Kardia

A. Classical
1. Liddel and Scott list the following classical meanings (Greek-English Lexicon, New Edition, page 877):
a. Heart; feelings
(1) Inclination, desire, purpose
(2) Mind
b. Cardiac orfice of the stomach
c. Heart in wood
d. Metaphorically, depths
2. Kardia was used in secular Greek in both a literal and metaphorical sense.
3. Among the Greeks, the noun kardia was primarily used literally in a physiological sense as the central
organ of the body of man or beast (Homer Iliad, 10, 94).
4. It also appears in the figurative sense, especially in the poets, infrequently in prose, for the heart as the seat
of moral and intellectual life.
5. The word was used to denote the seat of emotions and passions like anger (Homer, Iliad, 9, 646).
6. Kardia was used as the seat of power of thought (Homer, Iliad, 21, 441).
7. Homer, in particular, brought together the heart and reason without clearly separating thought and feeling
(Iliad, 21, 441).
8. In philosophical terminology we find in Plato a weak trend toward ascribing to the kardia functions of the
soul (Symp. 218a).
9. But the basic physiological concept is maintained (cf. Tim. 65c).
10. Aristotle for whom the heart is primarily the centre of the blood-stream, and hence the centre of physical
life in general, locates the emotions in the neighborhood of the kardia on the basis of his physiology of the
senses.
11. In Stoicism the heart is in some sense the central organ of intellectual life, the seat of reason, from which
feeling, willing and thinking proceed (cf. Chrysippus).
12. The noun kardia was also used figuratively of nature, the inward part, the core of a plant or kernel of
a tree.
13. Behm suggests that kardia came to be ascribed as the functions of the soul (Theological Dictionary of the
New Testament, volume 3, pages 608-609).
B. LXX
1. The noun kardia is used to translate the following Hebrew terms:
a. Beten (/f#B)# (noun), within (Prv. 22:18).
b. Derekh (rr#D)# (noun), road, way, manner (Ps. 37:14 [36:14] ).
c. Chattaah (taF*j)^ (noun), sin (Ps. 32:5 [31:5] ).
d. Lev (bl@) (noun), heart, interior, mind, will (Dt. 20:8; 2 Sm. 7:27; Jer. 4:14).
e. Levav (bb^l) (noun), heart, mind (Dn. 2:30; 7:4-Aramaic).
f. Me`im ((yu!M)@ (noun), bowels, heart (Ps. 40:8 [39:8] ).
g. Nephesh (vpn#) (noun), soul (Ps. 131:2 [130:2]-Codex Alexandrinus only).
h. `oreph ([r#u)) (noun), neck (2 Chr. 30:8).
i. Qerev (br#q)# (noun), inward part, heart (Ps. 5:9).
2. Kardia is used primarily to translate lev and levav.
3. The OT uses the heart in both a literal and metaphorical sense.
4. Rarely is kardia used for the physiological heart.
5. It is used primarily for the mental activities of a human being.
6. The emotions of a person were expressed from the kardia, such as joy (Dt. 28:47), or pain (Jer. 4:19) of
tranquility (Pr. 14:30) or excitement (Dt. 19:6).
7. The heart in the OT was used as the seat of the understanding and of knowledge, of rational thought.
8. It was the place of intellectual activity.
9. Evil thoughts took place in the heart.
10. Always used in the Bible for the organ of thinking (1 Sm. 16:17; Prov. 23:7), never for the physiological
heart or for the emotion.
11. Genesis 6:5 distinguishes between imaginations and thoughts of the heart.
a. Imaginations-everything formed-that is, every frame of reference.
b. Thoughts-thoughts, designs, projects.

