To kick off this feature in Around the Word called “Pastoral Care and…,” it would probably be a good idea to lay down some definitions. The very first thing we need to get a handle on is what is meant by “Pastoral Care.” Pastoral care comes in two varieties: ordinary and extraordinary. The first is called ordinary not because it’s dull, but because it is mandated by God. Ordinary pastoral care happens week after week when Christians come into the presence of the living God in the Divine Service to receive His gifts. There, forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are dispensed to penitent hearts through the Word proclaimed and the Sacraments administered. But on occasion Christians need individual attention. This is supplemental to the ordinary care we receive collectively in worship; hence it is commonly called “extraordinary.” Yet it’s hardly unusual. We all need personal pastoral care from time to time. So let’s focus on that: What do we mean by individual pastoral care?

Most everyone has a pretty clear picture of why caring pastors are important. A shepherd of Christ’s flock needs a caring heart, that’s for sure. He needs to be a people person; someone who is approachable, winsome, and compassionate. All the Biblical and doctrinal knowledge in the world won’t help us if it remains locked up in our pastor’s cranium. It needs to be unpacked and applied in ways that we can hear it, grasp it, and make use of it. So that’s the first quality of good pastoral care: it comes from a knowledgeable, caring pastor.

But there’s more to pastoral care than that, much more. Actually the term “pastoral care” is a modern adaptation of the ancient phrase “care of souls.” Implied in this lovely, old-fashioned expression is the conviction that Christians are chronically ill and continually in need of help. The illness is spiritual in nature; it consists of the sins we’ve committed and the sins that others have committed against us. As we say in the catechism: “…we daily sin much and deserve nothing but God’s wrath and punishment.” Only after having been forgiven are we able to “…sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.”[1] 

Even prior to the development of modern medical science and the medical professions, it was common to call pastors “physicians of souls.” Like medical doctors, pastors were to tend the ailments of those who were sick, providing appropriate treatment toward wellness and recovery. To this day, various departments in major hospitals are known as “care centers.” Required for informed treatment is the process of diagnosis: listening to the patient and observing the symptoms of the illness, arriving at the underlying cause(s) of the ailment, then treating the core problem rather than merely relieving the symptoms.

There is a parallel process that happens in quality pastoral care. First the pastor listens. He explores the soul’s complaint from every angle, taking into consideration preexisting conditions, unique circumstances and personal dispositions, co-morbidity/concurrent diagnoses, etc. Then working patiently and gently, he applies the cures the Lord has entrusted to His church: God’s Law in its severity and His Gospel in all its sweetness. Sin is of course a chronic condition, but we all have episodes of acute need when we’re desperately in need of God’s healing. That’s when we should seek pastoral care, fully confident that we will find in our pastor not merely a compassionate heart, but a discerning spirit and attentive cure for what ails us. He will listen, teach, admonish if needed, pray with us and for us, and bless us in the Name of the Holy Trinity. Above all our pastor will encourage and assist us with the consolation of the Holy Spirit through His life-giving Word. 

Now, what about the conscience? There’s a popular view that defines conscience as the internal moral compass that everyone has: sometimes right, sometimes wrong — in fact, sometimes greatly misinformed, twisted and depraved. The common, but unfortunate term “values” comes close to the moral compass idea. In this view, each of us has our very own set of moral standards — all equally valid, no matter how diverse — by which we judge things right or wrong and chart the direction for our life. 

However, the biblical evidence is that conscience involves much more than an inner compass; it actually is more of an umpire that discloses our relationship to the living God. For example, St. Paul insists that young pastor Timothy instruct the other pastors in Ephesus not to listen to false teachers but to teach only the pure Word of God. “The aim of our charge,” he writes, “is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Timothy 1:5). 

