“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” (Matthew 15:19)

In the past couple of weeks I have examined some questions concerning the anger and the judgments of God. That subject has by no means been exhausted, and I hope to return to it again in the next few weeks – however, I don’t want to neglect some other teachings of Christ either.

In examining the verse about the pure in heart cited above, I would like to do a couple of things:

I. Examine what it means to be pure in heart, and

II. Discuss how this state might be achieved.

Before beginning, I should say that I do not describe this subject from the point of view of one who has fully achieved this goal. On the contrary, it is in part because of my own many failings in this area that I am mindful of its importance – I say in part, because it is also a matter of biblical teaching of great importance.

We read in I John: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he [Jesus Christ] shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath (has) this hope in him purifieth (purifies) himself, even as he is pure.”

If we really expect to meet Christ, we are purifying ourselves in anticipation of that event. This is not in order to earn his approval and acceptance, which has already been given to those who have saving faith. It is rather the result of love, and of the desire to be like Christ. As to those who have the name of Christian but have no concern for these things, this passage indicates that they are not really anticipating a meeting with Christ, that these teachings are only lifeless doctrines to them.

I. What does it mean to be pure in heart?

This is not a simple question, so it will be necessary to make some preliminary observations.

Christ said in Matthew chapter 22 that we should love God with all our heart, and all our soul, and all our mind, and that this was the first and the great commandment. This does indicate a tripartite division of the human personality. The Bible does not elaborate on this, and it is not an essential point of doctrine, but it is worth speculating on.

A. When it comes to the heart, Jesus said “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies,” as already quoted above. And, I think we can reason from this that good thoughts, truthfulness, fidelity, mercy and honesty also proceed out of the heart – a heart that has been purified.

Naturally, being human as we are, our hearts are a mixture of good and bad thoughts – but as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ, there is a purification of feeling and of thought, of heart and of mind (about which more later).

When it comes to the mind, we read in Romans “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Elsewhere Paul exhorts us:

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Since Christ has said that thoughts proceed out of our hearts, a renewal of the mind requires a renewal of the heart – for while there are differences between thought and emotion, they are inextricably linked. Purified feelings elevate the mind, but good thoughts also nourish and strengthen the heart. For this reason Paul tells us:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

About the soul, Hebrews 4 refers to “the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,” meaning that there are now four elements to be considered: heart, soul, mind and spirit. The Bible does not spell this out in detail and it is certainly not part of any essential doctrine, but I can I think be forgiven if I speculate for a moment, that soul is our underlying life force which contains the basic elements of honesty, goodness, courage (or their opposites), which then work themselves out through the heart and mind as we respond to the various circumstances surrounding us.

As to the difference between soul and spirit, it might have something to do with soul as the basic underlying foundation of our personality, and spirit as the final result of heart, soul and mind all working in harmony (or disharmony) but that is pure speculation on my part.

Whatever the relationship of these might be, a pure heart is related to a pure mind and also to a pure soul. This interrelationship is illustrated in I Peter 1:22, where he writes:   “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.”

B. In order to determine more nearly what purity of heart is, it is obvious that we need some kind of external standard. That standard has its ultimate origins in God himself. It is God who is the source of whatever goodness, holiness, righteousness and truth there might be in our human existence, and it is God who determines what is good and bad, just or unjust, clean or unclean – but how do we know the mind of God? This is revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ, both as we know him from Scripture, and as we know him by his Spirit which he has given us.

We also have some understanding of God’s standards from the Word of God itself, which is why a divinely inspired Scripture is essential to biblical Christianity.

Some philosophers have found fault with the concept of God as the ultimate standard, and have presented a problem called the Euthyphro dilemma (so called because Plato discussed this problem in a dialogue of that name).

Basically, the problem is this. If God says something is wrong, does that judgment come from within himself? In that case it is arbitrary, the result only of God’s will, and lacking any foundation. If, on the other hand, God’s judgments do not come from himself but reflect some other standard that God himself is obliged to follow, the God is obviously subject to something higher than himself.

With human beings, this is an inescapable dilemma. There is no way around it. If for example Richard Dawkins says that it is morally wrong to teach children about God, where does he get this? If it is merely his personal opinion then no one has any higher obligation to accept it. If, however, it is the result of some higher standard outside of and beyond himself, what is that standard? And how does Dawkins have access to it?

