📖 Biblical Definition
Ezekiel's image of the unrepentant hardened heart YHWH promises to replace with a heart of flesh: "And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh" (Ezek 11:19; cf. 36:26). Foundational to the new-covenant promise — the heart-transplant rather than mere law-imposition.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Ezekiel's image: hardened heart YHWH replaces with flesh-heart.
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Ezekiel's image of the unrepentant hardened heart YHWH promises to replace with a heart of flesh: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes" (Ezek 36:26-27). The promise is foundational to new-covenant theology: not just better law-keeping but a new heart capable of obedience. Christ's regeneration in John 3 and Paul's circumcision-of-the-heart in Romans 2 take up the theme; Hebrews 8 quotes Jeremiah 31's parallel new-covenant promise.
📖 Key Scripture
Ezekiel 36:26-27 — "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes."
Ezekiel 11:19 — "And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh."
2 Corinthians 3:3 — "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Often read as just an OT promise to Israel; the new-covenant fulfillment in Christ extends the heart-transplant to all believers.
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Ezekiel's promise was for Israel; in Christ's new covenant, it extends to all who believe. The Spirit accomplishes the heart-transplant. Romans 2 calls believers' circumcision "of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter"; 2 Cor 3 has the law no longer on tables of stone but on fleshly tables of the heart.
Recover the gospel-shape: Christianity is not law-imposition on stony hearts; it is heart-replacement that makes obedience natural to the new heart. The stony heart cannot keep the law; the fleshly heart wants to.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew lev ha-even.
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['Hebrew', 'H3820', 'lev', 'heart']
['Hebrew', 'H68', 'even', 'stone']
Usage
"Stony heart out; flesh heart in."
"New-covenant heart-transplant."
"The stony heart cannot keep; the fleshly wants to."