II Corinthians 4:2 “But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”
A root part of the word “conscience” is “science” which means knowledge; altogether, the word refers to that internal part of our mind that filters out untruths and rejoices in “the truth”. This “conscience” (filter) is a product of Spiritual Birth (John 3:1-8) which compares the things we read and hear with the knowledge given to us by the indwelling Spirit of God. If what we read and hear harmonizes with the indwelling Spirit of God, then we conclude that it is “truth”, but if there is disharmony, we should question it and reject it. The Apostle Paul’s approach to preaching was to simply preach and teach the “truth” of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, the Son of God; this blessed “truth” appeals directly to a person’s spiritual “conscience”. Said another way, “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” (Hebrews 4:2). When “the gospel” is “not … mixed with faith in them that” hear it (not passed through the Spiritual “conscience” filter), there is no “profit” to “them”. Those who are not the Children of God (have not been “born again” by the Holy Spirit) have no Spiritual “conscience” with which to discern the “truth”. The “born again” Children of God should be as the Bereans who “received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). And, the preachers are charged to simply, “Preach the word” (II Timothy 4:2) “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (I Corinthians 2:4)!