12. The Analogy of the Heart

a. The heart is designed to dominate the soul. All other parts of the soul are designed to be subordinateviz., self-consciousness, left lobe, volition, emotion.
b. The heart is the target of the Word of God. To reach the target, doctrine must pass through 2 staging
areas-left lobe (nous) and human spirit (pneuma).
c. Therefore, the doctrinal content of the soul resides in the heart or right lobe (1 Kgs. 3:9, 12; Job. 38:36;
Ps. 19:14; 119:11; Prov. 2:2, 10; 3:3; 10:8; 15:14; 18:15).
13. The Facets of the Heart
a. The heart can reject Bible teaching (Prov. 5:12, 13).
b. The heart is the source of discord and troublemaking (Prov. 6:14, 18).
c. The heart of the prostitute is subtle (Prov. 7:10).
d. Hatred emanates from the heart (2 Sam. 6:16).
e. The heart suffers disappointment from promises not kept (Prov. 13:12).
f. The heart promotes mental attitude sins:
(1) Bitterness (Prov. 14:10).
(2) Sorrow and disappointment (Prov. 14:13).
(3) Pride (Prov. 21:4; Obad. 3).
(4) Worry (Eccl. 2:23).
g. Women use the heart to trap men (Eccl. 7:26).
h. Frantic search for happiness is related to the heart (Eccl. 1:13).
i. Reversionism is described in terms of the heart (Jer. 17:5, 9; Zech. 7:12).
j. Revolution and insubordination are described as being in the heart (2 Sm. 15:6; Jer. 5:23; Ezek. 6:9).
k. Hypocrisy is related to the heart (Job. 36:13; Ps. 55:21).
14. The Relation of the Heart to Thinking and Perception
a. Function of learning and applying the Word of God (Deut. 29:4).
b. Thinking of reversionism (Ps. 10:6, 11, 13).
c. Thinking of atheism (Ps. 14:1).
d. Rationalization of education (Eccl. 1:13-18).
e. Rationalization of mental attitude sins (Isa. 47:10).
f. Communication of false teachers from the deceit of their hearts (Jer. 14:14).
g. Meditation on doctrine (Luk. 2:19).
h. Ambitious thinking (Luk. 9:46, 47).
15. The Analogy to Right Man-Right Woman
a. The heart is analogous to the right man and dominates the soul in the normal person.
b. The emotion is the right woman, designed to be a responder to the content of the heart.
c. Hence, they are linked in the following Scriptures (Ps. 26:2; Jer. 11:20; 17:10; Jer. 20:12).
16. The Heart and Capacity for Life
a. Since the emotion takes the place of the right woman-the responder-and since the heart is the right
man-the aggressor-all capacity for life must be initiated in the heart.
b. All capacity for life resides in the frame of reference, memory center, vocabulary-thinkingcategorizing-conscience of the right lobe.
c. From these areas, the heart initiates and the emotion responds as in sex between right man and right
woman.
d. There are both positive and negative concepts in capacity for life.
(1) The positive: love (Deut. 6:5; 11:13; Josh. 22:5); happiness (Ps. 19:8; 28:7); dynamics (Job 9:4).
(2) The negative: sorrow (Lev. 26:16; Neh. 2:2); pressure (Ps. 34:18); cowardice (Josh. 14:8; 1 Sm.
17:32); discouragement (Num. 32:7, 9).
17. The Basic Area of Happiness
a. Gladness of heart (1 Sm. 1:13; 10:9; 1 Kgs. 8:66; 2 Ch. 7:10; Est. 5:9).
b. Merry heart (1 Sm. 25:36; 2 Sm. 13:28; Prov. 15:13, 15; 17:22).
18. The Area of Cursing in the Soul
a. Reversionism in the heart results in national disaster (Deut. 28:47, 48).
b. Revenge is a malfunction of the heart (Prov. 24:1, 2; Ezek. 25:15-17).
c. The heart is related to psychosis (Is. 13:7, 8).
d. Mental attitude sins relate the old sin nature to the heart (Ps. 66:18; 101:5; Prov. 6:18; Mt. 12:35;
15:18, 19; Lu. 6:45; 24:25).

