Page 77 1. The Weak in Conscience. This person is also said to be ,weak in faith. Faith, in this sense, does not refer to saving faith. It rather refers to conviction about non-moral issues. So we can say that the ,weak in conscience are also ,weak in conviction. The person with a weak conscience believes that certain non-moral practices are sinful. The reason is because they have been wrongly instructed. Such people have an oversensitive conscience. If the weak in conscience participate in something that offends their conscience, even though in the eyes of God it is not morally wrong, their conscience will condemn them. They will feel as though they have sinned, and they will lose their peace with God until they repent. 2. The Strong in Conscience. This person is also said to be ,strong in faith or conviction. The person with a strong conscience has knowledge that trivial matters have no moral significance. Their conscience is strong; therefore, it is not offended when they engage in non-moral activities. The strong in conscience have freedom to practice such things without feeling guilty. They also have the discernment to distinguish between moral and non-moral practices. 3. The Legalist. This person has a weak conscience. But he insists on pressuring others to conform to the dictates of his weak conscience. The legalist demands that everyone else adopt the same standards to
Prayer to Jesus Christ constitutes yet another evidence for his deity. Jesus instructed His disciples to pray to Him (John 14:14; 15:16; 16:23-24). Acts 1:24-25 records that the disciples prayed to Christ for guidance in choosing a replacement for Judas Iscariot. Stephen voiced two prayerful requests to Jesus: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:59-60). In Damascus, Ananias instructed Saul to be baptized and to call on the name of Jesus (Acts 22:16). The apostle Paul later wrote that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:13; see 1 Cor. 1:2). Paul also appealed to Christ to remove the “messenger of Satan” from him (2 Cor. 12:7-8). Indeed, the New Testament closes with a prayer to Christ: “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).
John MacArthur