This blog post is by no means a deep, exegetical explanation of "the heart." I was responding to a comment made by Lydia in my last post (All of life is spiritual - Video blog), and I found my comment was getting longer than I thought it would, so I decided to just make it into its own blog post. This way, too, if anyone happens to have any comments on this particular issue, it can sort of have it's own section on this blog.
I think the heart is one of the many parts, or "attributes," of our soul. Speaking in generalities, we would say that the soul is made up of the mind, will and emotions. I would say that "the heart" is included in this. "Believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead... for it is with your heart that you believe and are justified..." (from Rom 10:9-10).
So one thing the heart does is to believe. For example, with the heart we either believe or reject the truth. The heart can trust, or not trust. It is with the heart that we believe, and it is our spirit that then becomes a new creation.
The heart is the place where we as Christians need to be settled in truth that we are not condemned. The truth is that we are not condemned. However, look at what John says. "For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart , and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God." (1 John 3:20-21).
We can intellectually (with our mind) know what the Bible says ("there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"), but yet in our hearts, even though we intellectually know the truth, we may still wrestle with that truth. Our hearts may condemn us if our hearts are not settled in the truth of who we truly are in our spirits - born again, a new creation, one spirit with God, the righteousness of God, etc. Even though God does not condemn us at all, not even an ounce, if our confidence is not "toward God," then we may feel condemned in our hearts.
Again, this is not a deep study by any means. It's simply the thoughts that came to mind as I thought about Lydia's comments, and I welcome your thoughts!
Joel, I'm still a little confused. Ezekial 36:26 says that we've been given a new heart and a new spirit. I believe scripture teaches that our hearts are no longer deceitfully wicked but are now pure. If the heart is an attribute of the soul, does that mean that our soul is now pure?
ReplyDeleteThis may be deeper than you wanted to go in this blog but, like Lydia, I've always been confused about where the heart is and how it fits into this new life.
Aida
Hi Aida,
ReplyDeleteThis is truly a great question, and I don't mind delving into it at all. Once again I found my comments becoming quite lengthy, so once again I typed up another post. :)