19. A Blessing to the Growing Believer

a. Heart related to grace function (Prov. 24:17).
b. Heart related to grace orientation (Ex. 23:9).
c. Heart related to happiness (1 Sm. 2:1).
d. Heart basis of stability in a crisis (Ps. 112:7, 8).
20. The Relation to Motivation in Life
a. Temporal life (Ex. 35:25, 26, 35; 36:8).
b. Spiritual life (1 Kgs. 8:17; 2 Co. 9:7).
21. The Relation to Positive Volition (Rm. 10:9, 10).
22. The Heart as an Anthropopathism (1 Sm. 2:35; Ps. 78:72; Jer. 23:20; 30:24).
a. An anthropopathism ascribes to God human feelings, passions and thoughts in terms of mans feelings,
passions and thoughts.
b. Designed to explain Gods policies, thoughts, acts, decisions in terms of human language so that man
can have a frame of reference.
c. Hence, anthropopathism are language of accomodation to express the divine attitude to Homo sapiens
in mans vocabulary and language.
C. NT
1. The noun kardia appears 163 times in the NT.
2. Johannes Behm lists the following NT meanings of the word (Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament, volume 3, pages 611-613:
a. The thought of the heart as the central organ of the body and the seat of physical vitality is found only
in Lk. 21:34 and the select poetic expressions of Acts 14:17.
b. That the heart is the centre of the inner life of man and the source or seat of all the forces and functions
of the soul and spirit is attested in many different ways in the NT.
(1) In the heart dwell feelings and emotions, desires, and passions, e.g. joy, pain and sorrow, love,
desire, of God; lust
(2) The heart is the seat of understanding, the source of thought and reflection
(3) The heart is the seat of the will, the source of resolves; thus kardia comes to stand for the whole of
the inner being of man in contrast to his external side; the heart, the innermost part of man,
represents the ego, the person
(4) Thus the heart is supremely the one centre in man to which God turns, in which the religious life is
rooted, which determines moral conduct
c. in the inward part, the bosom, of the earth
3. Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, kardia, "the heart" (Eng., "cardiac," etc.), the chief organ
of physical life ("for the life of the flesh is in the blood," (Lev. 17:11)), occupies the most important place
in the human system. By an easy transition the word came to stand for man's entire mental and moral
activity, both the rational and the emotional elements. In other words, the heart is used figuratively for the
hidden springs of the personal life. "The Bible describes human depravity as in the `heart,' because sin is a
principle which has its seat in the center of man's inward life, and then `defiles' the whole circuit of his
action, (Matt. 15:19,20). On the other hand, Scripture regards the heart as the sphere of Divine influence,
(Rom. 2:15; Acts 15:9).... The heart, as lying deep within, contains `the hidden man,' (1 Pet. 3:4), the real
man. It represents the true character but conceals it" (J. Laidlaw, in Hastings' Bible Dic.). As to its usage in
the NT it denotes (a) the seat of physical life, (Acts 14:17; Jas. 5:5); (b) the seat of moral nature and
spiritual life, the seat of grief, (John 14:1; Rom. 9:2; 2 Cor. 2:4); joy, (John 16:22; Eph. 5:19); the desires,
(Matt. 5:28; 2 Pet. 2:14); the affections, (Luke 24:32; Acts 21:13); the perceptions, (John 12:40; Eph. 4:18);
the thoughts, (Matt. 9:4; Heb. 4:12); the understanding, (Matt. 13:15; Rom. 1:21); the reasoning powers,
(Mark 2:6; Luke 24:38); the imagination, (Luke 1:51); conscience, (Acts 2:37; 1 John 3:20); the intentions,
(Heb. 4:12), cf. (1 Pet. 4:1); purpose, (Acts 11:23; 2 Cor. 9:7); the will, (Rom. 6:17; Col. 3:15); faith, (Mark
11:23; Rom. 10:10; Heb. 3:12). The heart, in its moral significance in the OT, includes the emotions, the
reason and the will.
4. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, volume 2:
a. The causitive source of a persons psychological life in its various aspects but with special emphasis
upon thoughts heart, inner self, mind (page 321).
b. A location deep within a large area depths, far inside (page 715).
5. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, pages 403-404:
a. Heart as the seat of physical, spiritual, and mental life

6.

7.

8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.

19.

(1) As the center and source of physical life

(2) As center and source of the whole inner life, with its thinking feeling and volition; in the allinclusive sense of God or Christ; of the faculty of thought, of the thoughts themselves, of
understanding, as the organ of natural and spiritual enlightenment; of the will and its decisions; of
moral decisions, the moral life, of vices and virtues; of the emotions, wishes, desires; especially
also of love; of disposition; the human heart as the dwelling place of heavenly powers and beings
b. Figuratively, heart in the sense interior, center
The Analytical Greek Lexicon Revised, page 213:
a. The heart; the heart, regarded as the seat of feeling, impulse, affection, desire
b. The heart, as the seat of intellect
c. The heart, as the inner and mental frame
d. The conscience
e. The heart, the inner part, middle, centre
The New Thayers Greek-English Lexicon, pages 325-326:
a. Prop. that organ in the animal body which is the centre of the circulation of the blood, and hence was
regarded as the seat of physical life
b. Univ. kardia denotes the seat and centre of all physical and spiritual life
c. The vigor and sense of physical life
d. The centre and seat of spiritual life, the soul or mind, as it is the fountain and seat of the thoughts,
passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavors; of things done from the heart i.e.,
cordially or sincerely, truly; spec. of the understanding, the faculty and seat of intelligence; of the will
and character; of the soul so far forth as it is affected and stirred in a bad way or good, or of the soul as
the seat of the sensibilities, affections, emotions, desires, appetites, passions; of the cultivation of
endurance; in ref. To the good-will and love; of a soul conscious of good or bad deeds
e. Used of the middle or central or inmost part of any thing, even though inanimate
The NT meaning of the word is dependent on OT and Jewish usage.
Kardia is not regarded, as in the Greek understanding, as an organ in the physiological sense and the
location of mental and spiritual feeling, but is the equivalent for the Hebrew lev, levav.
It refers to the inner person, the seat of understanding, knowledge, and will, and takes on as well the m
meaning of conscience.
Kardia is the center of the person, that which determines ones life and from which one must determine
ones life.
The kardia is a part of the essence of the soul.
The perceptive apparatus in the unregenerate is different from the regenerate.
A regenerate person possesses a body, soul and human spirit thus making them trichotomous whereas the
unregenerate person possesses only a body and a soul making them dichotomous.
The body is called soma, the soul is called psuche and the spirit is called pneuma in the original language of
the Greek New Testament.
The mentality of the soul is divided into 2 parts:
a. Nous (nou~$), left lobe of the soul.
b. Kardia (kardiva), right lobe of the soul
Essence of the soul:
a. Self-consciousness
b. Conscience
c. Mentality
d. Emotion
e. Volition
The Essence of the Heart
a. The frame of reference: the entrance antechamber for doctrine (Prov. 4:4).
b. The memory center: the pump that circulates doctrine into various areas of the right lobe (Phlp. 1:3).
c. The vocabulary storage: the supply house for the information of thought.
d. The categorical storage: the supply house for the classification of thoughts.
e. The conscience: storage for all norms and standards (Rm. 2:15; 9:1; 13:5; 1 Co. 8:7; 2 Co. 4:2; 5:11;
Tit. 1:15; Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 2:19).
f. The launching pad: source of all mental attitude in life.
g. Department of growth

