Hearts of Stone
As I've studied Galatians recently, it has stuck out to me that for all Paul's talking about walking in the Spirit, he doesn't say anything about something that needs to be removed inside a person for them to walk in the Spirit.
The classic American Holiness way of talking about inherited depravity is to describe it as something that needs to be removed, a blight on the landscape of the heart. It's interesting to me that Paul doesn't reference anything needing to be removed in Galatians. I understand this is an argument from silence, but I think it's worth noticing. If inherited depravity is something that needs to be removed from the heart, I would have expected Paul to say something about that. But he doesn't. He says that if you walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:16).
Someone asked me recently, "What about Ezekiel's description of God replacing a heart of stone with a heart of flesh?"
That happens in Ezekiel 11 and 36. Both passages look to me to be talking about the same thing: God's promise to bring Israel back from exile. The wording about hearts in both places is nearly identical:
"And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh" (11:19).
"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (36:26).
I see two reasons why it is incorrect to say that a saved but not yet entirely sanctified heart is a heart of stone in these two passages.
1. In the context of these passages, God is talking about cleansing Israel from their idols and abominations (Ezek. 11:18; 36:25). Saved people do not worship idols.
2. Jesus, when talking to Nicodemus about his need to be born again, echoes the language of Ezekiel 36:25-27 in John 3:5.
These two seem to me to indicate that, while Ezekiel 11 and 36 may have entire sanctification as part of what they're talking about, they both are at least about salvation. Israel needed to stop idol worship. Nicodemus needed to be born again.
Ezekiel may be talking about both salvation and entire sanctification at the same time, telescoping the two together, but he doesn't give us a way to differentiate between when he's talking about one or the other.
These passages don't tell us that a saved but not yet sanctified heart is a heart of stone. An unsaved heart is a heart of stone.
The classic American Holiness way of talking about inherited depravity is to describe it as something that needs to be removed, a blight on the landscape of the heart. It's interesting to me that Paul doesn't reference anything needing to be removed in Galatians. I understand this is an argument from silence, but I think it's worth noticing. If inherited depravity is something that needs to be removed from the heart, I would have expected Paul to say something about that. But he doesn't. He says that if you walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:16).
Someone asked me recently, "What about Ezekiel's description of God replacing a heart of stone with a heart of flesh?"
That happens in Ezekiel 11 and 36. Both passages look to me to be talking about the same thing: God's promise to bring Israel back from exile. The wording about hearts in both places is nearly identical:
"And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh" (11:19).
"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (36:26).
I see two reasons why it is incorrect to say that a saved but not yet entirely sanctified heart is a heart of stone in these two passages.
1. In the context of these passages, God is talking about cleansing Israel from their idols and abominations (Ezek. 11:18; 36:25). Saved people do not worship idols.
2. Jesus, when talking to Nicodemus about his need to be born again, echoes the language of Ezekiel 36:25-27 in John 3:5.
These two seem to me to indicate that, while Ezekiel 11 and 36 may have entire sanctification as part of what they're talking about, they both are at least about salvation. Israel needed to stop idol worship. Nicodemus needed to be born again.
Ezekiel may be talking about both salvation and entire sanctification at the same time, telescoping the two together, but he doesn't give us a way to differentiate between when he's talking about one or the other.
These passages don't tell us that a saved but not yet sanctified heart is a heart of stone. An unsaved heart is a heart of stone.
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