When it comes to God, however, the dilemma ceases to exist. This is because of God’s supreme perfection. If a judgment comes directly from God himself, with no reference to any other external guidelines, God’s infinite spiritual perfection means that the judgment is inevitably and necessarily good, and not whimsical, flawed, or potentially flawed as it would be if it came from a human source.

One more point needs to be considered before we go on to the question of how we can become pure in heart, and that is the standards of purity as the Bible presents them.

C. What standards or descriptions of purity of heart does the Bible present us with? First of all, there are many powerful descriptions of what purity of heart is not.

The verse quoted in the subtitle and the next verse following tell us that “evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” are what defile us and make us unclean – and how much of modern society is describes by those few words. Murder, stealing, lying about other people, speaking mockingly and disrespectfully of God, sexual immorality, false thoughts, false thoughts about God, about the meaning of life, about good and evil, right and wrong – so much of our vaunted modern secular culture is in fact defiled by falsehood and lies on every level.

Two other descriptions of the evil thoughts that come from impure hearts, and impure minds, and impure souls are in Romans and Galatians (there are of course many others).

In Romans chapter 1 Paul gives a long and famous catalogue of human sins. Speaking of people who “became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened,” he shows that defilement of the heart and mind go together, and that the uncleanness of sin is related to the darkness of ignorance. Here is only a part of his yet simply factual indictment of an evil world:

unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful . . .

In Galatians we find a list of evil actions that spring from unclean hearts and minds. They are called “works of the flesh,” flesh referring to the works of natural human nature without the assistance of the Spirit and the illumination of God:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.   Galatians 5:19-21.

Those are some indications of what purity in heart is not – and does that not describe so much of what we see in the world today? And how many enjoy these things and willfully pursue them in their pursuit of illusory freedom and imaginary happiness?

As for two descriptions of what purity in heart might mean, we can consider the rest of the passage from Galatians just quoted. There Paul speaks of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” as being qualities of those who are “led of the Spirit,” and showing “the fruit of the Spirit.” We can examine this more closely in Part II, where we discuss how purity of heart is achieved.

In Paul’s first letter to Timothy we read, “Now the end of the commandment is charity (αγάπη) out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.” In I Corinthians 13 we can see a description of what charity is. Before looking at that famous passage, it might be useful to know why the translators of the King James Version translated the Greek word αγάπη as “charity” in these two places, but as “love” in I John 2:5, 15 and elsewhere.

The reason is the archaic nature of the King James Bible’s English (first published in 1611, the KJV was later updated in spelling and punctuation in the 18th century). Charity originally had a broader meaning in the olden days, and referred to brotherly love, or love shown outwardly to others, whereas now we use it in a much more limited sense. In the same way, “lust” has shifted from a much broader older meaning (a lust for power, a lust for revenge, or any strong desire) to our modern more restricted sense. Also, in the classical Liddell-Scott Greek Lexicon, αγάπη is defined “love: esp. brotherly love, charity.”

So, to get back to the point, a pure heart shows itself in love – and what does Paul say about love in his famous description in I Corinthians? He stresses first the primacy of love, and says that if we do not have this our Christianity is worthless. It is true that we are saved grace through faith, but faith works by love (Galatians 5), and “ God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (I John 4).

Then Paul shows us the characteristics of Christian love not as it is shown in our imaginations, or in our sound doctrinal statements and creeds, but in our dealings with others.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth (profits) me nothing.

Charity suffereth (suffers) long, and is kind; charity envieth (envies) not; charity vaunteth (vaunts) not itself, is not puffed up,

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

II. How is purity of heart achieved?

But how can we attain to these wonderful things, so far above our humdrum daily existences? Many people have no regard for them at all. They could not care less, and are satisfied with themselves as they are. But, when we begin to approach the Lord Jesus Christ and the God of the Old and New Testaments with any degree of understanding (which God alone can give), we find that our pitiful human standards of goodness are woefully inadequate. Surely we do not have to look very hard to see the evils and the sins of the world, and the evils and sins – if we are honest – which teem within our vain and foolish hearts and minds.

As to those who are indifferent or even hostile to this whole subject, our witness involves showing, in various ways and in various situations, that God does exist, and that he has laws for our well-being and flourishing – but I am not aiming at that sort of apologetic here. Perhaps in some other article I can try to describe the blindness, darkness, and woeful inadequacy of contemporary rejections of God.

