Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."
We all want to make sure that we are saved; and a part of that is understanding how salvation works. For the most part we have it figured out, but when it comes down to free will and Gods spirit moving us, it gets fuzzy. Therefore, I have investigated the matter and am bringing you, dear reader, the best that I came up with.
It turns out, the primary agent in determining salvation is our heart.
SUMMARY "Our salvation is hugely affected by our hearts, which is controlled by both us (via our free will) and God. This may help the free-will debate."
Before treating control of hearts, let me summarize the components of salvation. The italicized part is less certain. Your heart believes (trust/depend) with a magnitude of faith that God gave us grace to be saved through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. P.S. this belief is practical and will manifest itself in works and confession of the mouth of the Lordship of JC.
[separate and study the different synonyms for salvation: salvation, justification, saved, righteousness; along with methods: faith, grace, believe, heart, mouth/confess)
1 Obj: belief
2 Magnitude: faith
3 Owner/agent: heart
4 Direct obj: God saving
5 Energy/driver: Grace (JC dying)
6 Result: holistic salvation
Element 1# You access Gods salvation through believing.
Acts 16:31 "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved..."
Element 2# Faith is a magnitude and is instrumental in salvation
Romans 12:3b "...according to the measure of faith that God has assigned."
Ephesians 2:8a "For by grace you have been saved through faith."
Element 3# Belief is of the heart, not purely academic.
Romans 10:10 "For with the heart one believes and is justified..."
Element 4# Belief is that JC died for you.
Romans 10:9 "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Element 5# The energy required to save you is by grace from God
Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
So again, if your heart believes with a magnitude of faith that JC died for you then Gods grace saves you.
The question the following parts of this post attempts to answer is "Who controls your heart?" because that triggers everything and will decide your fate.
Now, unfortunately is seems that two people have control over your heart: God and you. We may prefer it otherwise, preferring one side or the other for various reasons but the truth seems to be in the middle. Both we and God control our hearts. For instance God worked on the hearts of the Israelis:
Isaiah 63:17 "Why, LORD, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you?"
But we also work on our own hearts:
Psalms 95:8 "“Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness..."
(for more references of hardening and other heart control see the end of this post)
So...who really controls our hearts? I mean, we can't ignore it. It affects our salvation and everything we do for heaven sakes! (see the Proverbs quote at the beginning)
I see this as a step forward, actually. Christianity has been debating free will for basically forever, and here is a weird duality. We have free will in controlling our hearts AND God works on our hearts too. No it doesn't solve anything, but it shakes up an old stalemate void, which is great.
On the one hand, we humans are incapable of living with God without his hand in our life. On the other, God cannot control us like automatons, for we still have the ability to feel and think. On the one hand, we cannot come to God without him drawing us (John 6:65) On the other, we must love God and learn to be imitators and sons of God.
In light of the fact that we are created to have a relationship with God, this duality makes sense. In a relationship, where the two have become one flesh, one does not decide things without the other. When a man and a woman get married, one does not make the decision, it is mutual. In the same way God reached down to us by his Son and moved on our hearts with love so that we may assent with our hearts, loving him back, and go on to live in him for glory.
[End body]
Case support for dual heart control:
In the ten plauges, God hardens Pharaoh's heart 9 times, the king does his own heart 3 times, and the event is stated neutrally "but his heart was hardened" or something similar 6 times, 7 of which (of both latter cases) the phrase "just as the LORD had said" afterward, possibly implying Gods promise to harden his heart.
Just read this passage and note the duality: Exodus 9:34-10:1 "When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. So Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them."
For more examples of God hardening hearts see Isaiah 6:10 (within John 12:40), Exodus 7:3, and Joshua 11:20.
For people hardening their own hearts see Exodus 8:32, Proverbs 28:14, and 2 Chronicles 36:13
For other ways that we control our hearts see Colossians 3:23, Psalms 40:10a, John 14:27
For other ways that God controls our hearts see Philippians 4:7, Deuteronomy 28:65, 1 Kings 3:12, Psalms 86:11, Jeremiah 24:7/32:39, Ezekiel 11:19/36:26
Other actions of the heart: Exodus 25:2,
