“When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.”” (Mat 27:24)

In this section of scripture we encounter a man wrestling with his conscience. Pilate is the Roman Governor who is presiding over the trial of Christ. He is under pressure from the crowd to condemn Christ to death, but he knows that He is entirely innocent. Pilate attempts to absolve himself of responsibility by standing before the crowd and washing his hands. Of course, in the eyes of God he remained responsible for his actions.

The human conscience is a reality. We all have one. Its function is to allow us to discern right from wrong. Have you ever wondered why we have this sense of right and wrong? The Bible teaches that it is because there is an absolute standard of what is right. God defines that standard, and He has given us a conscience so that we know, within ourselves, the difference between right and wrong (Romans 2:15).

However, we can choose how to respond to our conscience. We can ignore our conscience when we feel guilt about some wrong thought, word, or action. This results in a conscience which is ‘seared’ and no longer as sensitive as it used to be (1 Timothy 4:2). We can do things that are wrong, and no longer feel guilty about it.

The alternative is to listen to our conscience. When we do this, we soon realise that we constantly do things that are wrong. God’s standard is perfection. A single sin makes us guilty before Him (James 2:10). Indeed the whole world is guilty before God (Romans 3:19). All of us are sinners who fall short of God’s standard (Romans 3:23).

The good news however is that although we fall short of God’s perfect standard, in infinite love God gave His sinless Son as a sacrifice for sin. The Lord Jesus Christ made it possible for God to righteously forgive our sins. We can come into the good of that by trusting Him for forgiveness (John 3:16). We can’t do anything ourselves. We can’t ‘wash our hands’ of our guilt. But we can “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and… be saved” (Acts 16:21).