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Scripture Reading: 1 Thes. 3:6a, 1 Thes. 3:10, 12-13; Prov. 4:23; Jer. 17:9; Psa. 73:1; 78:8; Ezek. 36:26; Matt. 5:8; 15:8, 18-19; 12:34-35; 22:37; Acts 28:27; 2 Cor. 3:15-16; Rom. 10:10; Heb. 4:12; 1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 2:22
The Bible tells us that, as human beings, we have inward parts in addition to the outward members of our physical body. The inward parts are the parts of our inner being. According to the Bible, man is composed of spirit, soul, and body. The body, our physical being, is visible. This is our outer being. But the spirit and the soul, our inner being, are invisible. The soul includes the mind, the emotion, and the will. Along with all these inward parts of our being, the Bible also speaks of the heart and the conscience. We may say that the Bible is a book that deals with the genuine psychology, for it treats in a full way man’s seven inward parts: the spirit, the soul, the heart, the mind, the will, the emotion, and the conscience. These inward parts are the components of our inward being.
At this point I would like to raise two questions. First, what is the position of the heart in our inner being? Second, what is the function of the heart? In our study of 1 Thessalonians it is important that we find the answer to these questions. In this basic book to new believers Paul tells them in chapter three that they need to be perfected in their faith, and they need their love to increase and abound so that the Lord may establish their hearts. Surely Paul’s word concerning the heart in 3:13 indicates something crucial. Why does Paul not say that the Lord would establish their conscience, or that He would establish their mind, will, or emotion? It is very important that here Paul speaks of the Lord establishing the heart.
Throughout the years we have emphasized the spirit, and we have stressed the importance of turning to our spirit. Although we have given a number of messages on the heart, we have not emphasized the matter of the heart as much as we have emphasized the spirit. Now we would ask why in 3:13 Paul does not say that the Lord would establish our spirit or our soul, but our heart.
We know that our being is composed of three main parts — the spirit, the soul, and the body. But in 3:13, the end of the first section of 1 Thessalonians, Paul says, “That He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.” However, at the end of the second section, composed of chapters four and five, Paul says, “And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:23). Why at the end of this Epistle does Paul mention nothing concerning the heart? What has become of it? What, then, is the relationship of the heart to the three main parts of our being? In order to answer this question, let us consider some verses that indicate the close relationship of the heart to the spirit and the soul.
Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.” This verse speaks of the spirit, the soul, and the heart. Once the soul is divided from the spirit, we are able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. The thoughts, of course, are of the mind, and the intents are of the will. According to this verse, the mind and the will are related to the heart, since the thoughts and intents are of the heart. The heart, therefore, includes the mind for thinking and the will for making decisions. This verse indicates that the heart is very close to the soul and the spirit.
Psalm 78:8 says, “And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.” In this verse we see that when the forefathers of Israel were stubborn and rebellious, their heart was not set aright, and their spirit was not steadfast. The spirit is not steadfast whenever the heart is not set aright. This verse indicates how close the heart is to the spirit.
Matthew 5:3 speaks of the spirit, and 5:8, of the heart. Verse 3 says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” Verse 8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” From these verses we see that we need to be poor in spirit and pure in heart. All these verses indicate that our heart is very close to our spirit and also to our soul.
We have pointed out a number of times in the past that our heart is a composition of all the parts of our soul — the mind, the emotion, and the will — plus one part of our spirit, the conscience. Hence, the heart is a composition of all the parts of the soul and one part of the spirit. Our soul is our personality, our person, our self. The English word psychology is derived from psuche, the Greek word for soul. The soul is the base of all psychological matters. The psuche, the soul, is the “I”; it denotes our being as humans, that is, our personality. This is the reason that in the Bible the number of persons is often given as the number of souls. For example, we are told that seventy souls of the house of Jacob went down to Egypt (Exo. 1:5). This indicates that a person is a soul, for the soul is one’s person.
As human beings, we have an outward organ, the body, to contact the physical, visible world. We also have an inward organ, the spirit, to contact God and the spiritual realm. The soul, located between these two organs, is our person, our self.
