Meaning
lit., "a knowing with" (sun, "with," oida, "to know"), i.e., "a co-knowledge (with oneself), the witness borne to one's conduct by conscience, that faculty by which we apprehend the will of God, as that which is designed to govern our lives;" hence (a) the sense of guiltness before God; Heb 10:2; (b) that process of thought which distinguishes what it considers morally good or bad, commending the good, condemning the bad, and so prompting to do the former, and avoid the latter; Rom 2:15 (bearing witness with God's law); Heb 9:1, 2Co 1:12; acting in a certain way because "conscience" requires it, Rom 13:5; so as not to cause scruples of "conscience" in another, 1Co 1:10-29; not calling a thing in question unnecessarily, as if conscience demanded it, 1Co 10:25, 1Co 10:27; "commending oneself to every man's conscience," 2Co 4:2; cp. 2Co 5:11. There may be a "conscience" not strong enough to distinguish clearly between the lawful and the unlawful, 1Co 8:7, 1Co 8:10, 1Co 8:12 (some regard consciousness as the meaning here). The phrase "conscience toward God," in 1Pe 2:19, signifies a "conscience" (or perhaps here, a consciousness) so controlled by the apprehension of God's presence, that the person realizes that griefs are to be borne in accordance with His will. Heb 9:9 teaches that sacrifices under the Law could not so perfect a person that he could regard himself as free from guilt. For various descriptions of "conscience" see Act 23:1, Act 24:16, 1Co 8:7, 1Ti 1:5, 1Ti 1:19, 1Ti 3:9, 1Ti 4:2, 2Ti 1:3, Tit 1:15, Heb 9:14, Heb 10:22, Heb 13:18, 1Pe 3:16, 1Pe 3:21.
