The Greater Portion, Part 1
A Hard Heart
We often read in scripture the term: “hard hearted,” sometimes rendered “hardhearted,” or even a hardness of heart, etc… In western culture, we generally consider the heart to be the symbolic emotional center of the body. It’s here where our motives, feelings, affections, and desires emanate from. When we characterize someone as being hardhearted, we generally interpret that as someone who cares little about, hardens his emotions towards, or turns his back from something. English dictionaries characterize it as: heartless, cold, or callous; someone who is unfeeling or incapable of being moved to pity. But, if we take a closer look at how the term is used in scripture, especially from the Aramaic/Hebrew and Greek mindset (the main languages and spiritual mindset Jesus was most familiar with) we come away with an even greater depth of understanding. The Hebrew and Aramaic languages related and are very similar, being dialects of each other. Only a small portion of the Old Testament was written in Aramaic, with the remaining portion in Hebrew. 
Ancient prophet writers (both Old and New Testaments) often employed idioms and other encoding techniques peculiar to one of these languages and customs. Idioms are words, or compounds of two or more words and are not to be taken literally. They do however, carry specific and intended meanings that reach beyond the meaning of the individual words by themselves. A good example of an American idiom would be: “It’s raining cats and dogs!” Of course, when one uses this idiomatic phrase, it’s not intended to be taken literally, of course, dogs and cats don’t fall from the sky. Rather, it’s intended to be a figure of speech suggesting that it’s raining very hard.
Catching the idioms employed within the scriptures is often critical to a more accurate and deeper understanding of the intended message. May I suggest that the Lord’s covenant people should be alert to the scriptural idiom refered to as a “hard heart,” along with its condition and consequence. From a Hebraic perspective, the heart (Hebrew: leb) includes not only the emotional center of our being, but it is also regarded as the intellectual seat of the inner man [often referred to as the mind]. “The head is never regarded as the seat for intelligence; memory is the activity of the heart.”[1]
The Greek word for heart is: kardia. Again, besides being a physical organ of the body, it is defined as: “The chief organ of the body; By an easy transition, the word came to stand for man’s entire mental and moral activity, both the rational and the emotional elements. It denotes the thoughts, the understanding, the reasoning, the imagination, and the intentions of the body.”[2]
What is the Scriptural Meaning of a Hart Heart?
The term hard hearted is both a Hebrew and Greek idiom and have parallel meanings. They literally mean, to fail to understand what you see or hear. So, in the case of “hard hearted,” it symbolically portrays dryness of heart, destitute of a desire to understand or comprehend more. Also, it’s a concept used to describe one that lacks the desire to understand God’s mysteries. In the Greek Lexicon, the word is: “sklerokardia,” It’s the feminine noun of the words, hard and heart combined to form a Greek idiom. The meaning of the two together is, hard-heartedness, i.e. “specifically a destitution of (spiritual) perception—hardness of heart.”[3]
I wish to recap this definition; it specifically means a destitution of the desire to understand or comprehend more; being destitute of spiritual perception! Can we, as members of Christ’s church, also be destitute of certain spiritual perceptions or a lacking in desire to learn and understand more? Obviously, the term hard hearted can apply to members of the church, as well as a anyone else unwilling to consider or learn more about the church, or the gospel of Christ. This condition leads to ignorance and a darkened understanding. Book of Mormon writers have also used this idiom on several occasions; for example, Alma gave very similar clarification by teaching the following to Zeezrom:
- And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.
- And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.
- And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.[4]
Beware of Spiritual Complacency
As God’s covenant people, we should be vigilant in not allowing ourselves to become complacent in our testimonies or with gospel study; otherwise, even those of us who attend church regularly stand a real risk of fulfilling the scriptural condemnation of becoming hardhearted. When we fall into the category of being hard hearted, as Alma explains, we miss out on the greater portion (the meet) of the word, and only comprehend the lessor (the milk). May I invite you to read the preceding post, The Greater Portion Part 2. Here, we’ll see what Jesus said to some of His spiritually complacent, but otherwise actively engaged disciples, that failed to understand His words. Unfortunately for them, they gave little thought to the intended meaning of what He was trying to teach. We’ll see how Jesus responded to their spiritual laziness and why. Please turn with me to a continuation of this enlightening post.
[1] The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible; Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2010; Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary, p. 139 #3820; (Bracketed words mine)
[2] Ibid, Greek Dictionary of the New Testament, p. 128 #2588 (Emphasis added)
[3] Ibid, Greek Dictionary of the New Testament, p. 228 #4641; (Emphasis mine)
[4] Alma 12:9-11
In the previous post, we learned that having a hard heart, or being hardhearted, is something more than being closed minded, or one who is heartless, cold, or callous towards a certain truth. It’s more than someone who is unfeeling or incapable of being moved to pity. Rather, this phrase, which is often employed by Book of Mormon writers, is both a Hebrew and Greek idiom, which literally means to fail to understand what you see or hear. It symbolically portrays dryness of heart, destitute of a desire to understand or comprehend more. Also, it’s a concept used to describe one that lacks the desire to understand God’s mysteries. In the Greek Lexicon, the word is: sklerokardia. It’s the feminine noun of the words, hard and heart combined to form a Greek idiom. The meaning of the two together is, hard-heartedness, i.e. specifically a destitution of (spiritual) perception—hardness of heart.
word; and being self-imposed, he continually rests comfortably upon the lesser portion of the word, rather than adoring the depths of God’s mysteries, found only within the depths of the greater portion. Either we routinely (and seemingly safely) sail our individual sea-worthy ships only within the shallow harbor of the lesser portion of the word, or, relying upon the Holy Ghost as our guide, we boldly raise our sails to the top of the masts and set sail upon the vast open waters of the high gospel seas, ever searching for spiritual treasures found only within the depths of the greater portion of the word. The choice is ours, individually.
Even Jesus Christ applied this idiom on at least two separate occasions while reproving certain of His disciples. Let’s single out one of those occasions and put our study tools to use and see if they apply here. Just after the miraculous event of serving and filling the famished bellies of about four-thousand souls with a meager seven loaves of bread and a few small fishes (Mark’s account), Jesus later boards a ship to cross to the other side. The scriptures continue: “Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf. And he charged them, saying, [t]ake heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, [i]t is because we have no bread. And when Jesus knew it, he said unto them, [w]hy reason ye, because ye have no bread? [P]erceive ye not yet, neither understand? [H]ave ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, ye see not? [A]nd having ears, ye hear not? [A]nd do ye not remember? . . . And he said unto them, [h]ow is it that ye do not understand?
Another descriptive phrase Jesus employed in the scripture above, and often used throughout the scriptures, is having eyes to see but seeing not. In February of 1831, the Lord said through the Prophet Joseph Smith: “He who hath faith to see shall see. He who hath faith to hear shall hear.” In the Greek mindset of seeing, and in the context of this phrase, it has little to do with seeing with one’s physical eyes; rather, it’s referring to the heart or inner man; the spiritual eye. In Matthew 13:13 it says: “Therefore speak I unto them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.” As we have learned, when Christ perceived those with hard hearts, He spoke to them in parables. But, what does He mean by saying, because they seeing see not? The Greek word to see (blepo), in the context that it’s being used here, is a verb meaning, observe, discern, perceive, implying special contemplation, and is rendered: mental vision and to perceive; expressing a more intent, earnest, contemplation.