Do You Have a "Heart"?

Sure you do! But where is it? What does it contain? How does the Bible use the word "heart"?
I have become increasingly aware that the use of the word "heart" can be confusing to Christians who are trying to sort out the meaning of their salvation – what really happens at salvation, and how it affects our human lives. We hear sermons and read about a NEW heart, a CHANGED heart, a REPENTANT heart, a BROKEN heart, etc., and without the proper differentiation in meaning, there can be misconception and confusion.
Before we can start on the usages of the word "heart", it is well to consider the basic composition of man.
The apostle Paul seems to be the first person (except Jesus Christ) in the Bible who really recognized the actual structure of this organism we call a human being. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23, he states, "…I pray God that your whole SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." You ARE a spirit, you HAVE a soul and you LIVE IN a body. We are tripartite beings – three interrelated parts functioning as a whole. The SPIRIT is the part from the spirit realm of God which makes us into a created "image of God" as stated in Genesis. The SOUL is the intellect, emotions and will contained in the brain by which we choose the path we will follow. And the BODY is all the rest of the material parts of us with which we make our life in this world.
So how does all this apply to concepts of the heart? Writers have always found it difficult to express in words things concerning our internal nature and characteristics. Since the organ of the heart is the core of the physical body, they have used the term "heart" to speak of many varying concepts of both spirit and soul also. They have given us a spirit "heart" and a soul "heart" to go along with our body heart.
The problem is that there is seldom any differentiation made between the "heart" of the spirit and the "heart" of the soul. They use the term "heart" interchangeably between the two without distinction. This tends to blur the understanding of distinctions between the soul and spirit which must be made for spiritual maturity in Christ.
For instance, when the Bible speaks of giving us a NEW heart, this means the one time conversion process by which Christ comes to indwell the Christian. This is the so-called "heart" of the spirit. This is once and forever.
When the Bible says we must have a CHANGED heart, or a BROKEN heart, or a REPENTANT heart, or a LOVING heart, this is referring to the soul. We must choose daily with our soul "heart" to follow Christ and to allow Him to guide us into the "fruits" of the Spirit which are nothing more than the supernatural attributes of Christ within the Christian. When these things slip away from us by the influences of the world, we are drawn back by whatever means God chooses to use to a greater understanding of our salvation.
I find that many sincere Christians have never made the distinction between soul and spirit. In fact, this distinction has seldom been made at all down through the ages of the church. And the confusion about "heart" just tends to prolong the misunderstanding.
I would like to see the term "heart" applied only to the physical heart of the body.
At conversion and new birth, we don't get a new "heart", we get a NEW SPIRIT NATURE.
As we grow in spiritual maturity in union with Christ, we don't get a changed or a repentant "heart", we get a TRANSFORMED SOUL!
You have a blood-pumping HEART –
But you also have a spirit and a soul!

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