h.

20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.

Subconscience-stores various categories of things that shock or impress from adversity, sin, failure or
disappointment
The kardia in the Bible is the mental activity or function of the psuche, soul.
In the psuche, it circulates thought, mental activity just as the physiological heart does the same with
blood.
It is the thinking part, analytical, reasoning part of the soul and dominant thinking part of the soul.
It is the target of Bible teaching, the Word of God.
The nous is the left or perceptive lobe and is designed for receptive comprehension.
The left lobe is designed to understand various types of data and to digest objective information.
The volition determines whether or not the objective information in the nous or perceptive lobe is
transferred to the kardia, i.e., the right lobe.
The perceptive process is different in the believer who is in fellowship with God from the unregenerate and
the believer who is out of fellowship with God.
So the perceptive process is the same in the believer who is out of fellowship with God and the
unregenerate.
The human spirit in the believer was designed by God to give the believer the ability to understand the
Word of God and the capacity to store it as well.
The Holy Spirit reveals or makes understandable the Word of God to the human spirit of the believer who
is in fellowship with God.
He reveals or makes understandable the will of God for the believer through the communication of the
Word of God.
The human spirit is not operational unless the believer is in fellowship with God.
The believer who is in fellowship with God has no unacknowledged sin circulating in his stream of
consciousness and is permitting the Holy Spirit to control or influence his soul by means of the human
spirit.
The psuche or human soul was designed originally by God to be subordiante to the human spirit.
The believer who is in fellowship with God permits this to take place whereas the believer who is out of
fellowship does not permit this to take place.
The unregenerate and the believer who is out of fellowship are said to be psuchikos, soulish, whereas the
believer who is in fellowship with God is said to be pneumatikos, spiritual.
The believer in fellowship is said to be spiritual because he is permitting the Holy Spirit to reveal the will
of God through the communication of the Word of God to the believers human spirit.
When an unregenerate person hears information from the cosmic system it enters his nous where it is
gnosis information.
If he makes a decision to accept this cosmic information, it is transferred from then nous to the kardia
where it becomes epignosis information.
Epignosis information is knowledge that is applied to the kardia, the dominant lobe.
It then becomes a part of the persons frame of reference, their memory center, their vocabulary, and
classification of their thoughts.
It forms their conscience where it becomes a part of their norms and standards.
Lastly, epignosis is the mental attitude of the person.
Now the believer who is out of fellowship with God goes through the same process since he is not
permitting the Holy Spirit to reveal the will of God through the Word of God and he is not enabling his
human spirit to function.
When a believer in fellowship hears the communication of the Word of God it enters his nous where it is
gnosis information.
It is transferred to the kardia through the human spirit where it becomes epignosis information.
The epignosis information though is spiritual phenomena, i.e. divine viewpoint whereas the unregenerate
and the psuchikos believer possess only cosmic information, i.e. Satanic viewpoint.
When the epignosis information in the believer is spiritual phenomena, i.e. the Word of God becomes a
part of the believers frame of reference, their memory center, their vocabulary and the classification of
thoughts.
The Word of God now forms their norms and standards since it becomes a part of their conscience.
It is also cleans out the subconscience of the believer where the everything shocking, experiences in
adversities, failure and disappointment are stored.
The believers mental attitude is now based upon the Word of God as result of being in fellowship.

52. So gnosis information is either cosmic or divine viewpoint and likewise epignosis information is either
divine viewpoint or cosmic viewpoint.
53. The believer must make a decision to get in fellowship and then to either accept or reject the Word of God
as it is revealed to the believers human spirit by the Holy Spirit.