You see, the devil is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). His very name, Satan, means “accuser.” He delights in getting us to sin and then accusing us of sin. His insidious goal is to drive us to despair: first to give us a bad conscience before God, then to get us to give up on God’s grace and forgiveness -- convincing us that we’ve sinned so severely that God could not possibly love us. This is where St. Paul’s instruction to Timothy comes in: all pastoral care has as its goal the delivery of a good conscience to people under constant spiritual attack from the devil, the fallen world, and their own sinful nature. 

And how does faithful pastoral care deliver a good conscience? Not by the wisdom or ingenuity of the pastor, that’s for sure. Rather, the active Agent in pastoral care is Jesus Christ who has entrusted His saving gospel to the church and called servants to proclaim that gospel in His Name. The blood of Jesus Christ not only remits sin, but cleanses from sin’s defilement (1 John 1:7). It gives broken sinners new and clean hearts (Psalm 51:10). It gives new and lasting hope, bestowing a clean conscience for lively service to the living God (Hebrews 9:14).

So if you’re serious about healthy living, don’t neglect the spiritual realm. Seek out your soul’s physician for God-given care. You’ve got nothing to lose except a bad conscience!

Rev. Harold L. Senkbeil
DOXOLOGY: The Lutheran Center for Spiritual Care and Counsel
hsenkbeil@doxology.us

NOTES
[1] The Fifth Petition, Luther’s Small Catechism, (CPH, 1986), p. 19.

Man’s conscience is a slippery topic to grab in the Scriptures. The word that Paul uses for conscience (syneidesis) is essentially absent from the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), and apart from Paul’s letters and mouth, it rarely occurs in the New Testament. To be sure, Paul was not inventing the concept, for there is no question of the reality of the conscience prior to Paul—just the terminology. The conscience can be seen in action throughout the Old Testament, though it is never described as such. Adam and Eve realized they were naked, felt shame, and felt the urge to hide their nakedness. Cain felt the need to lie to God regarding his brother, for he knew he had acted wrongly, and David despaired of his guilt in Psalm 51, crying out for God to cleanse him. Paul simply took up this concept of one’s self-awareness of sin according to the Greek philosophical language of his day.  

How would the Lord have us use our conscience, especially according to Paul?

Is the conscience’s purpose to condemn us before God, having us feeling guilty? Since that is already accomplished by the law, the conscience must have another purpose. With Paul’s consistent focus upon the Christian’s life toward his neighbor, Paul takes up the conscience and uses it as a helpful internal conversation of self-evaluation regarding one’s life toward his neighbor.  

What is the conscience according to Paul?


Since he specifically speaks of the conscience separately from the heart (1 Timothy 1:5) and the mind (Titus 1:15), one can deduce that the conscience is distinct from them. Furthermore, Paul speaks of the conscience as an active internal conversation within oneself, or an internal evaluation of self-judgment, for he says, “the conscience bears witness” (Romans 2:15; 9:1). Though it is active, it is also an entity that can be described as weak (1 Corinthians 8:10), good (Acts 23:1), and able to be defiled (1 Corinthians 8:7), or wounded (1 Corinthians 8:12). The conscience is more than “the law written on our hearts” because the conscience operates in addition to that law, according to Romans 2:15, “They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them.” And since pagans (Romans 2:14-15) and Christians (Romans 9:1) alike possess a conscience, Paul recognizes the conscience as an aspect intrinsic to humanity, not limited to those with faith.

So, if everyone has a conscience, what informs it?

What does the conscience use as its parameters of right and wrong, offensive or not? How does the conscience know when it has been defiled or wounded? How can the conscience be a reliable guide since it is part of the fallen sinful man and is infected with sin, as well?   

Paul answers these questions through examples of the conscience in action. In 1 Corinthians 8 and 10, the conscience is a key player in determining whether one should refrain from eating food offered to idols. If a person has had “former association” with idols, then his conscience is weakened by that association, as it has been informed and guided by it. “However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled” 1 Corinthians 8:7. Likewise, those who make laws contrary to God’s law still damage consciences “through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth” 1Timothy 4:2-3.

