2868. 'His concubine, whose name was Reumah' means gentiles whose worship was idolatrous but in whom good was present. This becomes clear from what has gone before, for in the former place come those gentiles meant by the sons born to Nahor from his wife, in the latter those born from his concubine. As has been shown, those born from his wife were people outside the Church who dwelt in a brotherly relationship by virtue of good, 2863, whereas these latter sons are people outside the Church whose worship was idolatrous but in whom good was present. Thus the latter were born from a less legitimate union than the former, though the union was nevertheless legitimate, for in those times children born from servant-girls were accepted as legitimate, as becomes clear from Jacob's sons born from the servant-girls Bilhah and Zilpah, Genesis 30:4-12, from whom tribes descended no less than from the sons born from Leah and Rachel, and who in this respect were no different from the latter. Yet that a difference did exist is clear from Genesis 33:1-2, 6-7.

[2] Servant-girls whom in those times a wife gave to her husband for the sake of producing children were called concubines, as is evident from Bilhah, Rachel's servant-girl, who is also called Jacob's concubine in Genesis 35:22. The practice of producing children by means of servant-girls or concubines was allowed in those times so that those outside the Church might be represented, as well as those of lower degree within the Church. The statement that the concubine's name was Reumah embodies the essential nature of that group of people, 1896, 2009, which in this case is exaltation, this being what Reumah means. Regarding the state and condition of nations and peoples outside the Church, see 593, 932, 1032, 1059, 1327, 1328, 1366, 2049, 2051, 2284, 2589-2604.

1033. With regard to the assertion that gentiles too have a conscience for what is right and good conferred on them according to the religion they have, the situation is this: Conscience in general is either true, spurious, or false. True conscience is a conscience formed by the Lord from truths of faith. Once it has been conferred a person is afraid to act contrary to the truths of faith because to do so is to act contrary to conscience. This conscience nobody can receive who does not possess any truths of faith, and this also is why not so many in the Christian world do so, for there everybody advances his own dogma as being the truth of faith. Nevertheless people who are being regenerated receive conscience while receiving charity, for the basic constituent of conscience is charity.

[2] Spurious conscience is a conscience formed with gentiles from the religious worship in which they have been born and brought up. For them acting contrary to that religious worship is acting contrary to conscience. When their conscience is grounded in charity and mercy, and in obedience, they are people such as are able to receive a true conscience in the next life, and do indeed receive it. In fact there is nothing they would rather have than the truth of faith.

[3] False conscience is a conscience formed not from internal things but from external, that is, not from charity but from self-love and love of the world. In fact there are people who seem to themselves to be acting contrary to conscience when they act against their neighbour, and who also at such times seem to themselves to be inwardly smitten. Yet the reason is that they perceive in their thought that their own life, position, reputation, wealth, or financial gain is at stake, and so perceive that they themselves are being hurt. Some inherit this soft-heartedness, others acquire it for themselves. It is however a false conscience.