10 Key Bible Verses on the Heart

This text is a part of the Key Bible Verses sequence.

All commentary notes tailored from the ESV Study Bible.

1. Proverbs 4:23

Maintain your coronary heart with all vigilance,
     for from it circulation the springs of life. Read More

Coronary heart in Proverbs commonly refers back to the heart of 1’s interior life and orientation to God, from which an individual does all considering, feeling, and selecting. Taking phrases of knowledge into the center is significant (they’re life, Prov. 4:22), and knowledge’s presence within the coronary heart is value guarding as a result of out of the center circulation all of the ideas and phrases and selections of an individual’s life (from it circulation the springs of life, Prov. 4:23; cf. Mark 7:21–23; Luke 6:45).

2. 1 Samuel 16:7

However the LORD stated to Samuel, “Don’t look on his look or on the peak of his stature, as a result of I’ve rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man seems on the outward look, however the LORD seems on the center.” Read More

man seems on the outward look, however the LORD seems on the center. Outward look can not predict whether or not somebody will faithfully obey the Lord, for an individual’s actions circulation from his coronary heart (cf. 2 Chron. 16:9; Ps. 51:10; Prov. 4:23; Mark 7:21–23; Luke 6:45; 1 Thess. 2:4). The “coronary heart” in Scripture refers to an individual’s inward ethical and religious life, together with the feelings, will, and purpose.

3. Proverbs 3:5

Belief within the LORD with all of your coronary heart,
     and don’t lean by yourself understanding. Read More

Belief within the LORD is important for fulfilling any of the clever methods of life taught in Proverbs; trusting the Lord is intently linked to “fearing” him (cf. Prov. 1:7; Prov. 2:5; Prov. 9:10; Prov. 15:33; Prov. 19:23; and so forth.). With all of your coronary heart signifies that belief goes past mental assent to a deep reliance on the Lord, a settled confidence in his care and his faithfulness to his Phrase. Don’t lean by yourself understanding additional explains trusting within the Lord. One’s “understanding” in Proverbs is his notion of the appropriate plan of action. The clever will govern themselves by what the Lord himself declares, and won’t set their very own finite and often-mistaken understanding in opposition to his.

4. Romans 10:9–10

as a result of, in case you confess along with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and imagine in your coronary heart that God raised him from the lifeless, you may be saved. For with the center one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Read More

Should you confess along with your mouth doesn’t imply {that a} spoken affirmation of 1’s religion is a “work” that deserves justification, however such confession does give outward proof of inward religion, and infrequently confirms that religion to the speaker himself. that God raised him from the lifeless. Paul doesn’t imply that individuals must imagine solely this particular person occasion with no understanding of Christ’s loss of life, however reasonably they should imagine within the resurrection together with the entire complicated of reality linked with it, significantly Jesus’ sin-bearing loss of life in mankind’s place, adopted by his resurrection that confirmed God the Father’s approval of Christ’s work. with the center one believes. Saving religion is just not mere mental settlement however deep inward belief in Christ on the core of 1’s being.

5. Jeremiah 17:9

The center is deceitful above all issues,
     and desperately sick;
     who can perceive it? Read More

coronary heart. A metaphor for the human will and feelings (cf. vv. 5–7). deceitful. Tortuous, uneven, and crooked like a foul highway. desperately sick. Medically incurable (Jer. 15:18; Jer. 30:12, 15; Job 34:6; Isa. 17:11; Mic. 1:9). who can perceive it? A rhetorical query anticipating a destructive reply. Nonetheless, this strongly destructive evaluation of the human coronary heart is just not meant as an outline of the center of a believer beneath the brand new covenant, the place God guarantees to write down his legislation on individuals’s hearts (Jer. 31:33; 32:40; cf. Ezek. 36:26; Rom. 5:5; Rom. 6:17; Heb. 10:22; 1 John 3:21).

6. Deuteronomy 6:5–6

You shall love the LORD your God with all of your coronary heart and with all of your soul and with all of your may. And these phrases that I command you right now shall be in your coronary heart. Read More

coronary heart . . . soul . . . may. All Israelites of their complete being are to like the Lord; “that is the nice and first commandment” (Matt. 22:38). In Matt. 22:37, Mark 12:30, and Luke 10:27, Jesus additionally contains “thoughts.” In early Hebrew, “coronary heart” included what we name the “thoughts”. “May” signifies vitality and talent.

in your coronary heart. Cf. Deut. 4:39. The demand is for a coronary heart that completely loves the Lord. Deuteronomy anticipates the brand new covenant, when God’s phrases can be actually and successfully written on the center (Jer. 31:31–34; additionally Deut. 30:6–8).

7. Hebrews 3:12–13

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving coronary heart, main you to fall away from the residing God. However exhort each other on daily basis, so long as it’s known as “right now,” that none of you could be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Read More

Drawing on a number of key phrases in Psalm 95, Hebrews warns in opposition to permitting the unbelief of a hardened, sinful coronary heart to trigger one to fall away (Gk. apostēnai, “flip away from, forsake, apostatize from”; cf. Luke 8:13; 1 Tim. 4:1). His counter to this hazard is each to encourage private dedication (take care) and to name on the church to stroll collectively in mutual encouragement (exhort each other). so long as it’s known as “right now.” From the attitude of God’s saving plans for world historical past, the church lives in a particular second through which the Lord has come, spoken, and gone, and believers await his return—religion known as for on this hour, and mutual exhortation sustains and strengthens religion.

8. Psalm 51:10

Create in me a clear coronary heart, O God,
     and renew a proper spirit inside me. Read More

The right posture of the penitent is to crave a recent sense of God’s presence (Psa. 51:8–9, 11), a deeper purification of the ethical life (Psa. 51:6, 10, 12), and a reputable witness to the untrue (Psa. 51:13). The main target is on the inmost self, from which obedient actions circulation: inward being, secret coronary heart (Psa. 51:6); clear coronary heart, proper spirit (Psa. 51: 10). The aim of this confession is just not self-abasement however a renewal of the pleasure and gladness (Psa. 51:8) that the trustworthy have in God’s presence.

9. Ezekiel 36:26

And I gives you a brand new coronary heart, and a brand new spirit I’ll put inside you. And I’ll take away the center of stone out of your flesh and provide you with a coronary heart of flesh. Read More

God’s initiative strikes from exterior to inner with the present of a new coronary heart and new spirit(see Ezek. 11:19; cf. Ezek. 18:31). The outer purification can be no use with out the interior disposition to dwell rightly earlier than God (Ezek. 36:27). The connection of “water” (Ezek. 36:25) and “Spirit” (Ezek. 36:27) lies behind John 3:5. I’ll put my Spirit inside you predicts an efficient inward work of God within the “new covenant.”

10. Matthew 5:8

Blessed are the pure in coronary heart, for they shall see God. Read More

The pure in coronary heart are these whose pursuit of purity and uprightness impacts each space of life. they shall see God. Observe the final word success in Rev. 22:4; cf. observe on John 1:18. In distinction to Jewish traditions that overemphasized exterior ritual purity, Jesus taught that purity of coronary heart was most essential (cf. observe on Matt. 5:28).

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