This article is part of the Key Bible Verses series.
All commentary notes adapted from the ESV Study Bible.
1. Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life. Read More
Heart in Proverbs regularly refers to the center of one’s inner life and orientation to God, from which a person does all thinking, feeling, and choosing. Taking words of wisdom into the heart is vital (they are life, Prov. 4:22), and wisdom’s presence in the heart is worth guarding because out of the heart flow all the thoughts and words and choices of a person’s life (from it flow the springs of life, Prov. 4:23; cf. Mark 7:21–23; Luke 6:45).
2. 1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” Read More
man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart. Outward appearance cannot predict whether someone will faithfully obey the Lord, for a person’s actions flow from his heart (cf. 2 Chron. 16:9; Ps. 51:10; Prov. 4:23; Mark 7:21–23; Luke 6:45; 1 Thess. 2:4). The “heart” in Scripture refers to a person’s inward moral and spiritual life, including the emotions, will, and reason.
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3. Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding. Read More
Trust in the LORD is necessary for fulfilling any of the wise ways of life taught in Proverbs; trusting the Lord is closely connected to “fearing” him (cf. Prov. 1:7; Prov. 2:5; Prov. 9:10; Prov. 15:33; Prov. 19:23; etc.). With all your heart indicates that trust goes beyond intellectual assent to a deep reliance on the Lord, a settled confidence in his care and his faithfulness to his Word. Do not lean on your own understanding further explains trusting in the Lord. One’s “understanding” in Proverbs is his perception of the right course of action. The wise will govern themselves by what the Lord himself declares, and will not set their own finite and often-mistaken understanding against his.
4. Romans 10:9–10
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Read More
If you confess with your mouth does not mean that a spoken affirmation of one’s faith is a “work” that merits justification, but such confession does give outward evidence of inward faith, and often confirms that faith to the speaker himself. that God raised him from the dead. Paul does not mean that people need to believe only this individual event with no understanding of Christ’s death, but rather they need to believe in the resurrection along with the whole complex of truth connected with it, particularly Jesus’ sin-bearing death in mankind’s place, followed by his resurrection that showed God the Father’s approval of Christ’s work. with the heart one believes. Saving faith is not mere intellectual agreement but deep inward trust in Christ at the core of one’s being.
5. Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it? Read More
heart. A metaphor for the human will and emotions (cf. vv. 5–7). deceitful. Tortuous, uneven, and crooked like a bad road. desperately sick. Medically incurable (Jer. 15:18; Jer. 30:12, 15; Job 34:6; Isa. 17:11; Mic. 1:9). who can understand it? A rhetorical question expecting a negative answer. However, this strongly negative assessment of the human heart is not intended as a description of the heart of a believer under the new covenant, where God promises to write his law on people’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 your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. Read More
heart . . . soul . . . might. All Israelites in their total being are to love the Lord; “this is the great and first commandment” (Matt. 22:38). In Matt. 22:37, Mark 12:30, and Luke 10:27, Jesus also includes “mind.” In early Hebrew, “heart” included what we call the “mind”. “Might” indicates energy and ability.
on your heart. Cf. Deut. 4:39. The demand is for a heart that totally loves the Lord. Deuteronomy anticipates the new covenant, when God’s words will be truly and effectively written on the heart (Jer. 31:31–34; also Deut. 30:6–8).
7. Hebrews 3:12–13
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Read More
Drawing on several key words in Psalm 95, Hebrews warns against allowing the unbelief of a hardened, sinful heart to cause one to fall away (Gk. apostēnai, “turn away from, forsake, apostatize from”; cf. Luke 8:13; 1 Tim. 4:1). His counter to this danger is both to encourage personal commitment (take care) and to call on the church to walk together in mutual encouragement (exhort one another). as long as it is called “today.” From the perspective of God’s saving plans for world history, the church lives in a special moment in which the Lord has come, spoken, and gone, and believers await his return—faith is called for in this hour, and mutual exhortation sustains and strengthens faith.
8. Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me. Read More
The proper posture of the penitent is to crave a fresh sense of God’s presence (Psa. 51:8–9, 11), a deeper purification of the moral life (Psa. 51:6, 10, 12), and a credible witness to the unfaithful (Psa. 51:13). The focus is on the inmost self, from which obedient actions flow: inward being, secret heart (Psa. 51:6); clean heart, right spirit (Psa. 51: 10). The goal of this confession is not self-abasement but a renewal of the joy and gladness (Psa. 51:8) that the faithful have in God’s presence.
9. Ezekiel 36:26
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Read More
God’s initiative moves from external to internal with the gift of a new heart and new spirit(see Ezek. 11:19; cf. Ezek. 18:31). The outer purification will be no use without the inner disposition to live rightly before God (Ezek. 36:27). The connection of “water” (Ezek. 36:25) and “Spirit” (Ezek. 36:27) lies behind John 3:5. I will put my Spirit within you predicts an effective inward work of God in the “new covenant.”
10. Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Read More
The pure in heart are those whose pursuit of purity and uprightness affects every area of life. they shall see God. Note the ultimate fulfillment in Rev. 22:4; cf. note on John 1:18. In contrast to Jewish traditions that overemphasized external ritual purity, Jesus taught that purity of heart was most important (cf. note on Matt. 5:28).
