The Heart of Love

 

 

 

Home

Alex Tang

Publications

Articles

Spiritual writing

 

Nurturing/ Teaching Courses

Engaging Culture

Spiritual Formation Institute

My Notebook

My blogs

 

Books Recommendation

Bookstore

---------------------

Medical notes

Medical Students /Paediatric notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Heart of Love

Dr. Alex Tang

 

1.                  Defining the Heart of Love

OT  lebab  bb;le

 

NT  kardia  kardiva

 

(a)   kardia as the center of physical life and psychological make up.

q       NT kardia rarely as body organ ( Lk 21:34; Acts 14:17; Jas 5:5)

q       Frequently denotes the seat of intellectual and spiritual life

q       inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding

q       The inner life as opposed to external appearances. (2 Cor 5;12; 1 Thess 2:17)

(b)  kardia as the center of spiritual life.

q       kardia; man standing before God.

q       The heart is that in man which is addressed by God.

q       The heart is the seat of doubt and hardness as well as of faith and obedience.

2.                  Sin marks, dominates and spoils the Heart

q                  The heart enslaved by sin, the whole man is in bondage

q                  Evil thoughts come from the heart (Mk 7:21; Matt 15:19)

q                  Shameful desires dwell in the heart (Rom 1:24)

q                  The heart is disobedient and impenitent (Rom 2:5; 2 Cor 3:14ff)

q                  Hard and faithless (Heb 3:12)

q                  Dull and darkened (Rom 1:21; Eph 4:18)

 

3.                  God alone can reveal the things hidden in the heart of man (1Cor 4:5), examine them (Rom 8:27) and test them (1 Thess 2:4)

q       Conversion to faith cannot be achieved through the will or desire of the human heart (1 Cor 2:9)

q       God opens a man’s heart (Acts 16:14) and let His light illumine the heart (2 Cor 1:22)

q       God bears witness by sending in the heart the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 1:22)

q       God pours His love into his heart (Rom 5:5)

q       Through faith God can take up residence in the heart (Eph 3:17)

 

 

4.                  Faith in the Heart leads to obedience and patience (Rom 6:17; 2 Thess 3:5)

q       In the heart, the word of God is kept (Lk 8:15)

q       Peace of God begins its rule (Col 3:15)

q       God’s grace strengthened and establishes the heart (Heb 13:9)

q       Blood of God cleanses it – the heart is pure (Heb 10:22; cf 1 Jn 1:7)

q       Christ dwells in it by faith (Eph 3:17).

 

Conclusion

The human heart (an organ) lasts for the years we have on earth but the heart of love lasts for eternity.

 

Reference:

Colin Brown, The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol 2.  Pp. 180-184)

 

 

 

                                                         

"treat, heal, and comfort always"

 "spiritual forming disciples of Jesus Christ with informed minds, hearts on fire and contemplative in actions"  

 

     
Website Articles Spiritual Writings Nurture/ Courses Engaging Culture Medical Interests Social

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   
           

 

  Creative Commons License

Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is
licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

© 2006-2024  Alex Tang