The Ways of the Heart
Chapter 3: The Ways of Christ-Hearted Man
Page 1: "Two Ways of Living"
by Frank Allnutt

According to the Bible, there are basically two ways in which Christians can live:
Similar to the sinful ways they lived before their salvation, or in God’s ways. Those ways stem from two very different conditions or modes of the heart: the “divided heart” (Hosea 10:2; Hebrews 4:12) or the “whole heart” (1 Chronicles 28:9; Jeremiah 24:7).

Other descriptions of the whole heart are the “united heart” (Psalm 86:11) and “all the heart” (Deuteronomy 6:5; Mark 12:30). I refer to the person with a “whole heart” as a Whole-Hearted Christian, and the person with a “divided heart” as a Half-Hearted Christian because they function primarily out of the soul “half” of the heart and not the spirit “half.”

“Halfhearted” and “wholehearted” are commonly understood to describe attitude and motivation, both of which significantly effect the condition of the heart. The united or whole heart is right with God, but the divided heart is not (Acts 8:21).

Halfhearted believers are known by several other descriptions in Scripture: “fleshly Christian” (or “carnal Christian,” KJV), “spiritually immature,” “hardhearted” (Hebrews 3:18), “shallow-hearted” (Matthew 13:20, 21, implied) “fat-hearted” (James 5:3) or “worldly-hearted” (Matthew 13:22, implied), “wounded-hearted” or “brokenhearted” (Psalms 34:18; 109:22; 147:3; Proverbs 18:14; Isaiah 61:1), “broken and contrite-hearted” (Psalm 51:17), and “double-hearted” (Psalm 12:2). Psalm 95:11 (quoted in Hebrews 3:10, 11) speaks of the divided heart as being a “wayward heart.” Those who have a wayward heart “go astray in their hearts.” Scripture gives many other descriptions of the divided heart, including “heavy heart” (Proverbs 31:6), “vexed heart” (Ezekiel 32:9), “lustful heart” (Romans 1:24), “deceived heart” (Romans 16:18), “strife-ridden heart” (James 3:14), “doubting heart” (Mark 11:23), “troubled heart” (John 14:1), “darkened heart” (Romans 1:21), and on and on.

When such descriptions are applied to the Christian, they refer to the condition of the heart. When applied to the nonbeliever they are also conditional, and in some instances may characterize the substantive nature of the Adamic (unregenerate) heart.

Virtually any negative (sinful) function of the mind, emotion, or will can, over time, potentially dominate the soul and thus functionally divide the heart’s soul from its spirit. When this happens to a believer, he or she is said to be “out of fellowship” or “out of step” with God and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. But while this may indicate strained fellowship, the believer’s relationship with God is unaffected.

All Christians were taken out of the flesh and placed in the Spirit at the time of their salvation (Romans 8:5-11). Yet, they can function in the inner man and outwardly behave as though they were still “in the flesh” (had evil-principled, Adamic human nature).

Paul writes: “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19-21).

Fleshly Christians are usually thought of as backsliders who show up less and less at church, don’t study their Bible, spend little or no time in prayer, and are worldly. Backsliders just don’t behave as “good Christians” are expected to behave.

There also are the less conspicuous—covert—Half-Hearted Christians. Some sit in the pews on Sunday mornings, and attend Bible studies and potluck dinners. Others preach from pulpits, teach Bible studies, sit on church boards and committees, are sent by mission boards to the four corners of the earth, travel the gospel music concert circuit, write books, and are engaged in other endeavors of “Christian service.”

The largest category of Half-Hearted Christians, however, is simply the spiritually immature. Among them are new believers, the undiscipled, the erroneously taught, and outright deceived.

Keep in mind that the expressions “divided heart” and “half-heart,” and “united heart” and “whole-heart” are not positional, relational or ontological terms, but pertain to a believer’s heart condition, inner man functionality, and outward behavior. They certainly do not denote any sort of caste system; all Christians have unity with and identity in Christ, and are “first class” in God’s view. Each of us is equally loved and accepted by God—and we should equally love and accept others (though not their wrong beliefs and errant behavior).

Up to this point in our study, we have considered the believer’s unchangeable position in Christ, his everlasting relationship with God through Christ, and his ontological new nature. All of this gives the believer new identity in multiple aspects:

1. Positionally, the believer has been removed from Satan’s domain of darkness and placed into God’s kingdom of light. This can be referred to as “positional identity” and “relational identity.”
   
   
2. Relationally, the believer has been taken out of old spiritual relationships and placed into new ones. This can be referred to as “relational identity.”
   
   
3. Ontologically, the believer has experienced death as an “old man” through crucifixion with Christ, and has been resurrected with Christ into newness of life as a new-hearted, new creature or “new man.” This can be referred to as “ontological identity.”
   
   These positional, relational, and ontological realities 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.
   
   

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.

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