The Conviction Of The Holy Spirit… Final
- Zenneth's World
- May 10
- 3 min read
In this final post on the subject of the Holy Spirits conviction, I’ll further examine the last source of conviction, the Conscience.
This seems necessary, as there are some who still believe that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict us of sins.
But before that, here is a brief recap of my previous posts on this subject based on a few verses in the bible.
Isaiah 6:1-8, Isaiah recognised his sin in the presence of God, there was no convicting Holy Spirit.
The woman caught in adultery in the book of John 8:1-11, Jesus neither accused the woman, the teachers of the law or the Pharisees.
However, with regards to her accusers, they walked away recognising the sin within their own hearts.
God says I will remember your sins no more, Isaiah 43:25, Hebrew 8:12.
More than that we are justified before God, by God Romans 8:31-39, and let’s remember that the trinity is not divided.
In conclusion.
The conscience being a source of conviction is confusing for some, as they cannot understand that we can have an internal conversation with God about our failings, without God being the source of our conviction.
Can we have a conversation with God about our failings?
Yes we can.
If however, there isn’t an external agent, the primary source of the conviction of our sins is our own conscience, because God has already said that he will not always accuse us, Psalm 103:9 and Isaiah 57:16.
Having a look at the first example of mankind's encounter with sin. We will see that it is Adam and Eve who first address the issue. In Genesis 2:9 they were commanded not to eat the fruit of the ‘Tree of the knowledge of good and evil’.
Sin came into the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve as a result of their attaining Knowledge through the eating of the forbidden fruit.
So, when God walked in the garden in the cool of the evening, they hid from him.
Why?
Because, long before God meets with them, Adam and Eve knew they were naked and had sewn leaves to cover themselves. They were no longer innocent, the Knowledge of Good and Evil was now within them, they saw their nakedness and were so ashamed that they tried the ridiculous solution of sewing together leaves to cover their nakedness.
This is how we know we have sinned, our conscience is activated by the intrinsic understanding we have between knowing right from wrong.
The Holy Spirit does not need to raise the issue, we accuse ourselves.
In Genesis 3:8-13 the dialogue is of God questioning their actions and the man and woman indicting themselves.
Adam says to God, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." Here we have the initial impact on the individual, when they fall short of God's standard: Shame, Guilt, and Fear.
God did not need to accuse Adam and Eve, the recognition of having sinned was already in their hearts. It is clear from this recorded event that this is how our conscience works, the inevitable consequence of sin, is guilt followed by separation from God due to the shame we feel.
But God is merciful to us and continually calls to us, seeking ways to restore our relationship with Him.
Another example of a sinful state is Isaiah; in Isaiah 6:1-6 we see that it is Isaiah who identifies his own uncleanness, and it is God who offers atonement in the form of the live coal.
The Holy Spirit is not carrying a stick called “Conviction of Sins”, whether the stick has nails embedded in it or is wrapped in soft wool.
Rather the Holy Spirit is our Spiritual Legal Representative –John 16:7– and it is at God's command that a live coal is offered to Isaiah to atone for his sins which is a foreshadowing of Jesus, his life and sacrifice that burns away our uncleanliness; it’s then up to us to receive the offer of that sacrifice.
Either God convicts us – the sons of God – of sins or He doesn’t.
If God convicts us of our sins after the price for sins has already been paid through the crucifixion, then that would make God unjust.
With regards to sin and the works of the Holy Spirit, He is to convince the world of the sin (singular) of not believing in Jesus, John 16:8-11.
So, in conclusion the Holy Spirit is not convicting us of our sins, rather He is our Advocate who defends us against the Accuser.
Nothing can separate us from God’s love.
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