October 29, AD 2011

What Jesus Taught About the Heart
Adapted from The Ways of the Heart
by Frank Allnutt

America and other nations—collectively, the “world”—are beset by economic, political, and a variety of other “social” problems. So acute are those problems that some believe civilization itself is on the brink of catastrophe. Those problems dominate public concern. Understandably, there is a plethora of proposed changes to fix the problems.

But those problems are but symptoms of the root cause. And that cause—which is mostly unseen or ignored—is the heart of man.

The heart of man is a major theme of the New Testament, and the quotes of Jesus contain the word “heart” (Greek kardia) more frequently than all the actual writers.

The point of those teachings by Jesus about the heart of man is simply this: All that is bad about man and all that is truly good of man is determined by the heart of man—actually “hearts” of man, for there are two types.

The spiritual heart is a major doctrine of the Bible because it reveals to us who we are, what our spiritual relationships are, and why we think, believe, and behave the way we do.

Many people, Christians as well as non-Christians, tend to pay most attention to the latter three human activities (thinking, believing, and behaving), but largely ignore or misunderstand that “who we are” and our “spiritual relationships” have much to do with the heart.

The New Covenant reveals that there are basically two kinds of humans, and that their differences are, in large part, determined by the nature of their heart. One group possesses an irreversibly “defiled” heart, and the other a new and “pure” heart.

In an ontological or spiritual essence-of-being sense, we are told of natural (Adamic) man’s spiritually dead “heart of stone” and of the children of God’s new and spiritually alive “heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

The hearts of Christ’s disciples were of utmost importance to Him. Indeed, the heart of man was, if you will, at the heart of His teaching. For the heart, in addition to defining a person’s spiritual essence, also reveals spiritual relationships. Natural man’s sin-natured heart is rooted in Adam and the Christian’s holy- or righteous-natured new heart is rooted in Christ Jesus. (See 1 Corinthians 15; Matthew 7:16-19; Colossians 2:7).

Jesus taught about two hearts
In the following passage, Jesus addressed a question about what food is permissible to eat, and in doing so gave us insight into what defiles the heart of man:

And after He called the multitude to Him, He said to them, “Hear, and understand. Not what enters into the mouth defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?”

But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

And Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain the parable to us.”

And He said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also?

“Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated?

“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.

“These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man” (Matthew 15:8, 9).

On another occasion, Jesus said, “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man out of his good treasure [in his heart] brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of his evil treasure [in his heart] brings forth what is evil” (Matthew 12:34b, 35).

In teaching the Beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

It is obvious in the above passages that Jesus recognized two very different hearts in man. After all, He was and is the Mediator of the New Covenant. And the Ezekiel 36:26, 27 provision of that covenant recognizes two ontological types of hearts: the spiritual dead and sin-natured “heart of stone” of Adam-hearted man, and the spiritually alive and “pure” nature of the new “heart of flesh” of Christ-hearted man.

Jesus taught about the two hearts in the parable of the sower
Now, let’s consider what Jesus taught about those two types of hearts in His parable of the sower, as recorded in Matthew chapter 13:

And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. And others fell upon the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil, and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear” (Matthew 13:3-9).

After Jesus gave the parable to the crowd, His disciples came to Him and asked to have the parable explained to them. The response of Jesus is recorded in verses 11-23. He began to answer His disciples by explaining:

“To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted” (verse 11).

Let’s look at the facts here: The disciples—those chosen by Jesus Himself (John 15:16)—were “granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [not chosen ones in the crowd] it has not been granted.”

Over the next few verses, Jesus explained that those in the crowd were made blind and deaf to His message. However, regarding His disciples, He said:

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (verses 16, 17).

This teaching makes it apparent that only those chosen by God will be given spiritual eyes that see and spiritual ears that hear to receive His Word. The spiritually blind and deaf are capable of believing many things, but that is natural belief and not faith-rooted belief. Those who can see and hear rightly respond to Christ’s teachings out of the gift of faith that God has granted to them.

Obviously, faith does not come by hearing to everyone (see Romans 10:16-18); rather, God’s gift of faith is granted to new-hearted, new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and is activated by the indwelling Holy Spirit through the Word of God.

The hardened heart
Now, let’s return to the parable of the sower to see the Lord’s explanation of the parable to His disciples:

“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it [i.e., those not chosen], the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road” (verse 19).

Defining the sower, the seed and the soil
This verse indicates that, in this parable, the sower is a witness, the seed is the Word of God, and the soil is the spiritual heart.

Now, the hard soil by the road is too hard for the seed to take root. This person has an ontologically hard heart (like stone) and so rejects the Word.

The shallow heart
Jesus continued:

“And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word, and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away” (verses 20, 21).

Having “no firm root” indicates that this man has a shallow heart: The Word establishes shallow roots in the soul of his heart, but those roots do not grow deeper, into his spirit. This person has an old “infertile” heart.

The worldly or fattened heart
Jesus then explained the third type of infertile heart:

“And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”

The pure and fertile heart
Finally, Jesus explained the fourth man:

“And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundred fold, some sixty, and some thirty” (verse 23).

The two ontological hearts of Christ’s parable
Now, let’s consider this explanation in the context of the New Covenant that came with Jesus and is in Him.

The first three types of “soil” are not Christians (have old, spiritually infertile hearts inherited from Adam), though the fourth (fertile soil) is a Christian—a new-hearted, new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Because of who he is in Christ, he has been granted the spiritual capacity to receive and understand, through the Holy Spirit’s illumination, the truth of God’s Word. This is biblical faith—belief and trust that is rooted in the new nature of a person’s spirit but is also rooted in the indwelling Spirit of Christ.

Paul writes: “But a natural [literally soulical] man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Whole-hearted and half-hearted living
The Word in the Christian’s rightly functioning new heart (“whole-heart”) is dynamically alive and, through the indwelling Spirit of Christ, can motivate and empower the Christian to produce “fruit for God” (Romans 7:4).

However, we bring many lies and deceptions with us into our new life in Christ. When we continue to function out of those lies and deceptions—and we (not God) close our eyes and ears to the truth—we function much in the same way as we did as natural man—out of our soul, independent of our spirit and the indwelling Spirit of Christ.

Such “old man” behavior by a Half-Hearted Christian can be the result of several flesh-like varieties of the heart which are not unlike those described by Jesus in the parable of the sower. There are numerous varieties of half-heartedness revealled in the Bible. Here are the most prominent (including those mentioned by Jesus in the parable of the sower):

1. Hard-Hearted Christians

2. Shallow-Hearted Christians

3. Worldly- or Fat-Hearted Christians

4. Broken- or Wounded-Hearted Christians

5. Double-Hearted Christians

6. Broken and Contrite-Hearted Christians

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Click below to read descriptions of these varieties of half-heartedness:

The Ways of Christ-Hearted Man
(Section 3 from The Ways of the Heart, by Frank Allnutt)

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