Booklet, adapted from Advanced Study No. 2: The Ways of the Heart

The Whole-Hearted Christian

Frank Allnutt

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Part 2: Modes of the Heart
The positional, relational, and ontological biblical perspective of man previously mentioned have this in common: They are absolute—unchangeable. Next, we will look at the other three perspectives of man, which are variable: the conditional, functional, and behavioral.

4. Conditionally, the believer has either a divided heart or a united heart. I oftentimes refer to the Christian with a divided heart as a “half-hearted” Christian because this believer’s soul chamber-part is not synchronized with the spirit chamber-part. The Bible refers to the Christian with a united heart as one with a “whole heart” because the soul, spirit and indwelling Spirit of Christ are in unison.

5. Functionally, the believer either is “soulical” or “spiritual,” which means this person functions primarily out of his soul or out of his united soul and spirit.

6. Behaviorally, the believer either “walks” or lives according to the divided-heart ways of the “flesh” (flesh-like soul, which functions independently of the spirit and Holy Spirit) or in the ways of the united heart and the indwelling Holy Spirit.

The Bible, when consulted with an open heart, can reveal our mode of heart and guide us into closer functional conformity with the heart of Christ Jesus. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God penetrates the depths of our hearts to reveal all the unholy thoughts and intentions that divide the heart, soul from spirit:

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do (Hebrews 4:12, 13).(1)

As we move on in our study, there may be characteristics of the Half-Hearted Christian that you see in your own life. Do not let this discourage you; God has provided you with the way to wholeheartedness—through His Son, who is the “way” (John 14:6). The writer of Hebrews gives us the encouraging good news that:

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Figure 2: Functional views of the Half-Hearted Christian (left)
and the Whole-Hearted Christian

The Half-Hearted Christian “walks” or lives out of a fleshly, divided heart—soul from spirit—that functions independently of the indwelling Spirit of Christ. The Whole-Hearted Christian walks with a united heart—soul with spirit—that functions in harmony with the indwelling Spirit of Christ.
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In Figure 2 two Christians are illustrated to show their different modes of heart or functional conditions. Both are depicted as walking in order to signify that their representations are functional rather than ontological. At any given time, a believer’s heart can be divided or united. Notice in the illustration that the Half-Hearted Christian’s soul is functionally divided from the spirit, and is shaded to depict its state of conditional and functional darkness. By contrast, the Whole-Hearted Christian’s soul is functionally united with his spirit, and is white to signify that it is filled with God’s holy light.

The Half-Hearted Christian lives “out of character”—his functionality and behavior do not coincide with his new life, nature, and unity with Christ. This believer is living in self-sufficiency and is estranged from fellowship with the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Whole-Hearted Christian, on the other hand, lives in conformity with his unity in Christ and experiences the dynamics of Christ’s life through his entire being. One believer lives a fleshly life of conditional darkness, bondage, and defeat, and the other lives a spiritual life of the light, freedom, and victory in Christ Jesus.

King David loved God, yet he frequently experienced the guilt and frustration of living half-heartedly and out of fellowship with God. In several places in the book of Psalms, he prays out of a “broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51:17) for a united or whole heart (see Psalm 86:11, for example). Later, God answers David’s prayer and we find him with a functionally united heart, walking with God out of a whole heart, undivided heart, or with all his heart (Psalm 9:1 and elsewhere).

God has promised to give all of His children a new heart, a new spirit of love, and to place His Spirit within them (Ezekiel 36:26). Even so, the Christian can function out of either a whole heart or a divided heart. The Half-Hearted Christian functions most of the time out of a heart that is functionally divided by sinfulness, and experiences confusion and frustration not unlike David when he lived out of a divided heart.

Half-heartedness, or fleshliness, does not change a believer’s standing and relationship with God or his spiritual nature and unity with Christ. To help us better understand this, the Bible refers to us as new clay jars, lovingly formed by the creative hands of the Master Potter, our Father in Heaven. Now, let us consider for a moment how an actual clay jar might be used: It could contain honey or rat poison. But the contents do not change the substantive nature of the jar. And so it is with us: Whether a soul has sinful content and function or holy and righteous content and function does not change the Christlike spiritual nature of the heart. The mode of our heart and how we function and behave out of our heart determines whether we will serve as vessels to contain “rat poison” or “honey,” and whether we will produce “fruit for death” or “fruit for God.”

As Adamic people, the functioning of our old spiritual hearts was controlled by our flesh or “old man” sin-nature, and was conditioned by life’s experiences and the influences of four “spiritual masters”—Satan, sin, the world order, and God’s law. We strived in self-sufficiency by getting along the best we could through our limited resources and resourcefulness. Our old spiritual hearts rendered us incapable of holy living. We were unable to discern spiritual truths. Lies, deceptions, and fantasies became the corrupt basis of our knowledge and attitudes, values and beliefs, feelings and affections, desires and choices, and behavior and accomplishments.

When we became Christians, very few of us truly understood what it meant to be new-hearted, new creatures in Christ, or to know Christ as life. Though we had been rescued by Jesus from out of the bondage of darkness and into the freedom and victory of His light, many of us continued to live in conditional darkness (fleshliness, sinfulness, or worldliness), as if we still had an old spiritual heart and were still enslaved to old spiritual masters.

Christ Jesus dwells in the heart of every believer, never to leave. But if a believer lives out of a divided heart, he does not walk after the Spirit or in His ways; he is functionally estranged from the indwelling Spirit of Christ, and his fellowship with Christ is strained at least and severed at worst. Division of the heart affects the believer’s fellowship, not his relationship; his salvation and unity with Christ Jesus remain irrevocably intact and unchangeable.

Figure 3: The Half-Hearted Christian from two perspectives—ontological and functional.

The view on the left pictures this believer’s entire being­—heart and body. Notice that they are white. This signifies that the believer is positionally in God’s realm of light and that, ontologically, he has a spiritually pure and holy nature. This is true for all Christians. The view of this believer on the right shows his heart’s mode or condition and functionality. Because his heart is divided by sinfulness, he functions psychosomatically—primarily out of his fleshly soul and body, which are shaded to indicate he lives in conditional (not positional) darkness. His spirit, though substantively holy, is functionally passive, and the indwelling Holy Spirit is “grieved” (Ephesians 4:30) and “quenched” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) or functionally shut out of this person’s way of living.
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God knows the condition of your spiritual heart—whether it is divided or united. He says, “I, the Lord, search the heart” (Jeremiah 17:10). He searches “all the innermost parts” [soul and spirit “chamber-parts” of the spiritual heart] (Proverbs 20:27). In doing so, He knows the secrets of your heart (Psalm 44:21). “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13).

God’s examination of the heart that is not right with Him concludes that, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways” (Isaiah 55:8).

Just as God examines our heart, so too should we examine our hearts and lives. For who among us lives sinlessly? For, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.... If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8, 10). “Let us examine and probe our ways,” lamented the prophet Jeremiah, urging repentance on the part of all Israel, “and let us return to [fellowship with] the Lord” (Lamentations 3:40, 41b).