The Meaning of Acts 24:16 Explained

Acts 24:16

KJV: And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.

YLT: and in this I do exercise myself, to have a conscience void of offence toward God and men always.

Darby: For this cause I also exercise myself to have in everything a conscience without offence towards God and men.

ASV: Herein I also exercise myself to have a conscience void of offence toward God and men always.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  herein  do I exercise  myself,  to have  always  a conscience  void of offence  toward  God,  and  [toward] men. 

What does Acts 24:16 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Since Paul believed God would resurrect him, he sought to maintain a clear conscience as he lived. Conscience is the capacity to feel guilt.

Context Summary

Acts 24:1-16 - Truth Against Slander
Paul was always on the lookout for the one ray of light in murky skies. He found a reason for counting himself happy in this dark hour, Acts 24:10. He held himself with great dignity. He remembered that he was always God's ambassador, representing the court of heaven amid the perverse courts of human government. As for the charge of sedition, he challenged his adversaries to prove it. He pointed out that as the nation was already divided into Pharisees and Sadducees, they could hardly find fault with him for belonging to a third sect-that of the Nazarenes. After the way which they called a sect, Acts 24:14, r.v., he worshipped God, but he had never stirred up strife in temple or synagogue. He protested that it had been the aim of his life to keep a conscience void of offense toward God and man.
In Acts 23:1 he had made a similar statement. Well would it be for us if only we would devote a few minutes at the close of each day to discover whether our conscience accused us of failure in heart, thought, or behavior. The Holy Spirit pleads in the court of conscience. We would be kept from many a fall, if we would be more careful to watch against the little rifts. [source]

Chapter Summary: Acts 24

1  Paul being accused by Tertullus the orator,
10  answers for his life and doctrine
24  He preaches Christ to the governor and his wife
26  The governor hopes for a bribe, but in vain
27  Felix, succeeded by Festus, leaves Paul in prison

Greek Commentary for Acts 24:16

Herein [εν τουτωι]
His whole confession of belief in Acts 24:14, Acts 24:15. [source]
Do I also exercise myself [και αυτος ασκω]
“Do I also myself take exercise,” take pains, labour, strive. Old word in Homer to work as raw materials, to adorn by art, then to drill. Our word ascetic comes from this root, one who seeks to gain piety by rules and severe hardship. Paul claims to be equal to his accusers in efforts to please God. Void of offence (απροσκοπον — aproskopon). This word belongs to the papyri and N.T. (only in Paul), not in the ancient writers. The papyri examples (Moulton Milligan, Vocabulary) use the word to mean “free from hurt or harm.” It is a privative and προσκοπτω — proskoptō (to cut or stumble against). Page likes “void of offence” since that can be either active “not stumbling” as in Philemon 1:10 or passive “not stumbled against” as in 1 Corinthians 10:32 (the first toward God and the second toward men), the only other N.T. examples. Hence the word here appears in both senses (the first towards God, the second towards men). Paul adds “alway” (δια παντος — dia pantos), a bold claim for a consistent aim in life. “Certainly his conscience acquitted him of having caused any offence to his countrymen” (Rackham). Furneaux thinks that it must have been wormwood and gall to Ananias to hear Paul repeat here the same words because of which he had ordered Paul to be smitten on the mouth (Acts 23:1.). [source]
Void of offence [απροσκοπον]
This word belongs to the papyri and N.T. (only in Paul), not in the ancient writers. The papyri examples (Moulton Milligan, Vocabulary) use the word to mean “free from hurt or harm.” It is a privative and προσκοπτω — proskoptō (to cut or stumble against). Page likes “void of offence” since that can be either active “not stumbling” as in Philemon 1:10 or passive “not stumbled against” as in 1 Corinthians 10:32 (the first toward God and the second toward men), the only other N.T. examples. Hence the word here appears in both senses (the first towards God, the second towards men). Paul adds “alway” Furneaux thinks that it must have been wormwood and gall to Ananias to hear Paul repeat here the same words because of which he had ordered Paul to be smitten on the mouth (Acts 23:1.). [source]
Exercise myself [ἀσκῶ]
Originally, to work raw material, to form: hence, to practise, exercise, discipline; and so, in ecclesiastical language, to mortify the body. Of the kindred adjective ἀσκητικός our word ascetic is a transcript. [source]
Void of offence [ἀπτόσκοπον]
Lit., without stumbling; unshaken. The word is used thus in a passive sense here, as in Philemon 1:10. In 1 Corinthians 10:32, it occurs in the active sense of giving offence to others, or causing them to stumble. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Acts 24:16

