A Word in Season: A Servant’s Conscience (2 Timothy 1:3)

Paul’s Thanksgiving and the Meaning of a Pure Conscience

The Apostle Paul writes to his son in the faith toward the end of his life, a man whom he's mentored in faithfulness, Timothy, in the second letter to Timothy chapter 1 and verse 3, saying, I thank God whom I serve with a pure conscience as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, and then goes on to express other aspects of his thankfulness.

But without bombast or boasting, without retraction or qualification, the Apostle Paul simply declares that he serves God with a pure conscience as his forefathers did. I think it's most likely here that Paul is referring to his forefathers in the faith, those Jewish believers, prominent perhaps especially in the Old Testament, who were models of transparent righteousness.

And the Apostle Paul says that in the same way as they served God in their generation, so he now in his with a pure conscience. It's not then a reference to his attempts at works righteousness before he was converted.

It's the language of a man who lives a transparent life before God. It's not a claim to sinlessness. It's not a claim to a perfection of his own righteousness. It is rather a testimony that he has lived before the eye of God with integrity and sincerity, seeking to honour him in all things.

Faithful Ministry, Honest Motives, and Repentance

Paul would have a pure conscience then with regard to his faith, that he has genuinely believed the word of God, that he has traded on the promises of God, that he's made known the truth of God, that he's not held back the word of God, that not only has he relied on it himself, but he's made it known to others and the Christ whom it declares as the one in whom by trusting we may have confidence for salvation.

He served as a minister with purity in his motives. He's not been governed by the lusts of the flesh or appetite for power or a desire for money. He says this in other places, that his desires, his motives, his aspirations have been properly clean.

He is speaking with regard to words and deeds. Again, not saying that he's been a sinless man since his conversion, but that he has, in what he said and what he's done, truly sought to honour Christ. It might include the fact that where he has sinned against God or men, he's kept short accounts with the Lord and he's been quick to repent of those sins and to seek the forgiveness of those against whom he sinned, whether God or man, doing all possible to live at peace with all men.

Hope Set on Christ and the Call to a Pure Conscience

And he's got a pure conscience with regard to his hopes. They're not rooted in this world, but he has his eye above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. His expectations and his ultimate aspirations are not for any kind of carnal pleasures and delights, but for the full realization of every promise that has been made to him and the entering into the presence of the holy God and that that is his highest aim and his greatest desire.

And striking as that language may seem, perhaps we should be troubled that it is so striking, because this is the kind of statement that a true minister of the religion, a true pastor of the flock should aspire to.

What joy for the sheep of Jesus Christ when the under shepherds can say that they have served the great shepherd with a pure conscience, as those who have gone before them did. In one sense, Paul is blazing a trail for Timothy.

He himself is a forefather in the faith for us. He's walked in the ways of the Lord Christ, and we ought to walk in those ways too, imitating him just as he also imitated Christ. And not just those who preach the gospel as the apostle did, but every Christian should be able to say that I am serving God with a pure conscience, that in so far as I know my duty, I am following it.

In so far as I understand the word of God, I am believing it, that my motives and my aspirations are pure. When I sin, I repent and I obtain the mercy again of God in Christ Jesus by his blood, but that I am making sure that my heart is clean before my God.

So let's pray that for one another. Let's plead it for ourselves that our lives before God might be lived with a pure conscience.