Conscience in the Holy Spirit in the Light of Rom 9,1

Abstract

In Rom 9,1, Paul demonstratively  proclaims personal righteousness as a servant of Jesus Christ and the Apostle of the Gospel (1: 1). Three autonomous entities: Christ, conscience and the Holy Spirit are called the witnesses authenticating the truthfulness of the testimony given. Christ is his Lord, and he is his servant. As a servant he is filled with the truth of his Lord. Christ the Lord is a credible witness of his righteousness, because he is its source in him. The truth of the above confession is confirmed by his conscience. As an internal autonomous tribunal (co-witness) is able to recognize good and evil according to the requirements of the known truth of Christ – sharing with God. For this reason, it possesses the respect and authority to accuse and judge effectively on its basis all the thoughts, words and actions of the Apostle, resolving definitively whether they are compatible with it or not; by the same, whether they are good or bad in the judgment of God, consequently, if they close or open the way to his eternal glory. The Holy Spirit is the creator of the righteousness of the Apostle, the harmonious coherence of all his words and deeds, the thoughts of consciousness (I/nous) and conscience with the truth of Christ, the salvific will of God realized in the Church by the power of his Spirit, (1 Kor 2,10) knows the truth of Christ perfectly, which, in turn, examining the conscience, renews it and animates it. The Holy Spirit, therefore, according to the Apostle, plays a decisive role in the creation and authorization of his personal righteousness and as the third witness confirms with absolute certainty the credibility of the two previous.