Examining Jeremiah 17:9
Last Update: 2024, April 04
Good hearts, have you? Good hearts! Jeremiah had a better heart than you, yet he said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” No, the black lesson cannot be learned in a night. God alone knows the evil of the heart. —Spurgeon
The aim of my writing is to always show you what the Scripture teaches (1 Peter 4:11; Titus 2:1), so that you can see for yourself Reformed Soteriology is deeply rooted in Scripture. You will often hear Non-Calvinists (NC) say that we redefine words and read Calvinism into the Bible when it’s actually the opposite. For a case study, today we’ll look at Jeremiah 17:9.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
What Is Deceitful?
Have you ever paused to consider that or were you thinking that Jeremiah 17:9 is just a metaphor and doesn’t really mean what it says? I hope those on the fence can see the inconsistencies of the NCs here. They’ll say that Proverbs 21:1 is a figure-of-speech and is not to be taken literally. Years ago, I had one told me that Psalms 105:25 can’t be taken literally to build doctrine because it’s poetry. On the one hand, they insist that “all” means ALL and accuse Calvinists of redefining words, but here you see the kind of inconsistencies we’re up against. I’ll have more to talk about regarding these passages in future posts.
WHAT is deceitful? Note carefully what the text is or isn’t saying. It does not say that our action, environment or even upbringing is deceitful and or wicked. It’s the HEART that is the problem. And that’s a big problem for the NCs to take in, but not for us who stand on every word of God. We can’t blame anything external for any of our problems because the problem is internal. The Devil and the world only draws out what’s in us. They only present us with opportunities for the heart to express itself. What this means is that reformation is not what people need, but regeneration—a new heart (cf. John 3:6). Humanism will tell you that we’re just lost, and that with better education, environment and or upbringing we will do better. According to Scripture that is a lie (Romans 3:4).
“The problem with man is not the environment. Adam lived in a perfect world and still sinned and suffered.” —Steven Lawson
“The terrible, tragic fallacy of the last hundred years has been to think that all man’s troubles are due to his environment, and that to change the man you have nothing to do but change his environment. That is a tragic fallacy. It overlooks the fact that it was in Paradise that man fell.” —Martyn Lloyd Jones
Paul says that “if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those perishing” (2 Corinthians 4:3). To them that are perishing, the “cross is foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:18). In other words, the Gospel or the Messengers of the Gospel isn’t the problem, but the hearer. The hearer is defective. I only touch on this briefly to show why NCs will have to explain away the plain teaching of Jeremiah 17:9, because…
“…the human heart is like a locked door, but the lock is on the inside of the person. It must be unlocked by God the Holy Spirit.” —Walter Martin
That’s why only God alone can open blind eyes if by nature we’re deceitful and desperately wicked. Reformed Soteriology will not make sense if passages that reveal the true condition of fallen men are rejected (cf. Mark 4:13). To put it another way, if the T is denied, nothing else will make sense. See my series On Total Depravity.
Since the heart is deceitful, deceptive, treacherous or faithless, depending on how you want to translate it, the point is still the same: the heart can’t be trusted. It’s not reliable and can lead us astray. Which is why according to Proverbs 28:26, “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.” We’re told again and agin throughout Scripture not to lean on our own understanding, and not to be wise in our own eyes.
The sinner’s opposition to the Word of God, the sinner’s opposition to divine holy truth, the sinner’s opposition to the gospel does not arise from legitimate intellectual issues regarding the truth or the veracity of Scripture. It rises from the rebellion of a sinful soul. And because he is natural and even at his best rational level, he cannot attain to this spiritual knowledge. —John MacArthur
A deceitful heart seeks wisdom and does not find it (cf. Proverbs 14:6, 17:20). Faith does not come to him because there is no room in his heart for it (cf. John 8:37; Romans 10:17).
Wicked or Sick
wicked (KJV, NKJV, MEV, NLT)
sick (ESV, LSB, AMP)
beyond cure (NIV)
Again, regardless of how you want to translate it, the point is still the same: Only Christ can set us free because we’re in bondage. We are sick, He is the Physician.
A wicked heart will not come to the light,
19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. —John 3:19-21
Who Can Know It?
Who can know it? Who can truly see themselves unfiltered? No one. Paul confirms this in 1 Corinthians 4:
“For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted. But the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and make manifest the motives of hearts…”
—1 Corinthians 4:4-5 LSB
I find Christopher Ash’s commentary extremely helpful here:
Paul begins his answer by saying, ‘I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court’ (1 Corinthians 4:3). It is easy to see the logic of this. You have no window into my soul, he says. You cannot therefore judge the motives and intentions of my heart. You have no infallible means of knowing whether or not I am genuine in what I say. So in the last analysis I do not care what you think!… But what he says next is very surprising: ‘Indeed, I do not even judge myself’ (1 Corinthians 4:3). ‘But why on earth not?’…I can see that I cannot judge your heart, because it is your heart and not my heart. But surely you can judge your own heart. You do not need a window into your own soul, for it is your soul and you live there. If anyone knows what is going on inside you, your hopes, your fears, your motives, your real intention, it is you, isn’t it?
