Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 2 Study # 4
(Focus is still upon 1:5)
Lincolnton, NC
March 7, 2004

• a. So, what is "love"?
  • 1) Specifically and minimally, it is the value placed upon a specific object always in respect to other specific objects and always in respect to the larger "love".
  • 2) Generally and maximally, it is the system of values held by a person.
    • a) The system is generally in flux and vacillates based upon variables which tend to set first one thing up as important and then another.
    • b) There does tend, though, to be a core to the system that is pretty much set.
• b. What is a clean heart?
  • 1) What is the "heart"?
    • a) The use of "heart" for the physical organ must be the bottom line in attempting to define what the non-physical "heart" is.
      • i. The muscle that is called the "heart" is fundamentally the pump that pushes and pulls the blood throughout the entire person.
      • ii. The blood [as in "the life is in the blood"] is what carries the necessary elements of life (food, water, oxygen) to each cell in the body and carries away the toxins (trash) that are the end of the life-processes that take place in those cells.
      • iii. The "heart", then, is the primary mechanism of life-support and, as such, becomes the basis for a metaphor of the "heart" outside of the physical realm.
    • b) In the realm of the non-physical, life consists of a harmonious relationship with God.
      • i. This means, then, that the "heart" is the fundamental mechanism for the promotion of such a relationship.
      • ii. It goes on to mean that the "heart" is that which carries the nutrients of "life" to every aspect of our "living". This means that we need to know the fundamental nutrients of "life": actions and their driving attitudes.
      • iii. Thus, the "heart" is what pushes our attitudes and actions into our interpersonal relationships and pulls the toxic by-products of attitudes and actions out of those relationships.
  • 2) What, then, is a clean heart?
    • a) It boils down to having no intention to foster (push into) or maintain (refuse to extract) attitudes and actions that are destructive to harmony.
    • b) The Gospel becomes the main method of "heart cleansing" (Acts 15:9) as it rests solidly upon the fundamental premises of repentance [rejecting pride and despair] and establishes the content of hope [God's love and promises]. The Spirit "falls" upon those whom God saves because it is necessary for those things which generate pride and despair to be destroyed. [Matthew 5:8; John 15:3; Acts 18:6 (no guilt for failed responsibility); 2 Timothy 2:22; 1 Peter 1:22; Luke 16:15 implies the heart is where values are determined and Romans 2:29 pretty much settles this; Acts 15:9 says that God purified their hearts by faith; (this question arises: Is the promise of a new heart accomplished or yet to be accomplished (Already, not yet)? Do we have, in effect, two hearts, or is there one heart that is being rewritten by the things we suffer? 1 Thessalonians 2:4 implies one that is in the process of restructuring and 2 Thessalonians 3:5 pretty much comes right out and says this and Hebrews 8:10 indicates the process; 1 Corinthians 7:37 speaks of standing steadfast in one's heart--implying that there is flux going on within the heart; 2 Corinthians 1:22 says the Spirit is dwelling in our hearts; 2 Corinthians 3:3 "written in the fleshly tables of the heart" as also Galatians 4:6 affirms with Ephesians 3:17; Hebrews 13:9 says the heart is established by grace; James 1:26 says we can deceive our own hearts!