Every human, and only humans, have a conscience.  Animals don’t have consciences because they don’t have the capacity for moral judgment.  Only humans have this capacity because only humans are made in the image of God.  Our consciences feel like an independent, third party watching over our lives.  This is because all humans know intuitively that God exists (Rom. 1:19-20) and all humans have an imperfect-but-accurate version of God’s law written on their hearts (2:14-16).  Verse 16 makes the connection between our intuitive knowledge of God and our intuitive [...]

When it comes to giving to the church, we all wonder, “How much should we give?”  In his instructions about giving in 2 Corinthians 8-9, Paul never mentions specific amounts or percentages, but he does give us several principles to follow.  One of them is in 9:6-10.  In these verses (esp. vv. 6 and 10) Paul uses the metaphor of reaping and sowing to explain what happens when we give.  The Corinthians may have thought that they would lose whatever they give, so Paul reminds them that, just as [...]