<p>23:1 <i>And Paul looked straight at the council, and said:</i> <i>Brothers-</i> To address the Sanhedrin as &ldquo;brothers&rdquo; has been described as &ldquo;almost recklessly defiant&rdquo; (William Barclay, <i>Ambassador For Christ</i> p. 132). The usual address was: &ldquo;Rulers of the people and elders of Israel&rdquo;. But Paul instead treated them as his equals.</p><p><i>I have lived before God in all good conscience until this day</i>- The Lord Jesus Himself informs us that Paul kicked against the pricks of his own conscience (Acts 9:5). And in any case, Paul elsewhere says that his good conscience actually means very little, because it is God's justification, not self-justification through a clear conscience, which is ultimately important (1 Cor. 4:4 RSV). It seems Paul was aware of his weak side when he comments how despite his own clear conscience, God may see him otherwise (1 Cor. 4:4 RSV); and surely this was in his mind. So how true were Paul's words in Acts 23:1? It seems that he said them in bitter self-righteousness. Soon afterwards he changes his life story to say that he had always <i>tried</i> to have a&nbsp;good conscience (24:16).</p><p>The Greek word translated &ldquo;conscience&rdquo;,&nbsp;<i>sun-eidesis</i>, means literally a co-perception. It implies that there are two types of perception within the believer- human perception, and spiritual self-perception. The conscience that is cleansed in Christ, that is at peace, will be a conscience that keeps those two perceptions, of the real self and of the persona, in harmony. What we know and perceive humanly, is in harmony with we spiritually perceive. Our conscience, our co-perception, our real self, makes sense of the human perceptions and interprets them in a spiritual way. So, a young man sees an attractive girl. His human perception signals certain things to his brain- to lust, covet, etc. But his co-perception, his conscience, his real self, handles all that, and sees the girl&rsquo;s beauty for just simply what it is- beauty. Job before his &lsquo;conversion&rsquo; paralleled his eye and his ear: &ldquo;Mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it&rdquo; (Job 13:1). He was so sure that what he heard was what he saw; he was sure that his perceptions were operating correctly. But later, he comes to see a difference between his eye and his ear. He says that he had only heard of God by the ear; but only now, he says, &ldquo;mine eye seeth thee&rdquo; (Job 42:5). He had heard words, but, he realized, he&rsquo;d not properly &lsquo;seen&rsquo; or perceived. Finally, he had a properly functioning &lsquo;conscience&rsquo;, a co-perception. What he saw, was what he really heard.<br />Our conscience is not going to jump out of us and stand and judge us at the day of judgment. There is one thing that will judge us, the word of the Lord (Jn. 12:48), not how far we have lived according to our conscience. It&rsquo;s therefore unreliable (1 Cor. 4:4). And yet there is Bible teaching concerning the need to live in accordance with our 'conscience', and the joy which is possible for the believer who has a clear conscience&nbsp;(e.g. Acts 24:16; Rom. 14:18-22; 2 Cor. 1:12; 1 Jn. 3:21). This must mean, in the context, the conscience which God's word has developed in us- it cannot refer to 'conscience' in the sense of our natural, inbuilt sense of right and wrong; because according to the Bible, this is hopelessly flawed. The fact the &quot;conscience&quot; is &quot;cleansed&quot; by Christ's sacrifice (Heb. 9:14; 10:22) proves that the Biblical 'conscience' is not the natural sense of right and wrong within our nature; for our nature can never be 'purged' or 'cleansed', the believer will always have those promptings within him to&nbsp;do wrong. The cleansed, purged conscience refers to the new man that is created within the believer at baptism. This new 'conscience' is not just a sense of guilt which is invoked on account of not living an obedient life; it is also a conscience which positively compels us&nbsp;<i>to do</i>&nbsp;something, not just threatens us with a pang of guilt if we commit a sin.</p>