believe from the heart
Romans 10.9-10 That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
James 2.19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
Romans 6.17-18 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Acts 2.37-38 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
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Is it possible for someone to believe God, but not from the heart?
Is that what “religion” is all about…. ?
Seems like religion would be the “leaven of the Pharisees” that Matthew 23 describes - and there’s outright opposition to the move of God there. That kind of ignorantly fortified unbelief definitely springs out of not believing from the heart.
Is there a difference between believing from the head and believing from the heart?
Believeing from the “head” is more from the mental realm and the heart is mentioned in Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh
leb (labe)
the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect
there is a difference. One is believeing with no faith and the heart is with faith.
Hearts and minds are metaphors of two aspects of the same thing. You can believe based on precepts, theories, or the sense you’ve made about life. You can believe based on the emotional reactions of your experiences, but there is belief nonetheless. Our faith can be emotional or logical, but there is belief nonetheless.
I think God desires us to have an emotional tie to Him because He desires to have an emotional tie to Him. I don’t mean that to imply that belief from the “head” is inferior, but just not as rewarding.
We always run the risk of the lukewarm issue Jesus that brings up when our faith wanes whether of our mind or heart. We need to be persistent, sincere, and fervent in our faith and love.
Yes, I see it that way too. I am emotionally involved with God….He is the center of my life..No matter what I do or where I turn He is always there. Since the day of my first encounter with God I was never the same… His very nature took over me… I couldn’t even lie any more… couldn’t hate anymore, I did not have a desire for anything of the world… I had found a something so very special I couldn’t risk losing Him. Even if it had cost me everything… I was not going to give Him up for any thing the world had to offer me… it wasn’t pleasurable any more. All I knew is that I had found a “pearl” of a great price and was not going to lose it.
Hearts and minds are definitely both part of the inner man, yet we are able to see clear distinctions in the New Testament (between kardia and nous). The truth is that neither our human intellect nor our emotions are up to the challenge of truly grasping or experiencing God. Kardia goes way beyond our emotions. God accepts belief from the heart because we receive him totally and completely. When David said “seek Him with a whole heart” he meant that everything in him was passionately chasing after God.
It really comes down to depth, doesn’t it?