Love With Heart, Soul & Mind
Love with your whole heart – soul – mind – strength – What does that mean?
Heart
Matthew 22:37 (ESV) Jesus words:
37And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
Mark 12:30 (ESV) Jesus words:
30And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Luke 10:27 (ESV) This was the question that prompted the parable of the Good Samaritan.
27And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” When he answered, Jesus confirmed the answer saying: “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
Deuteronomy 6:5 (ESV)
5You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
The English word “Heart”:
The Greek word as displayed above carries a meaning of “Inward Parts: entrails”
Baker’s Encyclopedia has provides this definition: “kardia” – “heart”
Heart.
Vital bodily organ; however, all modern assumptions concerning circulation of the blood, the intellectual and directive functions of brain and nervous system, must be set aside when considering Scripture’s remarkably consistent physiological language. “Heart” (Hebrew léb; Greek kardia) occurs approximately 1000 times, often disguised in translation, and the range of meaning is immense.[1]
The Heart has a role in our spiritual wellness:
It is known to God and Christ: Jeremiah 17:10(ESV) – 10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind,£ to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
IT is the seat of knowledge: 2 Corinthians 4:6(ESV) – 6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Our vision of God is governed by the ‘state’ of our heart. Matthew 5:8(ESV) – 8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
When we pray we are speaking from out heart to God: Psalms 27:8(ESV) – 8 You have said, “Seek£ my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”£
The heart is where God Dwells within us: –
Galatians 4:6(ESV) – 6And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
Ephesians 3:17(ESV) – 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Action of a true heart would be one that draws near God. Our Key Verse: Luke 10:27(ESV)
27And he answered,£“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and£your neighbor as yourself.”
Hebrews 10:22(ESV) – 22let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Our hearts are to be inclined to God – Psalms 119:36(ESV) 36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
And – God will influence out heart from above: Revelation 17:17(ESV) – 17for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.
The heart signifies our self (the total inner person). The heart is our ‘hidden core’ – who can know it, but we are led by it. Psalms 62:8(ESV)
8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah
Matthew 15:18-19(ESV)
18But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.
19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
Mark 12:30 (ESV) – 30And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
One’s health frequently is connected to the condition of our physical heart. So too, our walk with God is dependent upon the condition of our heart. That condition is to that we are to be filled with love for God. This is not an automatic gift from God, but a good work was started with us upon our acceptance of Him in our lives. It is now up to us to work at maintaining a proper heart toward God. The key is the measure of “love” we develop for Him. This love will motivate us to be in the place of His protection.
The next element is that we have a love for God that involves our “soul”.
Soul
544 verses in the Bible have the word “Soul” in it. Greek word for “Life, person, soul”
Quote from: Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1995). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (1342–1343). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
2. Older and Classical Usage.psychḗ becomes a master concept in the sixth century B.C. The idea of retribution helps to bring this about. The psychḗ in the underworld assures continuity between this world and the next. The psychḗ, then, is the epitome of the individual. The sṓma (body) comes to be seen as the sḗma (tomb) of the soul. Transmigration of the soul also finds supporters (Pythagoras). After 500 B.C. the psychḗ represents the essential core embracing thought, will, and emotion and not sharing the body’s dissolution. The soul is not limited by space. It has a self-expanding lógos. Communication between souls is possible. The soul’s autonomy and higher worth are taken for granted. Moral instruction is a training of the soul for virtue. Medicine accepts the division of body and soul; the psychḗ is the self, or the seat of moral and spiritual qualities.
In Matthew 12:18 we find that Greek word used as a ‘subject’.
18 “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soulis well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. The Greek word is translated ‘soul’.
Matthew 6:25 (ESV) – 25“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Here the word “Life” is the same Greek word and is the subject of the verse.
Revelation 16:3 (ESV) – 3The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thingdied that was in the sea. Here the Greek word is translated “thing” as the subject of the verse.
As an object:
Matthew 10:28 (ESV) – 28And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Acts 14:2 (ESV) – 2But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their mindsagainst the brothers.
Acts 15:24 (ESV) – 24Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,
Philippians 1:27 (ESV) – 27Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,
For 46 out of 102 times the Greek word is translated as “Soul, souls” Whereas it is 35 out of 102 it is translated as “life”. Meaning that for 81 times the Greek word is used for life or soul.
One can see from these few verses that the base Greek word meaning would be: “SELF”. – We have a heart. a mind, and a being, thus our ‘life’ is and belongs in God’s hands.