Word of the Week: 'Heart' is one of the most important words in scripture
Not only is the word heart used extensively in scripture, the Oxford English Dictionary devotes more than four pages to its definition. We learn from the OED that the heart is the seat of one's innermost thoughts and secret feelings; one's innermost being; the depths of the soul; the soul, the spirit. It is also our intent, will, purpose, inclination, desire. It is our disposition (see Mosiah 5:2; "the Spirit ... which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil"), our temperament, our character. The heart is the seat of emotions; generally the emotional nature, as distinguished from the intellectual nature placed in the head. In the widest sense, the heart includes the functions of feeling, volition and intellect.
The heart also contains the feeling or sentiment, which one has in regard to a thing. It can also mean a kindly feeling or cordiality. The heart is also the seat of courage. In scripture the word heart almost never refers to the bodily organ.
Getting this particular use of heart right is important because, as Jacob teaches us, redemption is available only to those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit "and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered ... " (2 Nephi 2:5-7).
The heart is where our consciousness is. It is where we live and talk with ourselves. It is what we really are and it is from the heart that our actions begin. Hence "the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).
Joseph A. Cannon is editor of the Deseret News.
E-mail: cannon@desnews.com
Recent comments
There is an interesting article on FARMS at BYU about the etymology...
Bryce Haymond | April 24, 2008 at 12:58 p.m.