‘No,’ says Paul, ‘ultimately it is not.’ So he goes on, ‘My conscience is clear…, but that does not make me innocent’ (1 Corinthians 4:4). Here is a very striking claim. ‘Do you mean, Paul, that even when your conscience tells you that you have done nothing wrong, you can’t be sure you haven’t?’ ‘Yes,’ he says, ‘that is exactly what I am saying.’
… a clear conscience… does not prove everything. It shows I think I am in the clear, but it does not prove whether I really am. For there is only one person who has a true and undistorted window into my soul, and it is not me: ‘It is the Lord [that is, Jesus] who judges me’ (1 Corinthians 4:4).
…
What is going on in your heart and mine is so deep and so dark that you and I are not even reliably informed about it ourselves. Sometimes we realize that we do not know what is going on in our own hearts.
We naturally have a high view of ourselves and a low view of God.
No man ever knows his condition until God comes to him in sovereign grace and power and gives him life. Paul said, “I was before a blasphemer.” When did he learn that? When God brought him to life! As one made alive by God he then rejoiced in every doctrine of God’s grace! —Gary Shepard
See also: https://soteriology.substack.com/i/137189101/the-heart-is-unknowable
The Heart, what is it?
Since the Heart is what is deceitful and desperately wicked or sick, we must labour to find out what the Bible says about it. Keep in mind that as Christians we seek to be biblical, not wise in our own eyes. There are things not fully revealed to us (Deuteronomy 29:29), and we’re not required to understand or explain it metaphysically, philosophically or even logically (Ecclesiastes 11:5; John 3:8). What’s important is that we can explain it biblically, and the Bible—not the humanist—is where we will get our understanding.
The Heart refers to…
The whole person (Psalms 22:26).
The core of the inner life (Exodus 7:3,13; Psalms 9:1; Jeremiah 17:9).
Intentions come from the heart (Exodus 35:5; Daniel 5:20)
Actions are from the heart (Isaiah 32:6)
The heart is the source of the intellect (Matthew 9:4; Acts 8:22)
Emotions and Passions come from the heart (Deuteronomy 19:6; 1 Samuel 1:8).
I forgot the source I used to compile or put that list together. For serious studies, you should have good Bible Dictionaries and or Encyclopedias in your library. Here’s a small excerpt from The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary:
According to thorough investigation and evidence of Scripture in all its parts, the heart is the innermost center of the natural condition of man. The heart is:
(1) the center of the bodily life, the reservoir of the entire life-power (Ps. 40:8, 10, 12) and indeed in the lowest physical sense, for eating and drinking, as strengthening of the heart (Judg. 19:5-6, 8-9; 1 Kings 21:7; Acts 14:17; etc.), becomes the strengthening of the whole man;
(2) the center of the rational-spiritual nature of man; thus when a man determines upon anything, it is called to “presume” in his heart to do so (Esther 7:5, marg.); when he is strongly determined, he “stands firm in his heart” (1 Cor. 7:37); what is done gladly, willingly, and of set purpose, is done “obedient from the heart” (Rom. 6:17). The heart is the seat of love (1 Tim. 1:5) and of hatred (Lev. 19:17). Again, the heart is the center of thought and conception; the heart knows (Deut. 29:4; Prov. 14:10), it understands (Isa. 44:18; Acts 16:14), and it reflects (Luke 2:19). The heart is also the center of the feelings and affections: of joy (Isa. 65:14); of pain (Prov. 25:20; John 16:6); all degrees of ill will (Prov. 23:17; James 3:14); of dissatisfaction from anxiety (Prov. 12:25) to despair (Eccles. 2:20, KJV); all degrees of fear, from reverential trembling (Jer. 5:24) to blank terror (Deut. 28:28; Ps. 143:4);
(3) the center of the moral life; so that all moral conditions, from the highest love of God (Ps. 73:26) even down to the self-deifying pride (Ezek. 28:2, 5-6)…
The Heart is everything. We’re told in Proverbs 4:23, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” At the end of the day, it’s a matter of the heart. God starts with the heart, and He works outward from there. Regeneration is the giving of a new heart by the Spirit. That is one of the good works of God (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:6; Philippians 1:6).
“Man is like a tree. His heart, not his will alone, is the root. There is no possible way by which the will can choose to produce fruit contrary to the character of the root. If the root is bad, the tree is bound by its very nature to produce evil fruit. Man is like a person standing alongside his treasure chest. There is no possibility of bringing pure gold out of a box filled only with rusty steel. The contents of the heart determine what words and deeds may be brought out. Far from being neutral, the will must reach into the heart for its choices. Every thought, word and deed will partake of the nature of the treasure within. Man is like a stream which cannot rise above its source. If the fountain is polluted, the outflow will be evil. If the source be sweet, the stream will not be bitter and cannot choose to be so. These three illustrations alike contain the same lesson. What a man is determines what he chooses. Choices of the will always reveal the character of the heart, because the heart determines the choices.” —Walter J. Chantry
This is just an overview of the Heart and why it’s crucial to have a biblical understanding of what it is and why it’s important. There are a lot more to say in future posts.