A conscience without offence

“This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.” - Act 24v16

Paul was finally where he needed to be. He had a chance to speak before Felix – the governor of Judea. The Jews had presented their case. “For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, and wanted to judge him according to our law.”

It is obvious that they were out to get Paul. They admitted straight up that Paul was not guilty of breaking any Roman laws, but they wanted to deal with him in their own way for breaking their religious laws.

According to Josephus Felix was not exactly the most honest local leader. He was in a particularly difficult situation. He was a Greek born freedman, serving the Roman government in occupied Palestine. He decided to let both sides tell their story, so he allowed Paul to speak.

Paul said that he was not guilty of the charges of causing division or defiling the temple. He did however admit to one thing, “I am a member of the Way, which they call a cult.” He could not ignore or deny his faith. Even before this government official he took to opportunity to share his faith.

That being said, I was challenged by what Paul said was his goal, “I want to have a conscience that is without offence toward both God and man.” What a noble goal for all of us. We should strive to not only not offend God, but we should also strive not to offend men. As much as possible we must try not to offend others while we keep ourselves from offending God.