Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.  (Romans 13:5)

In the application chapters of his epistle to the Romans, Paul cycles through a number of scenarios where the justified walking the path of sanctification will be confronted with dilemma between conscience and commandment – in the case quoted above, to obey the God-appointed governing authorities.  Given that Paul appealed to Caesar and that emperor was Nero, the dilemma is immediately obvious.

But to understand better, one has to examine Biblically what is ‘conscience’.   The Greek word employed by Paul is συνείδησις syneídēsis is a compound of syn ‘together with’ and eido ‘to know or see’ and describes ‘shared understanding’.  Thus, conscience is the tempering of individual reaction and instinct with respect to others.  Conscience is also concerning with the regulation of conduct and this infers a concept of morality, hence it the Bible there is reference to ‘good’ conscience.  But the interesting consideration is how conscience might grow at all.