How Can I Develop a Christian Conscience?

How Can I Develop a Christian Conscience? addresses the nature, function, and formation of the human conscience, exploring how Christians can calibrate this inner moral faculty according to the Word of God.

Dr. R.C. Sproul examines the conscience from both classical and relativistic perspectives, showing how contemporary culture has redefined conscience as a product of social conditioning or evolutionary development rather than a God-given capacity linked to transcendent moral law. Against this backdrop, Sproul argues that the conscience, while real and important, is not an infallible guide—it can be dulled by habitual sin or distorted by man-made rules. Because the conscience is capable of both accusing and excusing wrongly, it must be continually informed and corrected by Scripture.

The book traces the moral framework established in the covenant of creation, identifies the distortions of legalism and antinomianism, and explains the biblical teaching on degrees of sin. Sproul draws on figures such as Martin Luther and John Calvin to illustrate how conscience operates under the authority of God’s Word and how acting against conscience—even a misinformed one—remains a serious matter. Throughout, the book offers practical guidance for developing a conscience that is both sensitive to God’s law and shaped by the gospel of forgiveness and grace.

Key Themes

• The classical and relativistic views of conscience and their implications for Christian ethics
• The covenant of creation as the foundation for universal moral obligation
• The dangers of legalism and antinomianism as distortions of the moral life
• The role of Scripture in informing and correcting the conscience
• Degrees of sin and the call to charitable discernment within the church

Featured Quotes

“When the normal becomes the normative, when what is determines what ought to be, we may as Christians find ourselves swimming hard against the cultural current.”

“God the Holy Spirit does not lead us to break His law.”