The Greater Portion, Part 2
“And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?” (Mark 8:17)
Hard Hearted vs Closed Minded, and the Use of Idioms
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.[1] The Greek and the Hebrew idiom for hardness of heart is the same, and Book of Mormon writers often wrote from a Hebraic perspective.[2]
In the New Testament, sklerokardia (Greek, hardhearted), is used to describe one who lacks a desire to understand the mysteries of God; he is destitute of spiritual perception. Can we, as individual members of Christ’s church, also be portrayed as one who is destitute of spiritual perceptions? Obviously, the term hard-hearted can apply to members of the church, as well as a world outside the church. This condition leads to ignorance and a darkened understanding. Completely in line to the truest definition of the word hardhearted, Alma made this paralleling statement to Zeezrom:
“… 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.”[3]
We see in these verses that having a hard heart completely impairs one from understanding the mysteries of God’s
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.
The Importance of Seeing, Hearing, and Understanding
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?[4]
Here the Lord seemed to be a bit dumbfounded, or at least frustrated by their lack of understanding. In this example, a word we want to look at is, to hear. The Hebrew equivalent for the word hear, is Shama, meaning: to HEAR INTELLIGENTLY, with ATTENTION, and OBEDIENCE. In the Greek, the word is akouo, meaning: to HEAR, to UNDERSTAND.
Having Eyes to See
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.
When one has eyes to see, but sees not; and when one has ears to hear, but hears not; the prophets have attributed these conditions to one who has a hard heart. Remember, Alma warns: “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 are led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.”[5]
What is God’s EXPECTATION for each of us?
It becomes very apparent from certain scriptural passages that PERCEIVING, HEARING, acquiring KNOWLEDGE of God’s revealed word is His expectation for each of us individually and collectively, and is an important key to understanding our successful journey back to Him: individually! Shouldn’t we help and encourage each other along the way? The Lord’s valiant disciples will both blepo (see) and shama (hear) as they exercise their spiritual perception lead by the Holy Spirit.
In the next post, we’ll be discussing the importance of acquiring all the knowledge we can pertaining to our salvation. As you will see, the prophet Joseph Smith taught that there is NO salvation without knowledge, and that a man cannot be saved in ignorance. Please look for that post in the next week or so.
[1] The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible; Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2010; Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary, Greek Dictionary of the New Testament; Greek p. 228 #4641; (Emphasis added)
[2] Mormon 9:32-33
[3] Alma 12:9-11
[4] Mark 8:14-18, 21 (emphasis mine)
[5] Alma 12:10-11