Nature of Spiritual Hardness of Heart in Scripture
Spiritual hardness of heart, as depicted in Scripture, refers to a state of being unresponsive and resistant to God's will, grace, and truth. The Bible often describes the heart as the center of a person's spiritual and moral life, encompassing thoughts, emotions, and decisions [5, 6]. A hardened heart is therefore one that is closed off to divine influence.
This condition is characterized by several negative attributes. An unrenewed heart is described as hateful to God, full of evil, evil imaginations, and vain thoughts [3]. It is "desperately wicked" and "far from God," unwilling to seek Him or be perfect with Him [3]. The King James Version describes such a heart as "firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone" [1]. This imagery suggests an unyielding and impenetrable nature.
The causes and manifestations of a hardened heart are varied. It can stem from unbelief, pride, and an inherently evil disposition [4]. Individuals with hardened hearts refuse to listen to God or His messengers, reject correction, and rebel against divine commands [4]. The apostle Paul speaks of those who, "according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath" [2]. This implies a voluntary and persistent resistance to repentance.
Theological traditions offer further insights into the nature of this hardness. John Gill, a Baptist/Reformed commentator, identifies several types: a natural hardness due to the corruption of nature, an habitual hardness acquired through persistent sin, and a judicial hardness where God gives individuals over to their stubbornness [7, 8]. He also notes that even God's people can experience a temporary hardness through the deceitfulness of sin [7]. Adam Clarke, a Methodist/Wesleyan commentator, discusses Pharaoh's hardened heart, suggesting that God allowed Pharaoh's natural obstinacy to prevail to demonstrate His power [9, 12]. Clarke also references Augustine, who taught that God does not harden a heart unless the person has already hardened their own heart by resisting God's grace [9].
The consequences of a hardened heart are severe. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, in their Presbyterian commentary, note that those who make their hearts hard as adamant can expect God to break them with judgments, emphasizing that "hard hearts must expect hard treatment" [10]. Conversely, God promises to replace such hearts, stating, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you" [11]. This transformation involves replacing the stony heart with a heart of flesh, making it responsive to God's will [11].
Sources
- King James Version “[KJV] Job 41:24 — His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.”
- Romans “But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God; -- Romans 2:5”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Heart, Character of the Unrenewed — Hateful to God -- Pr 6:16,18; 11:20. Full of evil -- Ec 9:3. Full of evil imaginations -- Ge 6:5; 8:21; Pr 6:18. Full of vain thoughts -- Jer 4:14. Fully set to do evil -- Ec 8:11. Desperately wicked -- Jer 17:9. Far from God -- Isa 29:13; Mt 15:8. Not perfect with God -- 1Ki 15:3; Ac 8:21; Pr 6:18. Not prepared to seek God -- 2Ch 12:14. A treasury of evil -- Mt 12:35; Mr 7:21. Darkened -- Ro 1:21. Prone to error -- Ps 95:10. Prone to depart from God -- De 29:18; Jer 17:5. Impenitent -- Ro 2:5. Unbelieving -- Heb 3:12. Blind -- Eph”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Self-Will and Stubbornness — Forbidden -- 2Ch 30:8; Ps 75:5; 95:8. Proceed from Unbelief. -- 2Ki 17:14. Pride. -- Ne 9:16,29. An evil heart. -- Jer 7:24. God knows -- Isa 48:4. Exhibited in Refusing to hearken to God. -- Pr 1:24. Refusing to hearken to the messengers of God. -- 1Sa 8:19; Jer 44:16; Zec 7:11. Refusing to walk in the ways of God. -- Ne 9:17; Ps 78:10; Isa 42:24; Jer 6:16. Refusing to hearken to parents. -- De 21:18,19. Refusing to receive correction. -- De 21:18; Jer 5:3; 7:28. Rebelling against God. -- De 31:27; Ps 78:8. Resisting the Holy Spirit. -- ”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Heart — According to the Bible, the heart is the centre not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operations of human life. "Heart" and "soul" are often used interchangeably (Deut. 6:5; 26:16; comp. Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30, 33), but this is not generally the case. The heart is the "home of the personal life," and hence a man is designated, according to his heart, wise (1 Kings 3:12, etc.), pure (Ps. 24:4; Matt. 5:8, etc.), upright and righteous (Gen. 20:5, 6; Ps. 11:2; 78:72), pious and good (Luke 8:15), etc. In these and such passages the word "soul" could not ”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Heart, The — Issues of life are out of -- Pr 4:23. God Tries. -- 1Ch 29:17; Jer 12:3. Knows. -- Ps 44:21; Jer 20:12. Searched. -- 1Ch 28:9; Jer 17:10. Understands the thoughts of. -- 1Ch 28:9; Ps 139:2. Ponders. -- Pr 21:2; 24:12. Influences. -- 1Sa 10:26; Ezr 6:22; 7:27; Pr 21:1; Jer 20:9. Creates a new. -- Ps 51:10; Eze 36:26. Prepares. -- 1Ch 29:18; Pr 16:1. Opens. -- Ac 16:14. Enlightens. -- 2Co 4:6; Eph 1:18. Strengthens. -- Ps 27:14. Establishes. -- Ps 112:8; 1Th 3:13. Should be Prepared to God. -- 1Sa 7:3. Given to God. -- Pr 23:26. Perfect with God. -- 1Ki 8:”
- Psalms (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Psalms 95:8: Harden not your hearts,.... Against Christ, against his Gospel, against all the light and evidence of it. There is a natural hardness of the heart, owing to the corruption of nature; and an habitual hardness, acquired by a constant continuance and long custom in sinning; and there is a judicial hardness, which God gives men up unto. There is a hardness of heart, which sometimes attends God's own people, through the deceitfulness of sin gaining upon them; of which, when sensible, they complain, and do well to guard against. Respect seems to be had here to the hardness ”
- Hebrews (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Hebrews 3:8: Harden not you hearts,.... There is a natural hardness of the heart; the heart of man is like a stone, destitute of spiritual life, motion, and activity; it is senseless, stupid, impenitent, stubborn, and inflexible, on which no impressions can be made, but by powerful grace: and there is an acquired, habitual, and voluntary hardness of heart, to which men arrive by various steps; as entertaining pleasing thoughts of sin; an actual commission of it, with frequency, till it becomes customary, and so habitual; an extenuation or justification of it, and so they become ha”
- Exodus (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Exodus 4:21: But I will harden his heart - The case of Pharaoh has given rise to many fierce controversies, and to several strange and conflicting opinions. Would men but look at the whole account without the medium of their respective creeds, they would find little difficulty to apprehend the truth. If we take up the subject in a theological point of view, all sober Christians will allow the truth of this proposition of St. Augustine, when the subject in question is a person who has hardened his own heart by frequently resisting the grace and spirit of God: Non obdurate Deus im”
- Zechariah (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Zechariah 7:12: hearts . . . adamant-- (Eze 3:9; Eze 11:19). Lord . . . sent in Spirit by . . . prophets--that is, sent by the former prophets inspired with His Spirit. therefore . . . great wrath-- (Ch2 36:16). As they pushed from them the yoke of obedience, God laid on them the yoke of oppression. As they made their heart hard as adamant, God brake their hard hearts with judgments. Hard hearts must expect hard treatment. The harder the stone, the harder the blow of the hammer to break it.”
- Ezekiel (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Ezekiel 36:26: A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you,.... A "new heart" and a "new spirit" are one and the same; that is, a renewed one; renewed by the Spirit and grace of God; in which a new principle of life is put; new light is infused; a new will, filled with new purposes and resolutions; where new affections are placed, and new desires are formed; and where there are new delights and joys, as well as new sorrows and troubles; the same which in the New Testament is called the "new man", and the new creature, Eph 4:24. The Targum paraphrases i”
- Exodus (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Exodus 10:1: Hardened his heart - God suffered his natural obstinacy to prevail, that he might have farther opportunities of showing forth his eternal power and Godhead.”