Mitch Chase
Watching a professing Christian apostatize is a great tragedy to witness. The details aren’t always the same in each case, but the outcome is the same: a forsaken faith.
As the The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary explains, apostasy is “a term designating the falling away (Greek ᾰ̓πό, ‘away from’; and στάσις, ‘rebellion’) from the faith.”1
And there is nothing new under the sun. From ancient times, people once professing faith in the Lord have later rejected him.
Are there signals though, at least in some cases, that someone will eventually leave the faith later in life? In this article, we’re going to consider that question by considering some words Paul wrote to his protégé, Timothy.
When Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy, he spoke of people who had shipwrecked their faith (1 Tim 1:19–20). The situation in Ephesus had escalated to the point where teachers were undermining sound doctrine and people were being influenced by false teaching (4:1–5; 6:3–5). Paul even identified folks by name (1:20).
For those whom he named, he mentioned a prior action that led to their apostasy: they had rejected a good conscience. In this article, we will observe this important connection, evident in 1 Timothy 1:19, that rejecting a good conscience is the path to apostasy.
Paul’s concern for a “good conscience”
Right from the outset of 1 Timothy, one gets the impression that the problem of false teaching weighs heavily on the apostle’s mind. People in Ephesus are teaching aberrant doctrine, and Timothy must put a stop to it (1 Tim 1:3–4). These false teachers have wandered into nonsense, and they lead those who follow them into the same thing (1:6–7).
Paul entrusts Timothy with the charge to bring needed correction and clarity to doctrinal matters (1 Tim 1:18). Timothy is to fulfill a responsibility which others have prophesied about and prayed over for him (1:18; 4:14; 6:12). As Timothy takes up his task, he will engage in spiritual warfare, fighting the good fight (1:18; 6:12, 20). In order to fight well, he must hold to “a good conscience” (1:19).
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Paul uses the noun for “conscience” (συνείδησις) twenty times in his letters. What is a conscience? It is that inner faculty of moral reasoning that spans cultures and continents and generations. This inner faculty tells us about right and wrong.
Timothy needs a “good conscience,” not just any kind of conscience. The adjective “good” is an important qualifier because, in a fallen world, our conscience is affected by the presence of sin and the corruption of the flesh. While everyone has a conscience, it can be defective, distorted. A conscience can be weak (Rom 14) or seared (1 Tim 4:2). A good conscience exists when our moral reasoning functions as it should; a bad conscience is when our moral reasoning is faulty.
How do we develop a good conscience?
The importance of an informed and conforming conscience
A good conscience isn’t the result of genetics or a high IQ. It’s not the result of simply following your “gut.” A conscience must not be evaluated by merely human instinct, as if we get to decide for ourselves whether our conscience is “good” or “bad.” Because our moral judgments are susceptible to the influence of sin and deception, we cannot always trust what our conscience tells us. For example, our conscience might approve of activities that are wrong, and in that sense our conscience would be faulty (Rom 1:32).
Paul’s reference to a good conscience implies some standard by which the conscience is evaluated. He told Timothy that Scripture is profitable “for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16 ESV). The Word of God is the objective standard to which we must submit our moral reasoning.
A good conscience is the result of the Spirit’s gradual work upon our heart through the Word of God. Over time, we hear the Scriptures taught, and we learn. We are not granted a perfect grasp of theology nor a consistent worldview the moment we are converted. Thus, discipleship involves both learning and unlearning. The Spirit persuades our hearts of what is holy, what is good, true, beautiful, honorable, and wise. He illuminates error and brings correction through the Word and through teachers of the Word (Eph 4:11–14). Our mental hold on wrong ideas weakens (2 Cor 10:4–6; Col 2:6–8).
Paul wrote that for Timothy to effectively fight the good fight (1 Tim 1:18), he needed to have faith and “a good conscience” (1:19). To combat the false teachers and their corrosive teachings, Timothy needed sound judgment. He needed mental clarity about right and wrong. He needed conviction shaped by and rooted in truth. He needed a conscience informed by and conformed to the Word of God.
Because we’re not made of stone, our consciences will be shaped by something. Consider the deathly effect of deceptive instruction, the allurement of sin’s promises, and our own besetting weaknesses. Such a combination leaves us in continual need of sound doctrine and the Spirit’s gracious work.
The false teachers had consciences, but these consciences were “seared” (1 Tim 4:2) and thus faulty. Their propagation of false doctrine was connected to their faulty consciences. The teachers believed that godliness was a means of gain, and this misguided ambition was the result of their minds being “depraved” and “deprived of the truth” (6:5 ESV). Their consciences were not trained and shaped by the Scriptures and sound doctrine.
Have you pondered the dangerous and disastrous path of rejecting a good conscience? According to Paul, this is exactly what led some people to make shipwreck of their faith (1 Tim 1:19). Deviating from the sound instruction of Christ and the apostles, false teachers veer into troubled waters and dangerous territory.
So too, you may even know people who began absorbing false teachings and whose lives turned from sound conduct. Their bad theology showed itself in bad behavior.
How faith is shipwrecked
But does a shipwrecked life necessarily and always begin with believing false doctrine?
