# 1 James 26 how can you deceive your heart?



## Eoghan (Jun 30, 2011)

I am intrigued by this wording. Not deceive yourself but your heart.

Is this an OT allusion to conscience. You surely can twist and deceive your conscience. Is this waht James had in mind?


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## Contra_Mundum (Jun 30, 2011)

I think the literal "deceive his own heart" is idiomatic for self-deception.

The "heart" in biblical spiritual-parlance is the inner man, the core of the being. It stems primarily from Hebrew use, where concrete terms are typically employed for spiritual things (helps to ground them in reality as opposed to esoterica). "Heart" anchors the spirit of a man to his body, emphasizing unity between the material and immaterial aspects. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength," so heaps up the descriptions, adding physical power-expression at the end.

James' point is that hypocrisy (the disjunct between word and deed, or even one word and another) is not only deceptive to others; but worse, is often self-blinding. This theme is plainly carried through the third chapter.


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## Eoghan (Jul 1, 2011)

I ask because there is no "conscience" in the OT and the greek term finds an equivalence in the Hebrew "heart". Not that every OT use of heart means conscience but some refer to the quality of "the inner man" that touches on conscience. The first use of the law being to awaken conscience this kind of fits the context oj James 1.


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