On the contrary, when a person’s conscience is informed by the Lord’s Word, he can partake in identical activities, and yet his conscience will escape unharmed. “Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For ‘the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof’” Psalm 24:1. “If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience” 1 Corinthians 10:25-27. In this way, while the conscience is intrinsic to all men, it will only convict him, leaving him either defiled or unscathed according to that which informs his conscience. Thus, two people can enjoy a delightful steak that has been offered to an idol, but one person will walk away with a defiled conscience, while the other simply walks away with a full stomach.

Moreover, the conscience of the Christian, the new man, is daily renewed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. “I am speaking the truth in Christ — I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit” Romans 9:1. To the extent that the conscience is bearing witness in the Holy Spirit, informed by the Word, its judgments are reliable. However, the man as sinner  (the old Adam) will always be at war with the new man, attempting to use the conscience to bring despair and angst to the internal conversation of the conscience.  Paul expresses such despair in Romans 7:14-20, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate… For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” 

The conscience as defiled or clean before God

Paul describes the conscience as it evaluates past actions, resulting in the conscience being defiled or clean. He acknowledges the conscience’s involvement in future decisions (1 Corinthians 10:29), but its primary role is as evaluating previous action. With the conscience operating as such, and being informed by the Lord’s law—at least within the Christian--it will always leave the sinner defiled, since the law always reveals man’s sin (Romans 3:20). Therefore, the sinner’s conscience rightly accuses him before God, leaving him defiled. 

Paul, however, frequently speaks of the conscience as “good” or “clean/blameless.” How can this be if it always accuses sin? For the Christian, having faith in Christ, his conscience is always clean before God. In fact, whenever Paul describes the conscience as “good,” he simultaneously mentions the “faith” in the person (e.g., 1 Timothy 1:5: “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith”; 1 Timothy 1:19: “holding faith and a good conscience”; 1 Timothy 3:9: “They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience”). Therefore, the Christian stands before God with a clean and pure conscience, not according to the law or to himself, but according to his faith in Christ. This is why Paul can honestly confess before the chief priests, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day” (Acts 23:1), despite the historical reality that he had done plenty of sin to defile his conscience.

The conscience before one’s neighbor

An essential purpose of the conscience according to Paul is to guide the Christian in his life of love and service toward his neighbor. He demonstrates this in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10, holding the conscience as the central guide for a person’s dietary habits (to eat food offered to idols or not). The intent of preserving the neighbor’s conscience is the only reason Paul gives for not indulging Christian liberty (1 Corinthians 10:28-29).  In this way, one’s love toward the neighbor is seen in his respect toward the neighbor’s conscience, for he recognizes that in harming the conscience, the neighbor himself is harmed. “Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ” 1 Corinthians 8:12.  Therefore, the Christian’s love toward his neighbor includes his respect for the neighbor’s easily offended and weak conscience.

In conclusion, the conscience of the Christian sets him before his neighbor, to love and serve him according to the Lord’s law. In his sinful flesh, his conscience will be defiled by his own sin in every situation. But as a man of faith, the Christian delights in his clean conscience before God, and he uses his freedom to love the neighbor, putting his neighbor’s conscience before his own.  

Pastor Seth Clemmer is pastor to Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church in Estes Park, Colorado.

If the conscience is really looking at God’s Law written on our hearts (Romans 2:15) when it judges right and wrong for us, then one thing seems pretty clear: The conscience is not to be trusted. If you could trust it, then certainly our consciences would agree with each other. There’d be no discussions about what is sinful and what’s not. We’d all agree, at least in theory. And this is clearly not the case.

And yet, there’s no denying that the conscience is a good part of God’s creation. An inner voice for every person, discerning right and wrong, helping him or her to live a God-pleasing life? You don’t need a bible or a sermon to know what is right and lawful (Romans 2:14), and this is because of the conscience. So where’s the problem? Why can’t we agree?

