The Metaphorical Heart of Scripture
When we encounter the word "bowels" in our English Bible translations, we're meeting an ancient way of describing the human emotional and spiritual centre. Unlike our modern understanding of anatomy, biblical writers understood the bowels—the inner organs—as the seat of feeling, compassion, and tender mercy. This wasn't mere poetry; it reflected how people actually experienced emotion physically. When moved by compassion, one felt it deeply within.
The Apostle Paul frequently used this language to express his pastoral love. In Philippians 1:8, he writes, "For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ." Here, Paul's deepest affection flows from the tender compassion of Christ himself. Similarly, in Philemon 12, Paul appeals to Philemon regarding the runaway slave Onesimus, asking him to receive him "in the bowels of my love." These aren't cold theological statements—they're burning expressions of genuine Christian care.
Perhaps most movingly, we see this language when describing Jesus' response to human suffering. In Mark 6:34, after teaching the five thousand, Jesus was "moved with compassion" for them because they were "as sheep not having a shepherd." The Greek word here conveys a deep, gut-level response—literally moved in his bowels by their need.
God's Tender Mercies Revealed
The prophet Isaiah uses this profound imagery to display God's character. In Isaiah 63:15, the prophet cries out, "Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me?" The prophet appeals to God's own compassionate nature—His bowels of mercy that are moved toward His wayward people.
This language reaches its crescendo in the New Testament's description of God the Father. In 1 John 3:17, John asks penetrating questions about our compassion: "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" Here, John challenges us: if we refuse to share with those in need, we're shutting up the very bowels—the compassionate core—where God's love should dwell.
Living with Tender Hearts
For us today, understanding biblical "bowels" calls us to examine the depth of our compassion. Are we moved in our innermost being by the suffering of others? Do we feel the weight of broken families, struggling believers, and those far from Christ? The gospel invites us into this tender way of loving—not superficial concern, but mercy that rises from our depths and moves us to action.
As followers of Christ, we're called to cultivate hearts like His—hearts moved with compassion for the lost, the lonely, and the least among us. This is what it means to have our "bowels" transformed by grace: to feel what Jesus feels, to care as He cares, and to respond with His lavish mercy.
"Wherefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering" — Colossians 3:12