quickly broken« (Ec 4:12, KJV). Strong agapê requires these three things.

The word for »end« in this verse is the Greek word telos, which means "from a primary verb tellô (to set out for a definite point or goal); properly the point aimed at as a limit, i.e. (by implication) the conclusion of an act or state (termination [literal, figurative or indefinite], result [immediate, ultimate or prophetic], purpose); specifically an impost or levy (as paid)" [#5056G]. The stem, tel-, descends from the Protoindoeuropean root *kwel- which means "the completion of a cycle". Our English words 'cycle' and 'wheel' likewise descend from this very same root [AHDofIER]. agapê then is the completion of a cycle set in motion by the commandment.

Now the word for »commandment« in the verse is not entolê as it is in many other NT verses; it is the Greek noun parangelia. parangelia is defined as "order, command, instruction". While entolê refers "things given in trust" [Young], that is, to entrustments, parangelia refers to direct commands, imperative statements. Another meaning of parangelia is 'side-message'. A good example of this is the directive which Yahweh spoke to Moses when he turned »aside« to see the burning bush (Ex 3). If the Lord can get our attention, and we respond by turning aside, he will often give us orders or instructions as to what to do. Moses' whole life was changed when he obeyed and did what Yahweh ordered him to do and literally millions were delivered out of Egyptian slavery into a whole new relationship with Elohim. If Moses had not turned, Yahweh would have had to raise up someone else. This would have resulted in a different Israelite history and a different Bible than the one we have.

Note the commandment to which Paul was referring:

The 'commandment' is the grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord and »godly edifying which is in faith«. Beloved we cannot move in fictions meant to teach moral ideas, nor can we devote ourselves to such earthly things as genealogies, but must stay focused on building one another up within the realm of faith. The Spirit of God will mix the word of the Lord with faith within our hearts (Hb 4:2; 1C 12:9), but he is simply not going to join faith to fictions. We must be sanctified in truth.

We need to hold on to the good consciousness which God gives. In the verse preceding this one, Paul wrote: »This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare«. Therefore, holding faith and good suneidêsis is a means of warfare. Concerning these weapons, the following truth applies:

Remember, good consciousness and faith always go hand in hand. As in 1.Timothy 1:5, we have another potent triad here: prophecies, faith, and good consciousness. We all know that faith is foundational to any warfare in the Spirit (Hb 11). And certainly, a prophecy spoken over us can be very encouraging. »Two are better than one« [Ec 4:9, KJV], but the threefold cord in this is completed with the inclusion of »good consciousness«. Indeed, there is great power in bnelieving the spoken word of the Lord, but we need that consciousness which corresponds and accords with the word we are believing. When we have that consciousness and retain it along with the word and faith, the Lord will move mightily with it and destroy his enemies and every stronghold. Note the potential result:

Here »good consciousness« approaches the notion of 'Good Conscience'. Our good conduct in Christ is meant to shame false accusers and this good conduct is associated with good consciousness. Peter doesn't say here whether the good consciousness or the »good conversation« came first. Either way, good conduct and cood consciousness are associated with one another.

Here the word translated as »good« is not agathos, but kalos. Its adverbial form, kalôs, is translated as »honestly«. In Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, kalos is defined as "...beautiful, but chiefly (fig.) good (lit. or mor.), i.e. valuable or virtuous (for appearance or use)" [#2570G]. In the Vulgate (, the major Latin translation of Bible revised by Jerome in the fourth century AD), kalos was translated as »bonus« (meaning 'good') and »optimus« (meaning 'best'). Perhaps a better reading of this verse is the rendering in the Concordant Literal New Testament:

To have an ideal consciousness is to will to conduct ourselves ideally. And it's not simply ideal - this consciousness is BEAUTIFUL in God's sight. Desiring to behave best in every context is a component of the consciousness which God gives. Remember Solomon's immediate purpose in asking Yahweh for maddâ? It so that he could »go out and come in« before Israel and »judge this thy people« (2Ch 1:7-10, KJV). Solomon wanted to conduct himself on the throne of Israel in the very best manner because he recognized that the people belonged to Yahweh before they belonged to him as their king. Solomon's example demonstrates a proper approach to handling those things which Yahweh entrusts to us. We need the counsel of Jesus himself! Like Solomon, we need to confess our need for Yahweh's wisdom and consciousness, remembering that all things ultimately belong to God. And because they belong to God, we need to be inquiring God, desiring to do our very best in handling these things.

If I use the term "pure conscience", the implied idea is a conscience not affected with any guilt. But if I use the term "pure consciousness", the immediate thought is that of some esoteric meaning. Actually, both are true, as result of the Lord's intervention, but not nearly so far reaching as the Greek text suggests. »pure« here does not mean 'pure' in the sense of undiluted and pristine, but in the sense of CLEAN or CLARIFIED. In each of the following Scripture quotes, the Greeek translated by the English word »pure« is katharos. According to Strong, it simply means "clean" [#2513G].

