It is Valentine’s Day again and you’ve just purchased your heart-shaped chocolates, wrapped up in a heart-shaped box. You are preparing to take that special person who you’ve ‘given your heart to’ out for a nice date, possibly catching a romantic movie about two lovers who simply ‘followed their hearts.’ This is a very normal scene in our present society but the question arises, what is this ‘heart’ that is so exalted and trusted? The media calls for us to follow it, the religion of the new age claims that it has authority over all other objective truth. So it becomes extremely important to ask the question, “what is the heart?” Is it really trustworthy? In order to solve this problem we need to gain an accurate understanding of what the heart is and the current state of our hearts today. Then, and only then, do we have a foundation by which we can launch the answer.

The predominant understanding of the heart in the present society is ‘emotion.’ Webster’s dictionary lists the following pertinent options: (3) personality, (4) the emotional or moral as distinguished from the intellectual, and (5) one’s innermost feelings (Merriam-Webster, 535-36). These options reveal that for the most part heart is interchangeable with emotions or feelings. The common phrase, ‘let your heart be your guide,’ is better understood as, ‘let your feelings be your guide.’ This is how the present society views the heart, but is this how the Bible views the heart? And why is it important to even consider how the Bible views the heart?

It is important because the Bible claims that our hearts are bad and therefore we have to find out what the Bible means by ‘heart.’ If we stop short of the Biblical definition we will apply the current societal definition and conclude that the Bible is simply telling us we have bad feelings or negative emotions. However, if the biblical understanding of ‘heart’ is more than just emotions and feelings, we may find that the ‘bad’ is much deeper than we previously thought.

The Bible uses the term, ‘heart,’ over 900 times, almost entirely in reference to man (New Bible Dictionary, 509). It is considered by some, such as H. W. Wolff, to be the most important word in the Hebrew vocabulary with respect to man (Wolff, 40). It’s usage, however, is rarely in conjunction with the physical, blood-pumping organ, but is almost entirely figurative. It’s metaphorical, figurative use, however, is based off of the physical organ in the body but extends much further than simple emotion. Just as the physical heart is essential to the entire physical life of mankind so the figurative heart is essential to the entire non-physical (or, spiritual) life of mankind (Payne, 226). The Bible makes full use of this comparison for it is the very purpose of metaphor to use a literal figure in order to bring out rich detail and insight. On the other hand our present society has robbed the ‘heart’ of much of its potential, and reduced it to one category of meaning, that is emotion.

The Bible, however, embraces this figurative use, not relegating the ‘heart’ to only emotion and feeling but plumbing the depths of the metaphor. Just as the physical heart is at the center of the body pumping blood to all the extremities, so the spiritual heart is pictured as the mission-control center of the inner man. This mission-control center does not function primarily as the base of emotions and feelings but more importantly as the base of rationality and decision-making with an emphasis on morality. The Bible speaks of (1) knowing in you heart – intelligence, (2) having a willing heart – will, (3) the plans of the heart – purpose, (4) A heart troubled over sin – conscience, (5) the obedience of the heart – morality, (6) reasoning in the heart – rationality, and (7) Jesus Christ in the heart – spirituality [Deut 8:5; Ex 35:5; Pr 16:1; 2Sam 24:10; Rom 6:17; Mk 2:6; Eph 3:17]. The heart is the very center of our inner life, the initiating force behind all the functions of soul and spirit (Behm, TDNT, 3:611). Everything that we ascribe in our society to the head and the brain - the power of perception, reason, understanding, insight, consciousness, memory, knowledge, reflection, judgment, sense of direction, and discernment - all of these functions are included in the Biblical understanding of heart.

Ultimately, the ‘heart’ is the entire inner being, the corpus of everything we are as mankind, except for the physical nature. Whatever constitutes the man but cannot be accessed by the five senses is the ‘heart.’ It is the inner self. Thus we begin to see the importance in drawing this Biblical definition. For example, when God commands His words to be on our ‘hearts’ He is not telling us to feel good about them (the societal definition), but to be conscious of them and abide by them (Deut 6:6). The implication of the command is much greater when a proper foundation is laid. In reference to the original question we see that biblically no one need be told, “follow your heart.” They are following their hearts! It is impossible not to. The better question is: Where is your heart taking you and why?