We know that embracing false doctrine can lead to dishonorable living. There is a connection between belief and behavior, such that corrupted teaching fosters disobedience. Unsound doctrine doesn’t facilitate holiness.
But while rejecting sound doctrine can lead to rebellion, sometimes the order occurs in the reverse.
You’ve likely known people who have left Christianity because they followed the impulses of their flesh and the cultural pressures of this present evil age. They didn’t start their apostasy by rejecting sound doctrine. They started their apostasy by rejecting a good conscience. Eventually, as their conscience conformed more to the culture’s winds and less to Scripture, they adjusted their theology to justify the way they wanted to live. By not submitting their lives to the Word of God, developing and maintaining “a good conscience,” some have shipwrecked their faith (1 Tim 1:19).
As those who are called to live in yet not be of the world, believers face the challenge of navigating ever-changing cultural waters. For example, our present age is characterized by widespread sexual confusion. There are distortions about marriage, gender, and love. The cultural pressure to conform is strong. It will tempt believers to reject a good conscience in order to fit in with compromised circles and relationships.
But rejecting a good conscience is not safe; it is spiritually hazardous. When we ignore what the Scripture says about what is right and what is wrong, and when we refuse to follow the signals of our conscience about what is dishonorable to the Lord, we are headed for spiritual shipwreck. While abandoning sound doctrine can lead to moral rebellion, it is also true that moral rebellion can lead to the abandonment of sound doctrine.
We must not ignore the signals of our conscience. If we do ignore them, our conscience can become seared, calcified. When we ignore our conscience and pursue what we know is wrong, we suppress the truth for the sake of something transgressive. When we develop a pattern of ignoring our conscience, our conscience is dulled. And the duller our conscience is, the more vulnerable we will be. We will be more likely to indulge and justify wickedness. We will be more likely to support and tolerate wickedness in the lives of others. We will be more likely to rethink theological convictions that conflict with the behaviors we are indulging in.
Explore topics like the conscience and apostasy using Logos’s Factbook tool.
A closing plea for us all
Nobody who confesses Christ starts off doing so with the plan to eventually stop. Yet there are those who do abandon their original confession (Heb 3:14). They shipwreck their faith. Paul’s words to Timothy should give us sobermindedness, for we too must fight the good fight. We too must hold to a good conscience.
An important exercise for our spiritual health is to ask ourselves, Is there anything I am pursuing right now that I know dishonors the Lord? Is there a sinful habit I am cultivating, an inappropriate way I am behaving with someone, a deception I am committing at my job, or a wicked strategy I am executing against someone to acquire something I want? These questions—and others—help us to consider whether we are justifying something dishonorable. Are you caving under the weight of cultural pressure? Are you being blown by the fickle winds of our times? Failing to navigate these dangerous waters faithfully can wreck the faith of professing Christians.
We need a posture of humility. Don’t assume a shipwreck can’t happen to you. Don’t assume you’re above and beyond spiritual drift (1 Cor 10:12). If you’re knowingly pursuing what is morally rebellious, you are already adrift—even if you don’t feel the movement yet.
For the sake of your soul, don’t reject a good conscience. Submit to the Scriptures, trust the Lord’s promises, and expose the lies of sin. Cultivate a conscience that is informed by and conformed to the Word.
Is your conscience sending warning signals in your life? Don’t reject it. A good conscience must not be taken for granted. Your moral reasoning is so important, and yet it is vulnerable to the deceptions of sin. The danger of willful rebellion against the Lord is that it may get easier to sin against him the next time—and the time after that and the time after that.
Given its importance, we should make the state of our conscience a matter of prayer. Pray that the Lord will keep your conscience sensitive to the standard of his Word. Pray that he will guard you from a seared or dulled conscience. Pray for renewed boldness and courage for holy living, that any spiritual drift will be reversed. Pray that you will not suppress or ignore the signals of your conscience but will, instead, attend to the moral directives your conscience is giving you. Pray that in the process of learning and unlearning, your conscience will be properly trained by sound doctrine and Holy Scripture. Pray that you will not make a shipwreck of your faith.
In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, Paul writes that “Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica” (2 Tim 4:10 ESV). We can conclude that Demas rejected a good conscience. His departure from Paul was the result of internal distortions, disordered affections. He loved what he ought not to have loved. And in loving “this present world,” he deserted Paul. To desert Paul does not mean a mere geographical change in direction. Rather, a spiritual redirection had also occurred. In pursuit of this present world, Demas deserted Paul—and ultimately deserted the Lord.
By attending to our conscience and seeking to cultivate a good conscience, we avoid dangerous waters which threaten to shipwreck our faith.
Resources to study 1 Timothy, perseverance, and the conscience
Conscience: What It Is, How to Train It, and Loving Those Who Differ
Regular price: $10.99
Surviving Religion 101: Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College
Regular price: $11.99
The Letters to Timothy and Titus (Pillar New Testament Commentary | PNTC)
Regular price: $23.99
1–2 Timothy and Titus: Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (EBTC)
Regular price: $44.99
The Pastoral Epistles (The New International Greek Testament Commentary | NIGTC)
Regular price: $44.99
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- Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 66.
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