The soul is the person himself, but the heart is the person in action. This means that whenever you act, you act by your heart. Therefore, we may say that our heart is our representative in action. We have something in our inner being that represents us, and this representative is our heart. When a brother says to his wife, “Dear, I love you,” this means that his heart loves her. Likewise, whenever we hate something, it is our heart that does the hating. Whenever we enjoy something or dislike something, it is our heart that enjoys or dislikes. Thus, our heart is our representative, the acting commissioner or ambassador, of our inner being.
Because the heart is our representative, Solomon says in Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” To keep our heart is actually to guard it. The Hebrew word rendered “keep” means guard. We should guard our heart above all because out of it are the issues of life. “Issues” here implies sources and springs as well as issues. Thus, the heart is related to the sources of life, the springs of life, and the issues of life. First we have the source, then the spring, and then the issue.
Out of the heart come all the issues of our daily life. As human beings, we have life, and this life acts through our heart. Using the illustration of electricity and a switch, we may say that the heart is the switch of our inner being, of our human life. As the flow of electricity depends on the switch, so our daily living is dependent on what our heart switches on and off. Our heart is the switch of our human life, of our daily life, of our being. The word “life” in Proverbs 4:23 implies an organic element, the element of life; it also implies our daily living and activities, in fact, our entire human life. Hence, the word life in this verse is inclusive. As human beings, we have a human life, and this human life has an organic element and also a daily living. The switch of this life is the heart.
Suppose as a brother is studying the Bible he is disturbed by the barking of a dog. Bothered by this sound, he shouts at the dog. The thought and intent of shouting at the dog has its source in his heart. It also springs from the heart and issues from it. As he is reading the Bible and is disturbed by the dog’s barking, something within this brother’s heart motivates him to shout at the dog. This shouting is an issue that springs out from the source of the heart. This is an illustration of the heart as the acting representative of our entire being.
The activities and movements of our physical body depend on our physical heart. In like manner, our daily living depends on our psychological heart. The way we act and behave depends on the kind of heart we have.
Because we are fallen and sinful, our psychological heart is corrupt and deceitful. According to Jeremiah 17:9, our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. A better translation of the Hebrew would say “incurable” instead of desperately wicked. Our heart is corrupt, rotten, to such an extent that it is incurable. This is the condition of the psychological heart of all descendants of Adam.
But God in His salvation promises to give us a new heart. Ezekiel 36:26 says, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” The new heart in this verse does not refer to another heart; it refers to a renewed heart. The first characteristic of this renewed heart is that it turns to God. The turning of our heart to God is a very healthy sign that He has renewed it. A corrupt heart is always away from God. If our heart is away from Him, that is an indication that our heart is still corrupt. Some may ask how they can know if their heart has been renewed. The sign of a renewed heart is that it turns toward God. The sign of a corrupt heart is that it turns away from Him. Therefore, we can know if our heart has been renewed by whether it is turned to God or away from Him.
In God’s salvation the renewing of the heart is once for all. However, in our experience our heart is renewed continually because it is changeable. Perhaps when you were saved, your heart turned to God in a very strong way. But after a period of time, your heart may turn away from Him somewhat. To a certain extent at least, your heart may turn away. Then by God’s mercy your heart may turn fully to Him once again. Through fellowship with a saint, through coming to the meetings, or by some other gracious means, your heart may turn to the Lord once again. When your heart was turned away from Him, it became somewhat corrupt. But when your heart came back to the Lord, it was renewed. We need to say, “Lord, I thank You that in Your mercy You have visited my heart and turned it back to You.” This turning to the Lord is the first characteristic of a renewed heart.
The second characteristic of a renewed heart is that it seeks purity. First Timothy 1:5 speaks of love out of a pure heart. In 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul encourages Timothy to be “with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” What does it mean for the heart to seek purity? According to the Bible, to have a pure heart is to have a heart with a single motive. Purity, therefore, is a matter of motive. If we do something with a double motive, our heart is not pure. Whatever we do must be with a single purpose, a single motive, for God Himself. We should not have any other purpose. We love God, and because we love Him we do certain things for Him without any other motive. If this is our situation, then our heart is pure.
