Society talks about the heart a great deal. Daily we hear people using the phrase “the heart” in many different contexts. We see it as the center of emotion, as an organ and in these different phrases:
- “Don’t break my heart”
- ”I love you with my whole heart”
- “I was so nervous, my heart was beating so fast”
- “Follow your heart”
As Christians, we want to make sure that our understanding of the world comes from a biblical perspective. Let us dive into what is the biblical understanding of the heart. First, Bruce Waltke, in the Baker Evangelical Dictionary, gives us a textbook definition:
“’Heart’ (Hebrew lebab/leb, Gk. kardia) occurs over one thousand times in the Bible, making it the most common anthropological term in the Scripture. It denotes a person’s center for both physical and emotional-intellectual-moral activities; sometimes it is used figuratively for any inaccessible thing.”
This is a good, short definition. However, we need to understand how he got to this definition, and these categories, from all the biblical examples. Below are different categories of the heart and show the multifaceted nature of them.
Categories of the heart
INNER MAN, CENTER OF BELIEF
- The inner person or hidden person (1 Peter 3:4)
- Belief happens in it (Luke 24:25, Romans 10:10)
- The Lord looks at the heart of man (1 Sam 16:7)
- The heart is used as a figure of speech in the “middle” (Ezekiel 27:4; Ps 46:2; Matthew 12:40)
- Flows the springs of life (Proverbs 4:23)
AGENCY
Agency is the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power. We see within these examples that the heart can act.
- It can speak (Genesis 8:21, Genesis 24:45)
- Deep (Ps 64:6)
- Behaviors, expressions — example “words” (Matt 12:34; 15:18-19)
- Belief happens in it (Luke 24:25, Romans 10:10)
- Considerations, concerns (Jer 12:11, Revelation 18:7)
- Where plans are made or Imaginations originate (Prov 6:18, Prov 16:9, 1 Cor 2:9)
- Inclinations are formed (Eccl 10:2)
- Intentions and thoughts (Heb 4:12)
- Pondering are made (Luke 2:19)
- Purposes are formed — example “resolve” (Acts 11:23)
- Understandings (1 Kings 3:9; Job 38:36)
- Will is exercised (Ephesians 6:6)
- It can know (Deut 8:5)
IN NEED OF REGENERATION
- Intentions and thoughts are evil (Genesis 6:5)
- Hardened (Ex 7:3, 7:13-14)
- It can lie to us (Deut 8:17, 9:4)
- Perverted and desires evil (Proverbs 6:14)
- In need of heart circumcision (Deut 30:6)
- God will give a new heart of flesh (Ez 36:26)
- Needs cleaning (Ps 51:10)
THE CORE OF EMOTION
- Broken (Ps 34:18; 69:20; Isa 61:1)
- Bitter (Ezekiel 27:31)
- Discouraged (Numbers 32:9)
- Failing (1 Sam 17:32)
- Fainting or Numb (Genesis 45:26)
- Fearful, Anxious, Heavy (Isa 21:4; 35:4; Prov 12:25, 25:20)
- Glad (Prov 24:17; 27:11; Prov 15:13)
- Grieved, Sorrow (Prov 15:13, Ps 73:21, Genesis 6:6)
- Joy, Merry (Job 29:13, 1 Kings 21:7)
- Smitten (Psalm 102:4)
- Trembling (Deut 28:65)
- Hate (Lev 19:17)
- Melting (Deut 1:28)
- Hope deferred (Prov 13:12; Lam 5:17)
Looking at all of these examples we see that Waltke is exactly right when he says it is both physical and emotional-intellectual-moral activities. As Christians, we should take time to evaluate how we use the heart in our everyday language to make sure it lines up biblically.
Photo by Jamez Picard on Unsplash
0 comments