1 Corinthians 10:32 Give no occasion of stumbling [απροσκοποι]
Late word and in papyri, only three times in N.T. (here; Philemon 1:10; Acts 24:16). See note on Acts 24:16. Here in active sense, not tripping others by being a stumbling-block, as in Sirach 32:21, but passive in Acts 24:16. [source]
Philippians 1:10 Without offense [ἀπρόσκοποι]
See on Acts 24:16. It may be explained, not stumbling, or not causing others to stumble, as 1 Corinthians 10:32. Both senses may be included. If either is to be preferred it is the former, since the whole passage contemplates their inward state rather than their relations to men. [source]
1 Peter 3:16 Having a good conscience [συνείδησιν ἔχοντες ἀγαθήν]
The position of the adjective shows that it is used predicatively: having a conscience good or unimpaired. Compare Hebrews 13:18, “We have a good conscience ( καλὴν συνείδησιν ) Συνείδησις , conscience, does not occur in the gospels, unless John 8:1-11be admitted into the text. Nor is it a word familiar to classical Greek. It is compounded of σύν , together with, and εἰδέναι , to know; and its fundamental idea is knowing together with one's self. Hence it denotes the consciousness which one has within himself of his own conduct as related to moral obligation; which consciousness exercises a judicial function, determining what is right or wrong, approving or condemning, urging to performance or abstinence. Hence it is not merely intellectual consciousness directed at conduct, but moral consciousness contemplating duty, testifying to moral obligation, even where God is not known; and, where there is knowledge of God and acquaintance with him, inspired and directed by that fact. A man cannot be conscious of himself without knowing himself as a moral creature. Cremer accordingly defines the word as “the consciousness man has of himself in his relation to God, manifesting itself in the form of a self-testimony, the result of the action of the spirit in the heart.” And further, “conscience is, essentially, determining of the self-consciousness by the spirit as the essential principle of life. In conscience man stands face to face with himself.” Conscience is, therefore, a law. Thus Bishop Butler: “Conscience does not only offer itself to show us the way we should walk in, but it likewise carries its own authority with it, that it is our natural guide, the guide assigned us by the Author of our nature; it therefore belongs to our condition of being; it is our duty to walk in that path and follow this guide.” And again, “That principle by which we survey, and either approve or disapprove our own heart, temper, and actions, is not only to be considered as what is, in its turn, to have some influence, which may be said of every passion, of the lowest appetites; but likewise as being superior; as from its very nature claiming superiority over all others; insomuch that you cannot form a notion of this faculty, conscience, without taking in judgment, direction, superintendency. This is a constituent part of the idea, that is, of the faculty itself; and to preside and govern, from the very economy and constitution of man, belongs to it. Had it strength as it had right; had it power as it had manifest authority, it would absolutely govern the world” (Sermons II. and III., “On Human Nature”). Conscience is afaculty. The mind may “possess reason and distinguish between the true and the false, and yet be incapable of distinguishing between virtue and vice. We are entitled, therefore, to hold that the drawing of moral distinctions is not comprehended in the simple exercise of the reason. The conscience, in short, is a different faculty of the mind from the mere understanding. We must hold it to be simple and unresolvable till we fall in with a successful decomposition of it into its elements. In the absence of any such decomposition we hold that there are no simpler elements in the human mind which will yield us the ideas of the morally good and evil, of moral obligation and guilt, of merit and demerit. Compound and decompound all other ideas as you please, associate them together as you may, they will never give us the ideas referred to, so peculiar and full of meaning, without a faculty implanted in the mind for this very purpose” (McCosh, “Divine Government, Physical and Moral”). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Conscience is a sentiment: i.e., it contains and implies conscious emotions which arise on the discernment of an object as good or bad. The judgment formed by conscience awakens sensibility. When the judicial faculty pronounces a thing to be lovable, it awakens love. When it pronounces it to be noble or honorable, it awakens respect and admiration. When it pronounces it to be cruel or vile, it awakens disgust and abhorrence. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
In scripture we are to view conscience, as Bishop Ellicott remarks, not in its abstract nature, but in its practical manifestations. Hence it may be weak (1 Corinthians 8:7, 1 Corinthians 8:12), unauthoritative, and awakening only the feeblest emotion. It may be evil or defiled (Hebrews 10:22; Titus 1:15), through consciousness of evil practice. It may be seared (1 Timothy 4:2), branded by its own testimony to evil practice, hardened and insensible to the appeal of good. On the other hand, it may be pure (2 Timothy 1:3), unveiled, and giving honest and clear moral testimony. It may be void of offence (Acts 24:16), unconscious of evil intent or act; good, as here, or honorable (Hebrews 13:18). The expression and the idea, in the full Christian sense, are foreign to the Old Testament, where the testimony to the character of moral action and character is borne by external revelation rather than by the inward moral consciousness. [source]

What do the individual words in Acts 24:16 mean?

In this also I myself strive without offense a conscience to have toward - God and - men through everything
ἐν τούτῳ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀσκῶ ἀπρόσκοπον συνείδησιν ἔχειν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους διὰ παντός

τούτῳ  this 
Parse: Demonstrative Pronoun, Dative Neuter Singular
Root: οὗτος  
Sense: this.
καὶ  also 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: καί  
Sense: and, also, even, indeed, but.
αὐτὸς  I  myself 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Nominative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
ἀσκῶ  strive 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: ἀσκέω  
Sense: to form by art, to adorn.
ἀπρόσκοπον  without  offense 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: ἀπρόσκοπος  
Sense: having nothing to strike against, not causing to stumble.
συνείδησιν  a  conscience 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: συνείδησις  
Sense: the consciousness of anything.
ἔχειν  to  have 
Parse: Verb, Present Infinitive Active
Root: ἔχω  
Sense: to have, i.e. to hold.
πρὸς  toward 
Parse: Preposition
Root: πρός  
Sense: to the advantage of.
τὸν  - 
Parse: Article, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
Θεὸν  God 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: θεός  
Sense: a god or goddess, a general name of deities or divinities.
τοὺς  - 
Parse: Article, Accusative Masculine Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἀνθρώπους  men 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Plural
Root: ἄνθρωπος  
Sense: a human being, whether male or female.
διὰ  through 
Parse: Preposition
Root: διά  
Sense: through.
παντός  everything 
Parse: Adjective, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: πᾶς  
Sense: individually.