In Matthew 5:8 the Lord Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” To be pure in heart is to be single in purpose, to have the single goal of accomplishing God’s will for God’s glory. According to this verse, those who are pure in heart shall see God. In order to see something clearly, we need to focus on it. This is to be pure in our seeing. In like manner, to be pure in heart is to have a single aim. Our goal, our aim, should be God Himself, and we should not have any other motive.
If you read all the verses in the Bible concerning the heart, you will see that these two characteristics of a renewed heart — turning to the Lord and being pure — are the basic matters in the Bible with respect to the heart. If we turn to God and seek purity, we shall have the proper way to “switch on” our heart toward God. By turning our heart to Him and by being pure in our motive toward Him, the switch of our heart will be turned on and the divine electricity will flow within us. Otherwise, the switch of the heart will be turned off, and God will be cut off in a practical way from our daily living. Then evil things will come out of our heart. It is the source, the spring, and the issue of all manner of evil things. According to Matthew 12:34 and 35, both good and evil things may flow out of our heart: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man out of the good treasure brings forth good things, and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” Furthermore, in Matthew 15:8 the Lord speaks of those whose heart is far away from God. Then in verses 18 and 19 He goes on to say, “But the things which go out of the mouth come out of the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnessings, blasphemies.” From these verses we see that out of the heart flow the springs of human life.
Turning to God and being pure toward God are the two matters that govern our heart. Psalm 73:1 speaks of a clean heart: “Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.” We have already pointed out how both the Lord Jesus and Paul stressed the importance of a pure heart. We need a heart turned to God and a heart that is pure toward Him.
Now we are ready to see what it means for our heart to be established blameless in holiness. Not only should our heart turn to God and be pure, but it also needs the element of holiness added to it. To be holy is to be separated unto God and fully occupied by Him and saturated with Him. For our heart to be holy means that it is separated unto Him, occupied by Him, possessed by Him, and saturated with Him.
Once again we may use the illustration of making tea. Suppose you have a cup of plain water. This water does not contain any tea. But when the element of tea is added to the water, the water is tea-ified. The water is separated unto the tea, it is possessed and occupied by the tea, and it is even saturated with the tea. As a result, it becomes tea-ified water. After the water has been fully tea-ified, it is in a state of tea-ification, a state of having been tea-ified. This illustrates what it means for our heart to be established blameless in holiness.
One version of 3:13 says “in the state of being holy.” The word holiness indicates a state; it does not indicate a process. A process would be indicated by the word sanctification. Therefore, it is correct to speak of holiness here as the state of being made holy.
When we were away from the Lord, our heart also was turned away from Him. Instead of being occupied by the Lord, our heart was occupied by many other things. Furthermore, our heart certainly was not saturated with the Lord. Thus, our heart was away from the Lord, it was not occupied by the Lord, and it was not saturated with the Lord. However, we can praise the Lord that, through His mercy and grace, we are now on the way to being separated fully unto the Lord, to being occupied wholly by Him, and to being saturated thoroughly with Him. When this process has been completed, our heart will be in the state of being holy, in the state of holiness.
For our heart to be established blameless in holiness includes much more than simply for our heart to turn to the Lord and to be pure toward the Lord. This is to have our turned and pure heart separated unto the Lord, occupied by the Lord, and saturated with the Lord. Such a heart not only has turned to the Lord but it also has a pure motive. It is separated unto Him, fully occupied by Him, and thoroughly saturated with Him. It is here in such a state that our heart will be established. Once our heart has been established, it will be set, and it will be no longer movable or changeable. Furthermore, when our heart is in such a condition, it will become blameless.
To be blameless is not the same as to be perfect. When something is perfect, it is without blemish or defect. This goes beyond blamelessness. In other words, to be without blame is not as good as to be without blemish. In 3:13 Paul does not require perfection. Rather, he requires only that our heart be blameless. The way for our heart to be blameless is for it to be established by the Lord. If our heart is established by Him, we shall be those whose heart has been separated unto the Lord, occupied by Him, and saturated with Him. Then our heart will be set, established, built up, in holiness. Here, in this state of holiness, the state of being made holy, our heart will become blameless.