This is a difficult question to answer because what man can probe the unseen world of the heart? Who can understand the inner workings of the inner person? As much as mankind attempts through modern devices to study the non-physical, he is left only to observe the outward workings and is unable to truly investigate the force behind them. So again we turn to the Bible, where we find One who knows the secrets of the heart (Ps 44:21). While man looks only at what he can see with his eyes, God peers at the very ‘heart’ of man (1Sam 16:7). Indeed the heart lies open and bare before the Lord who is able to weigh every intention (Pr 15:11; Pr 21:2). So what does God find?

God does not find the heart-condition of man in a very favorable state. In fact He finds the heart not as the trustworthy entity that society claims, but the exact opposite. God searches the heart and finds that, “the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick (Jer 17:9).” Furthermore, all the vices that defile a man are rooted in the heart as Jesus Christ proclaimed, “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders (Matt 15:18-20).” This is in perfect opposition to the societal view of the heart, which is seen in its Valentine glow of goodness and trustworthiness. This novel definition, however, can not be adhered to when approaching the Bible for it goes against the essential understanding of the heart. The society tells us to (1) open our hearts, but the Bible tells us to guard them - Pr 4:23, (2) trust in our hearts, but the Bible says that he who does so is a fool - Pr 28:26, (3) search our hearts, but the Bible states, “who can understand the heart?” (Implied answer – no one) - Jer 17:9; (4) let your heart lead you to experience love with whomever, but the Bible says that the one who commits adultery is lacking heart (sense or reason) – Pr 6:32, (5) mourn over a broken heart and idolize a proud heart, but the Bible exalts a broken heart and condemns a proud heart - Ps 51:17; Pr 16:5.

Behold, both society and the heart are unworthy guides and common reason will attest to this as well. If we hit someone out of anger, it is not the hand that is guilty, but the heart – the hand was merely the most convenient instrument to carry out the action.

If we look with lust after a person or picture it is not the eyes that are to blame, but the heart that directed their gaze. The heart, then, is the center of man’s sinful culpability (Zemek, 18). Thus wicked acts and the deceitfulness and lust permeate and define the heart of man. That is, ‘heart,’ as understood biblically, the entire core of his being. This is not a wicked feeling or a negative emotion, but wickedness as the very definition of what man is. This was the state of man before Noah and this will be the state of man in the last days (Gen 6:5; 2Tim 3:1-5).

The greatest commandment in the Bible is to love God with all your heart (not an emotion, but a conscious devotion of the will) and yet the heart is desperately wicked. That places all of mankind in a despairing position. The Bible defines the heart as the entire inner being and then defines the state of the heart as evil leaving us in a quandary of sin (Smith, 410). What then is the solution to this seemingly hopeless predicament?

Two Old Testament prophets, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, resolve this problem not through reformation of the heart or training of the heart, but through replacement of the heart (Luc, TDOT, VII: 752). The prophets call for a heart transplant in which God Himself will remove the dead heart and replace it with a living one (Jer 24:7; Ez 36:26). The New Testament reveals that this will take place through the person and work of Jesus Christ. In one conversation with a religious man named Nicodemus Jesus described the process as being born again. Nicodemus immediately thought of physical rebirth and concluded that it was impossible. Jesus, however, was not referring to a rebirth of the physical man but a rebirth of the spiritual man, the equivalent to a full heart transplant (John 3:1-8). This transplant would be the work of God upon those who believed in Jesus Christ (John 3:16).

The only response of man is to admit that his will, his mind, his intellect, his feelings, his understanding, his discernment, his insight, his entire being are all corrupted by sin and to cry out to God to give him a new heart. Will he be like the fool who says in his heart, “there is no god,” or like the wise man who believes in his heart that Jesus is the resurrected Lord (Ps 14:1; Rom 10:9)? “Let your heart be your guide?” That’s the wrong question. Your heart is your guide. The better question is, “Which direction is your heart headed?”