Heart
According to the Bible, the heart is the centre not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operations of human life. “Heart” and “soul” are often used interchangeably (Deut 6:5; Deut 26:16; comp. Matt 22:37; Mark 12:30, Mark 12:33), but this is not generally the case.
The heart is the “home of the personal life,” and hence a man is designated, according to his heart, wise (1 Kgs 3:12, etc.), pure (Ps 24:4; Matt 5:8, etc.), upright and righteous (Gen 20:5, Gen 20:6; Ps 11:2; Ps 78:72), pious and good (Luke 8:15), etc. In these and such passages the word “soul” could not be substituted for “heart.”
The heart is also the seat of the conscience (Rom 2:15). It is naturally wicked (Gen 8:21), and hence it contaminates the whole life and character (Matt 12:34; Matt 15:18; comp. Eccl 8:11; Ps 73:7). Hence the heart must be changed, regenerated (Ezek 36:26; Ezek 11:19; Ps 51:10–14), before a man can willingly obey God.
The process of salvation begins in the heart by the believing reception of the testimony of God, while the rejection of that testimony hardens the heart (Ps 95:8; Prov 28:14; 2 Chr 36:13). “Hardness of heart evidences itself by light views of sin; partial acknowledgment and confession of it; pride and conceit; ingratitude; unconcern about the word and ordinances of God; inattention to divine providences; stifling convictions of conscience; shunning reproof; presumption, and general ignorance of divine things.”
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
