What’s New?
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
Continuing to give thought to some of the new things God makes possible, Theology 101 turns this week to the biblical truth about the new heart God gives those who come to saving faith in His Son.
Rooted in the Old Testament’s promise of a new covenant was the prophetic anticipation of God giving His people new hearts.
Through Ezekiel, God promised this new heart for His people in these words: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you” (Ezek. 36:26–27).
Understanding that God had in mind something other than the blood-pumping organ in a person’s chest, biblically we think of the heart having reference to the inward nature or essential core of a person’s life.
When speaking about the human heart in this way, believers often have broken down the idea of a person’s heart in terms of mental capacity, emotional nature and volitional freedom. In simple expression, the new heart God provides His people has to do with a new way of thinking, feeling and choosing.
As for the new way of thinking, we commonly make reference to our minds as the wellspring of our thoughts. This capacity is so central to the persons we are that the Bible declares of a person, “As he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7). Even more to the point about a new mind is the admonition of Philippians 2:5: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
The idea of newness of heart includes new ways or standards of thinking.
In addition, the idea of a new heart encompasses new ways of feeling. That which stirs the emotions of a Christian is to be different from what may stir the emotions of a nonbeliever. The Bible admonishes, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:32). Romans 12:15 puts it like this: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”
Furthermore, this new heart introduces into a believer’s life new standards or guidelines for the choices we make. This new heart learns to ask of God, “Not my will but Yours be done.” What the Lord wants becomes more and more what we choose.
A life with a new heart characterized by the mind of Christ, the compassion of Christ and the will of Christ is indeed an abundant life.
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