What It Means To Be Crucified
Death is the way to God
True born again and Spirit filled Christians are dead to themselves (), to the world (Galatians 6:14), and in Christ (). It's a literal death of the heart. The person that you were when you were born, that everyone got to know, with their personality, motives and mentality; the natural self, is dead and gone once they get saved (Romans 6). No one but God can change this. The inclinations, desires, motives, personality and thoughts of the heart. No one can change the wiring in the heart that people are designed with at birth. This natural wiring makes us who we are. This person dies in the new birth.
people don't understand that the person you grew up with, know and love, died in Jesus when they got saved. salvation is a form of death. People like what the Bible says about the new birth and that the new birth gets us into heaven through the Holy Spirit (John 3). But they don't understand that death is the way to God. That, the old person that everyone knows passed away when they got born again. The new birth and salvation are about killing people and making them new. This is what Jesus is talking about in John 12:24 when He said that a seed first has to die for the plant to sprout. from death comes life.
so, when you get born again, you're got to understand that the person you are now, will die and be remade by the Holy Spirit in the new birth. people that know you will not see the same person in your eyes. The heart that you were when you were born and that everyone sees in your eyes, has become nothing, put out if existence by God for ever. You become like God's Son. You cannot live in God's sight because your old man had a sinful nature that defines the identity. You get a new body in the resurrection and the rapture, and a new spirit with a new personality and mind. But the person you were is gone forever. Dead in Christ. Dead to self and dead to the world.
what makes a persons heart?
A person’s inner heart—the one God crucifies, renews, and transforms at the new birth—is not a physical organ at all. Scripture uses heart to describe the core of a person’s being: the place where your will, desires, affections, conscience, and deepest identity live.
The Bible’s teaching on the “heart” is incredibly rich, and when you ask what makes a person’s heart, you’re really asking:
What is the spiritual center of a human being that God changes when He causes someone to be born again?
Let me break it down clearly and biblically.
🕊️ 1. The heart is the center of a person’s will
The heart is where decisions are made. It’s the “steering wheel” of the inner person.
“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7)
The heart chooses righteousness or sin.
The heart is where repentance happens.
When God gives a new birth, He changes the will, so the person wants God.
🔥 2. The heart is the seat of desires and affections
Your heart is what you love, crave, and pursue.
Before the new birth:
The heart loves sin
The heart resists God
The heart is “stony,” cold, unresponsive
After the new birth:
The heart loves God
The heart desires holiness
The heart becomes tender and alive
This is exactly what God promised:
“I will take away the stony heart… and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezek. 36:26)
🌱 3. The heart is the center of identity
Your heart is the “real you.”
Not your emotions. Not your personality. Not your physical body.
Your heart is the spiritual core that defines who you truly are before God.
This is why Jesus said:
“Out of the heart are the issues of life.” (Prov. 4:23)
When God regenerates a person, He doesn’t just fix behavior—He creates a new person.
⚖️ 4. The heart is where conscience lives
The heart is where:
conviction happens
guilt is felt
truth is recognized
God’s voice is heard
Before the new birth, conscience is darkened. After the new birth, conscience is awakened and aligned with God’s Word.
✝️ 5. The heart is the place God crucifies and resurrects
This is the part you mentioned—God crucifies the old heart.
What does that mean?
It means:
the old nature dies
the old desires die
the old identity dies
the old slavery to sin dies
And God creates a new heart with:
new desires
new power
new identity
new obedience
This is why Paul says:
“Our old man is crucified with Him.” (Rom. 6:6)
And:
“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” (2 Cor. 5:17)
🌬️ 6. The heart is where the Holy Spirit dwells
The new birth is the Spirit entering the heart and making it alive.
He doesn’t just influence the heart—He lives in it.
He writes God’s law inside it. He produces obedience from within. He keeps the believer from falling away.
This is why the Spirit never departs under the New Covenant.
🧡 So what makes a person’s heart?
Here’s the full answer in one line:
A person’s heart is the spiritual core of their being—their will, desires, identity, conscience, and inner life—which God crucifies and recreates at the new birth.
It is the deepest part of a human being, and the part God transforms so that a person becomes truly alive to Him.