This article answers the following questions:
What Does “Kicking Against The Pricks” Mean?
What Does Repentance Mean?
What Does “Having Their Conscience Seared With A Hot Iron” Mean?
How Does God Guide Us Along His Path?
Repentance is defined by Strong’s Dictionary as compunction, which is a word we don’t use much today, but it comes from the Latin word “compungere,” meaning to prick hard, or sting. Merriam Webster describes compunction as anxiety arising from awareness of guilt.
Anxiety is a method the Holy Spirit often uses to speak to us through our conscience and guide us away from sin.
In the following passage, we see that when Paul shared the gospel with the lost, he told them they should repent (change their thinking), turn to God (change the direction of their life), and start doing things that won’t cause “pricking and stinging” in their conscience.
Act 26:19-20 “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.
Paul knew this type of anxiety very well because he had felt it himself as he persecuted the saints prior to his conversion. Look what the Bible says when the Lord appeared to Paul/Saul on the road to Damascus.
Act 26:14 And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads [a prick or sting].’
Jesus was saying to Paul, “It is hard for you to resist the pricking of your conscience.” The anxiety Paul had been feeling was what prepared him for the encounter He had with the Word of God. Through this account of Paul’s conversion, we see how God used the pricking and stinging of guilt in his conscience to bring him to salvation, and later Paul taught that God often uses this method to guide both believers and non-believers along His path.
Rom 2:15 [Gentiles, who do not have the law], show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.
John 8:9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
As born again believers, we should need only a very tiny prick of the conscience to guide us along the way of righteousness, but Scripture warns that we should guard ourselves because our conscience can be influenced by other voices.
1Cor 15:33-34a Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning;
As Christians, we are supposed to move throughout our circle of influence, speaking God’s truth and love into the lives of those He brings across our path, so we aren’t to withdraw from the world. BUT it is important that we are very careful with who we allow to influence us – who we “give heed” to – because as Paul explains to Timothy, a believer can be drawn away from his faith when he allows his conscience to be corrupted by bad company.
1 Timothy 4:1-3 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
As we see in Paul’s example, when a believer doesn’t respond to the pricking of his conscience, the voice of the Holy Spirit can be quieted. Paul called this a ‘searing’ of the conscience, and it is a dangerous thing, causing some to depart from their faith.
The threat of this kind of influence comes at us from many different directions in today’s society, for example: TV shows, movies, books, and songs which cause us to be sympathetic toward inappropriate relationships … foul language and inappropriate conversation among family, friends, and coworkers … sexual innuendo from every direction. The list could go on and on, but the point is that the more we allow ourselves to be exposed to ungodly things, the less we will feel the ‘prick’ of our conscience telling us that is wrong.
1 Timothy 1:5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,
Born again believers are commanded to love God and love others, and Paul makes it clear that the conscience is where the Holy Spirit “speaks” to us, pricking and stinging when necessary to guide us away from areas of unrighteousness and to keep us close to Him.
Keeping it real,
Photo courtesy of: Yogendra174