Luther says that the devil battles hard to keep us from the Law written on our hearts. The conscience gets twisted and muzzled so that one of two things happens. It either doesn’t speak loud enough when it should, or it won’t let us go when its work is done. Both are the work of the devil, keeping us from faith in Christ.

When the conscience doesn’t speak up like it should, it’s because it’s wearing blinders. It doesn’t see the Law written on our hearts, and so it doesn’t preach it to us. This is truly devilish, and why it’s so important to understand that the conscience isn’t the same as God’s Law, it’s the preacher of God’s Law. And a bad preacher drives people away from salvation instead of to it. When this happens, it’s because your conscience is failing to give you the warning about your sin which would normally send you to Christ for forgiveness. To live by the conscience alone is to live without the Gospel, because you may never realize how terribly you need the forgiveness Christ offers. This is one way the devil twists the conscience — by blinding it to the Law.

He can turn it in the other direction too, though. Some of us know the feeling of a conscience that won’t let go. The pit in the stomach. The inability to focus. Other people even see it. The topic — whatever it is — only needs to be mentioned, and the blood rushes to your face, you begin to sweat, you become distracted. That’s shame — something you don’t have without a guilty conscience. Now, the truth is that sometimes shame is the right reaction to what we’ve done. But it should lead us to repentance and faith — faith that Christ’s death was enough, also for this sin. Then the conscience is preaching the Law the way it should.

But then it should also stop. It has no more right to hold us hostage over sins forgiven by Christ than any person.

This is the other way the conscience can be twisted — so that it keeps accusing us after repentance. Then we hear the Gospel, which says: „Christ died for you. Your sins are forgiven. Leave this sin behind you, because your Lord will never think of it again.“ But it’s followed again by the conscience, which is still there saying: „Your sin was too big. It’s not that simple. This time, you also have to make remuneration. Don’t even step in that direction again, because you can’t ask for that much forgiveness again.“ These words are deadly to Christian faith. The conscience holds God’s Law in front of you exactly as it’s written on your heart, and tells you that faith’s not enough, that, because your sin was so horrible, your forgiveness has conditions. Maybe it’s subtle and deems the conditions voluntary, but it doesn’t matter. Martin Luther says that, at times like this, we have to condemn the Law as a heretic. There’s no place after the Gospel for dragging up old sins, for putting conditions on forgiveness.

Where your conscience is out of whack — and there’s always going to be at least a little truth in this — it’s either being too quiet or being too loud. You either don’t hear it at all, or you can’t escape it, no matter how hard you try. For both of these, the first remedy is God’s Word. First in the sermon, where the pastor does what your conscience can’t: Follow the preaching of the Law with the proclamation of the Gospel. But then in your own devotions as well, where you don’t just read the word, but study it and learn how God deals with his baptized children in grace. In the long term, these will teach your conscience when to speak up, and when to make way for the Gospel.

The second immediate remedy is to confess your sins and receive forgiveness from your pastor. If the problem is that your conscience is too quiet, this will mean doing its job for it, comparing your life to God’s Law, without its help. Use the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 or the Small Catechism, or Matthew 5:21-42. This will train your conscience to see God’s Law as God wrote it on your heart. And with the absolution you receive, your faith will be in the sufficiency of Christ’s work instead of the goodness of your own. And if the problem is that your conscience won’t quit and makes you doubt that sufficiency, this is the place where you name the sin that your conscience won’t let go of, and hear the absolution — God’s forgiveness — spoken for that sin, for you. Then receive Holy Communion. In that bread and wine, which YOU receive, is the body and blood of Christ for YOUR forgiveness. Receive both, absolution and communion, from the pastor as from Christ himself. This is more sure than your conscience will ever be, but given time, with the Word of God, it can be taught. 

Pastor Jacob Corzine is goofing around in South Africa, and that's all you'll know until he sends me his bio! (Bryan Wolfmueller, editor)