This verse rendered more literally is thus:

Anything called a »mystery« in the Scriptures is a secret into one must be initiated by the Holy Spirit before it can be truly comprehended. Therefore, not everyone understands this. In the Concordant Literal New Testament, the verse, and verse preceding it, are translated this way: »Servants, similarly, are to be grave, not double-tonged, not addicted to much wine, not avaricious, having the secret of the faith in a clear conscience«. So we see that this clean consciousness is in part characterized as a consciousness or co-perception without duplicity, without inebriation, without greed for gain. In Hebrews 9:13-14, these things are meant to be washed away by the Blood of Christ as it is applied by the Spirit of God. Our cooperation with this cleansing is first to walk in the light as Jesus is in the light, and secondly, to confess unrighteousnesses as they are revealed by that light (1J 1:7-9). The faith of Jesus is the most profound of all mysteries, and the most applicable, for it is through his faith that we are saved at every level of maturity. And this is the mystery: »I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me« [Ga 2:20, KJV]. Have you comprehended yet that all of Yahweh's dealings somehow connect to the outworking of Jesus' death and resurrection? Paul and the other apostles understood this. The Holy Spirit inspired him to write: »...I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead« (Ph 3:8-11, KJV). This included Paul's consciousness. The natural consciousness we grew up with must die out that our consciousness might be energized, vivified by the same Spirit who raised Jesus (consciousness and all) from the dead. After Paul had walked in the light with the Lord, being led by the Spirit of God, he was able to say:

Remember, Hebrews 9:13 says: »How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?«. Isn't it interesting that is was through »the eternal Spirit« that Jesus offered himself without spot to God? And that Yahweh's intention is that we be conformed to the image of the Son? In other words, we are to likewise learn (1J 2:27) to offer ourselves through the Eternal Spirit to Elohim, first of all BELIEVING. Do we actually believe this? It does no one any good to present oneself a living sacrifice without faith (Hb 11:6). Faith toward God is foundational and complements our repentence from dead works (Hb 6:1-2). The New Testament word for Repentence is metanoia, and metanoia means 'change of mind'. That change of mind is meant to develop into a complete and total change of consciousness. And that consciousness will correspond to the will of God. That's one reason why Paul wrote: »I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God« (Ro 12:1-2, KJV) and then elaborated somewhat on this presentation and service and nonconformity and renewal throughout the rest of the Letter to the Romans.

Consider the following:

Defilement and unbelief defile the mind and consciousness. What this verse reveals is effect of these on our perception. We won't see right if we remain unclean. We will not understand the word (whether teaching, prophetic, or Scripture) properly until we are fully cleansed. The provision is there, for the Blood of Christ is able to cleanse from ALL sin. All we need to do is to utilize that provision through faith, Jesus' faith, and by asking God for the changes we need. Jesus said: »Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you« (Jn 15:3). Ephesians 5:26 says: »That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word« (KJV). Now note, in John 15:3, we are cleaned through the logos, but in Ephesians 5:26, it is through the rêma. Through the Discourse (logos) and through the Utterance (rêma) of Jesus. As we keep presenting ourselves to God, as it happened with Ezekiel, the Word (Jn 1:1,14) will come to us saying something. What he says is LIGHT, and as we walk in that Light, his blood will cleanse. Therefore, we must hear from God (Mt 4:4; Ro 10:5-13) and refuse him not when he speaks (Hb 12:18-29).

Ever wonder what Paul meant by a »conscience void of offence«? At face value, it appears to be speaking of having a 'clear conscience' or a conscience not having any sense of guilt in it. Well, we do know that it is a CONSCIOUSNESS void of offence. In the Greek text, »void of offence« is actually one word - aproskopos. According to Strong, aproskopos means "inoffensive, i.e. not leading into sin; faultless, i.e. not led into sin" [#677G]. 'Conscience not leading or led into sin'? Conscience? It should be somewhat evident that CONSCIOUSNESS really does work better in this verse. As Paul so rightly said, »Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.« (Co 3:2, KJV)

Translated more literally:

This verse has to do with the INCLINATION of this consciousness, for it is »towards God and towards the people«. Jesus' entire consciousness was continually turned or inclined towards the Father. And he was inclined towards people. Since the desire of the Lord is to have a people who are in perfect union with him, in whom Yahweh can dwell as he dwells within them, our consciousness must become like his, that is, inclined towards God. Moreover, it is availed to us. Paul learned to exercise himself to maintain this kind of consciousness. This tells me that we can also gain this ability and do the same. We can have and maintain a consciousness which neither leads into sin nor can be led into sin and have through all that we experience or do.

Within what?

Within worshiping Yahweh, within believing all things written in the Scriptures, and within having hope toward Yahweh regarding the resurrection of the dead. In other words, within the realm of living through the faith of Christ, within the realm of Life in the Spirit. Jesus said that true worshipers must worship within spirit and truth. Faith is both manifestation of the Spirit and fruit of the Spirit. I want you to see here that this inoffensive consciousness is directly related to the teaching of Scriptures through faith. The Psalmist of Psalm 119 knew this:

This was the secret to Paul's exercise:

How can we know the law of God if we don't acquaint ourselves with the Scriptures? Indeed, how shall we believe ALL things written in them if we don't read them? Now, before we sidetrack into the law of Moses, Paul was speaking of a different law than that one.

