I have lived in all good conscience before God.

 

I have lived in all good conscience before God.

 

Acts 23:1 "But Paul, looking intently at the council, said, 'Men and brethren, in all things(panse) (agade) I have lived in good conscience(shineidesei) before God until this day.'"

Agadeh is not translated. Agadeh (ἀγαθῇ) means good. The concept of good is to benefit people. In other words, it is a good thing to spread the gospel and lead people into God. Ultimately, entering into God means entering into the original kingdom of God.

The word “suneidesei” (συνειδήσει) is a compound word of “shu” (together) and “eido” (to know). The word translated as “conscience” means a heart that is with God. Therefore, it does not mean that one serves God according to one’s moral conscience, but that one lives a life with God (Immanuel).

『I have lived in good conscience (syneithesei) before God in all things (agathes; the basic form is agathos) until this day.』 If we retranslate this part, it would be, “I have always lived with God in all things with a good conscience.” In other words, Paul poured everything into the work of spreading the gospel of heaven. There were days when Paul did not know the gospel and fell into legalism, and he was obsessed with arresting and imprisoning Christians, but it means that he always lived in good conscience while spreading the gospel.

Here is what Jesus said about the word good. Mark 10:17-18 "As Jesus was going out on the road, a man ran up to him and knelt before him and asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good except one, God alone.'" There is a problem with the translation. "No one is good except one, God alone (εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ θεός.)" If we translate it again, it would be "if not in God."

Since only those who are in God can say that they are good, the saints are those who are united with Christ and are in God. Being in God means being "united with Jesus who died on the cross and with Jesus who was resurrected." Such a person is the one who enters into God. Being in God means becoming one with God.

John 17:21-22 “That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. And the glory you gave me I have given them, that they may be one, just as we are one.” This refers to the oneness of the Father, Jesus Christ, and the saints in the Holy Spirit.

Acts 23:2-3 Then the high priest Ananias commanded those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. But Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall(Toike kekoniamene)! Do you sit to judge me according to the Law, and yet command me to be struck contrary to the Law?”

The high priest (Sadducees) said to strike Paul because what Paul was saying sounded like blasphemy to the high priest. The Sadducees were in charge of the temple sacrifices, and the Pharisees were in charge of the law. “Toike kekoniamene” means a wall that has been whitewashed to hide its filthy parts. They are said to be people who appear to be God’s people on the outside, but are rotten on the inside.

The high priest served God and was permitted by God to take charge of the work of the temple, so why did Paul say that it was a whitewashed wall? The whitewashed wall is the same meaning as the "whitewashed tombs" that Jesus spoke of to the Pharisees. The tombs are decorated splendidly on the outside, but inside there are rotten corpses. The Pharisees and the high priests said that they served God, but in their hearts they were full of self-interest or business. In other words, Jesus pointed out their greedy hearts.

Covetousness means an idol that wants to be like God. When the high priest says that he serves God in the temple, he is the representative of God in the temple, standing before the people as God. This is the appearance of leaders in the church community today. Their hearts are more interested in worldly things than in the kingdom of God. There are people who use the church community to do business. These people are not in God. These people have dead consciences.

Conscience is the heart toward God, but if believers turn toward the world, their conscience is dead. This is a different concept from the moral conscience that the world talks about. In 1 Peter 3:21, it says, "Baptism, which now saves you (not the removal of dirt from the body but the appeal for a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

Baptism is the death of the old believer with Jesus, and the resurrection with the resurrected Jesus, and the birth of a new person. It means that only by being born as a new person can one have a good conscience. Ultimately, a good conscience means one who enters God through Christ with the life of resurrection.

1 Peter 3:16-17 "Keep a good conscience so that those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they are slandered. For it is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil."

A good conscience is not something that a saint can have by his own will, but rather, a good conscience is given when he enters into Christ. Those who aim for the kingdom of God, not the world, can become people who have a good conscience.

However, "believers who think that the kingdom of God is good and the world is good" are like those who left Egypt in the Exodus but tried to return to Egypt. God judged those who missed Egypt and tried to return to Egypt. Likewise, God caused all those who thought they would die if they entered the land of Canaan to die in the wilderness.

If believers who aim for the kingdom of God live in the world, love the world, and have no interest in the kingdom of God, then they are no longer citizens of the kingdom of God. Their hearts have become whitewashed tombs. They are people who do not have a conscience with God.

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