As we continue on in our series on sin, I want to look at whether parts of a person are sinful and other parts are pure. For instance are your emotions sinful but your mind is not?

The Bible tells us that all of every person is totally affected by sin – intellect, emotion, will, even our physical bodies. This is because sin has corrupted the human heart as told to us in that memory verse that most of us learnt as children: ‘The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure’ (Jeremiah 17:9). But what does it matter that the heart is corrupted by sin? How does it affect everything else? Well God teaches us that the heart is the centre of the soul: ‘Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life’ (Proverbs 4:23). So if the heart is corrupted everything else that is a part of you is also corrupted. Once the heart goes, everything else goes.

Jesus also confirms that the heart is ultimately responsible for the sin that man commits. One example is Luke 6:45: ‘The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks’. Another example is where Jesus lists actual sins as having their origin in the heart: ‘For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’’ (Matthew  15:19-20). This means you cannot blame your hand for hitting someone else or your mouth for gossiping. It is your heart and therefore every part of you that is responsible.

But if the heart is beyond cure (as Jeremiah 17:9 says) then what hope do we have for any part of us to be saved from sin and the punishment that we deserve? There is no hope. Unless we get a new heart that replaces our old sinful heart. Is it possible to get a new heart? Yes. God gives away sin-free hearts that then affect every part of you and you are actually able to do good rather than evil. God promises this in Ezekiel 36:26 ‘I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh’. How do you signup for a new heart with the divine heart surgeon? Well he uses the surgical tools of repentance and faith. He promises that anyone who truly repents of their sin and trusts in Jesus’ death for them instantly has a brand new heart. Have you had heart surgery?

Joel Radford