So we see then that this law which Paul loved and delighted in was not one of regulations, but of metamorphosis, whereby Yahweh intends to so transform they who walk after the Spirit, following the leading of the Spirit of God, that the righteousness of the law will be fulfilled in them. So, how do we walk? »we walk by faith, not by sight« (2C 5:7, KJV). If we will believe this and follow the Holy Ghost's directives, God will make it happen, and our consciousness will change until nothing offensive is in it anymore. Jesus became a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to those who were disobedient and resisted the Spirit. And he still is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to the consciousness of fallen man and the carnal mind. But the mind of flesh has been condemned. It has been sentenced to die by hanging. Jesus carried out its death sentence, for we are crucified with Christ (Ga 2:20). Therefore, all that remains is to renew our minds, looking into the perfect law of liberty, and believe what see as the Spirit of God leads us into all truth.

Paul believed, serving the Lord with his mind. And as he believed, »knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him« (Ro 6:9, KJV), he »to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord« (Ro 6:11, KJV). He brought his parchments with him everywhere he travelled and continued therein, enduring many things for the glory of the Lord. And his consciousness was transformed to correspond to the glory of God which was revealed to him by the Spirit as he read and reread the Scriptures, as he heard the word of God spoken through others, and as he shared the great revelations which Yahweh unveiled to him and within him. Paul learned to be instant and diligent in prayer. So much so, in fact, that he wrote to the believers in Thessalonika to »pray without ceasing«. No doubt, that included confessions of sins and weaknesses as he became aware of them. Remember what I said about CLEAN CONSCIOUSNESS? Clean or pure consciousness goes hand in hand with inoffensive consciousness.

First of all, we should note that this type of consciousness is not only idolatrous, but weak and defiled. The suneidêsis or maddâ of Yahweh through Jesus Christ is just the opposite - strong and clean. For a little bit of background, it was common for the offerers of a sacrifice of an animal or some plant to eat some of the sacrifice in the presence of the idol which represented the deity to which the sacrifice was being offered. This was done as means of either establishing or expressing fellowship with or devotion to the deity. It was an expression of faith or trust in the idol. The Corinthian believers to whom Paul wrote this were well aware of these practices, for their culture was one which embraced many idols, many gods (Ac 17:16).

Isaiah the prophet had these to say about those who have idolatrous consciousness:

Vanity. Things which profit not. Blindness. Ignorance. Fear. »A deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul«. And this is really the root of the problem: a deceived heart. Even if we know the word of God, we can deceive ourselves by not doing the word (Ja 1:22,26) which the Spirit is speaking (Mt 4:4). Our hearts can be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Hb 3:13). The word we hear can become unfruitful through the deceitfulness of riches (Mt 13:22). In all of this, the problem is the HEART.

Jeremiah prophesied: »The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart... Thus saith Yahweh; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from Yahweh. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in Yahweh, and whose Hope Yahweh is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?« (Jr 17:1,5-9, KJV-OTR).

What is written upon the heart determines it character. This is analogous to the way in which computer programs determine the behaviour of a computer. Remember that Isaiah said »...and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man«. The idolatrous heart makes a god after the image of man. In other words, it tends to deify humanity. This was the striving of the woman's heart after she received the word of the serpent (Gn 3:5-6). That self-deification later resulted in the worship of various mother-goddesses all over the world and still persists to this day. In our culture, it shows up in some elements of feminism. Whenever people worship humanity, it is idolatry. Another form of this deification of humanity shows up in the various philosophies and psychologies which encourage people to trust in themselves. Remember Jeremiah's words: »Cursed be the man that trusteth in man...«. These kinds of beliefs bring a curse upon anyone who accepts them as true. We have been lied to by people saying that we must have high self-esteem and strong self-confidence. If I trust in myself, e.g. my reasonings, my abilities, my heritage, etc., I am practicing idolatry and sinning against Yahweh. If I take it to the next level and »make flesh my arm«, I degenerate further (Ga 6:7-8). The next level is to have a heart which departs from Yahweh, from him who is Truth and Light and Life. When this process of degeneration is complete, we become conformed to the image of the devil.

Ezekiel was given revelation about these things. He wrote about the Prince of Tyre and the King of Tyre. Note this comparison: in Isaiah 14, the prophet says of Lucifer:

Now, look at the prophecy through Ezekiel concerning the »prince of Tyrus«:

Note the simularity of their statements. The devil, Lucifer, says »I will be like Elyon«. And the prince of Tyrus was saying »I am an El«. The prince's idol was himself. In deifying himself, the prince became like the devil within his heart and his consciousness was affected. This is the character of the Man of Sin.