A. But returning to the main point, about how purity of heart can be achieved, we first need cleansing from our past sins. This is given to us through the blood of Christ, shed on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. I John 1

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you . . .    I Peter 1

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood . . .      Revelation 1

This we can participate in by faith, if God grants us to perceive these things by giving us the gift of faith, without which no one can attain to these mysteries – and, once again, this depends on the complete veracity of the Scriptures. Without those, we cannot know what Christ taught or did, or even who he was. But if by God’s grace we find the truth of these things, we can find the reality of Isaiah’s prophecy, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

However, it does us no good if we receive forgiveness for sin, and then go out and repeatedly commit the same sins over and over again. It is as if a criminal were to be pardoned by a merciful judge, and leave the courtroom and immediately commit the same offense multiple times. No, for purity of heart, we need a change of nature. We need a new heart, and a new spirit.

Some of the oriental religions or philosophies recognize the problems that exist inherently within the human personality, or soul, or spirit (I am not familiar with the precise terms they use). As a solution, they offer a nullification of personality. We get rid of our false desires and misguided feelings by crushing them, by denying them to the point that they die away.

B. The Christian solution is very different. It requires not self-denial to the point of nothingness, but rather a renewal of self and an inward reformation of desire. It is rather newness of life, what Christ refers to as the new birth. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God . . . Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

This is referred to by the prophet Ezekiel, where he writes:

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, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

The prophet Jeremiah also refers to this when he says:

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Now, with this new Spirit – “and if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his” – we can truly begin to live as we ought. The risen Christ who is now in heaven will give us something of his Spirit, so that we can experience God and enter into fellowship with God. Thus we read “he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (make alive) your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth (dwells) in you”, and “truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

This is a missing ingredient in modern American versions of evangelicalism. We are told that we are guilty of sin and Christ has paid our debt, but - to continue this worldly financial metaphor - what does it profit me if my debts are paid off and I go forth straight to a casino rejoicing and in a short time end up more deeply in debt than I was before?

Christianity teaches a personal experience of God, and a life lived with the assistance of his Spirit and his truths – but this is not a simple matter. Now we begin to experience a conflict between new truths and a new way of life, and our old man, our natural man, which scripture calls the flesh. This is described in Romans 7, and in I James 4, and in I Peter 2, not to mention many other places.

This is why we have to seek, to pray, to wrestle, to study, to deny ourselves, and to confess our sins when we fail, as we so often do (I John 1;9).

But what of those who go to the church, possibly sincerely seeking, and do not see any of these things? Too many churches today are spiritually empty. Where is the power? Where is the joy unspeakable and full of glory?

There are many reasons for these failings, one of them being a complete indifference to Paul’s instructions for a worship service as described in I Corinthians – but that is another subject. Whatever the case of the churches may be, the first to place to look is not at other people but at the Christ of Scripture, who is willing to receive any and all who will come. Personally, I recommend the King James Version of the Bible which, in spite of its old-fashioned language (last updated in the 1700s), is more reverential and accurate in its translations than almost all or perhaps even all of the modern versions – and it is really not that hard to read, once you get used to it.. Someone else might recommend the English Standard Version (ESV), but I would never use the NIV under any circumstances whatsoever.

C. Christ teaches that the way that leads to heaven is a straight and narrow way. It is a way of self-denial rather than of self-exaltation. It requires denying ourselves the happiness of the world so that we might find a truer and more lasting happiness that does not fade away and – more than that – actually grows over time, if we abide in it. It is a wisdom that the world cannot see or know, but we know it, if we have responded to the reality of Jesus Christ in Spirit and in truth.

But how many times have we as Christians, or as those who grew up in the church but have since left it – how many times have we heard these verses and these teachings, yet the reality is still not there? All too often something is lacking in our faith – “Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith.” Paul writes these words to “the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.” They are in God the Father, and in Christ, yet something is lacking in their faith – and some things are lacking in ours.

What does James say? “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth (upbraids) not; and it shall be given him.”

“O foolish Galatians,” O foolish Christians, “who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?”

Let us have a care lest we be found in the end to be like the foolish virgins, who were waiting for Christ with all of the outward appearance of religion, but no oil was found in their lamps and they were shut out when Christ came.

As a final thought for those of us who call ourselves Christians: How do our inmost hearts appear to “the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning?” I know from personal experience how sinful thoughts and feelings can coexist and flourish in spite of doctrinally sound beliefs on the Trinity, the virgin birth, and the full inspiration of Scripture.