Luke 6:45
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Luke 6:45 (NKJV)
A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Luke 6:45 (NIV)
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
Luke 6:45 (KJV)
A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.
Luke 6:45 (NLT)
The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Luke 6:45 (ESV)
The good person out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil person out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
Luke 6:45 (NASB)Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
The good man out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart brings out what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure [stored] in his heart brings out what is evil; for his mouth speaks from the overflow of his heart.
Luke 6:45 (AMP)Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
The upright (honorable, intrinsically good) man out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart produces what is upright (honorable and good), and the evil man out of the evil storehouse brings forth that which is depraved (wicked and intrinsically evil); for out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart his mouth speaks.
Luke 6:45 (AMPC)Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), Copyright © 1954, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
It's who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.
Luke 6:45 (MSG)Scripture quotations from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
New Covenant Meaning
The Heart Is the Source, Not the Problem
Jesus is teaching that the mouth is a symptom, not a root. What comes out of your mouth is downstream from what is stored in your heart. The Greek word thesauros means a storehouse or treasury, a place where something is deposited and kept. Your words are not random. They are withdrawals from what has been deposited inside you. For the believer in Christ, this is good news. You have been given a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26). The old storehouse has been replaced. What you deposit now is what you will speak: the Word of God, the knowledge of who you are in Christ, the peace that surpasses understanding. You are not stuck producing evil words from a bad heart. Your heart has been renewed by the Spirit.
Fill the Treasury to Change the Words
The way to change what you say is not to police your mouth more carefully. That is trying to manage the symptom while ignoring the source. The way to change what you say is to change what you store. This is why Colossians 3:16 says to let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Richly means in abundance, as a full treasury. When the Word of Christ is stored in abundance, what overflows into speech is the Word of Christ. This is not willpower over words. It is the natural result of a full storehouse. You cannot store the truth of God's grace, His faithfulness, your identity in Christ, and the finished work of the cross, and then speak from a place of fear and lack. The treasury speaks.
Luke 6:45 is not a command to try harder to speak better. It is a diagnosis that points to the solution. The heart is the source. The new heart given in Christ is a storehouse capable of holding the riches of His Word, His identity declarations, and His peace. What you fill that storehouse with is what will come out. The mouth is not the problem to fix. The treasury is the place to fill.
Application for Your Life
You Have a New Heart to Fill
In Christ you received a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26) and the Spirit of God to dwell in it. The raw material of your storehouse has been transformed. The question now is what you are depositing. Every time you read and meditate on the Word, speak God's promises aloud, or receive the truth of your identity in Christ, you are filling the treasury. Every time you review your circumstances through fear, rehearse what is going wrong, and confess defeat, you are filling the treasury with that instead. The storehouse does not distinguish between deposits. It simply holds what you give it and releases what is full. Fill it with truth.
Your Words Reveal What You Believe
Jesus says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. This means your words are a real-time report on what you actually believe, not just what you say you believe. If fear is flowing out of your mouth, fear is stored in abundance in your heart. If the goodness of God is flowing out of your mouth, that is what your heart is full of. This is not condemnation. It is diagnostic information. When you notice words of fear, doubt, or defeat coming out consistently, the response is not shame. It is to go back to the treasury and fill it with what is true. Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ. The hearing fills the storehouse. The storehouse produces the words.
Prayer Based on This Verse
Father, I thank You that in Christ I received a new heart. The old storehouse has been replaced. I have been given a treasury that can hold the riches of Your Word, Your grace, and the truth of who I am in Christ. I choose today to fill that treasury. I fill it with Your promises, with the finished work of the cross, with the knowledge that I am loved, forgiven, righteous, and complete in You. Let what overflows from my heart be the abundance of what is true. Let my mouth speak from a storehouse full of Your Word. I refuse to deposit fear, unbelief, and defeat. I deposit truth. And I trust that what fills my heart will overflow into words that reflect You. In Jesus' name. Amen.