Reference: Purity
Hastings
1. Ceremonial purity is acquired by the due observance of external rites. The Jewish law prescribed various regulations by means of which outward defilement might be removed and the 'unclean' person be restored to fellowship with God. But the OT recognizes that moral purity is essential to acceptable worship of the Holy God (Ps 24:4); the question of Eliphaz expresses the conviction of those who know how absolute is the Divine holiness: 'Shall a man be pure before his Maker?' (Job 4:17 Revised Version margin); only to the man who 'purifies himself' can such a God reveal His glory (Ps 18:26, the verb is reflexive). The writer of the Ep. to the Hebrews reminds Christians who were familiar with the OT ceremonial of purification that the voluntary sacrifice of the Son of God is the means of purification under the new and better Covenant; 'the blood of Christ' removes the inward defilement which unfits sinful men for the service of the living God (Ps 9:13 f.).
2. In the NT 'pure' has the more restricted meaning of 'chaste' in a few passages. Underlying the true reading of '/2-Corinthians/11/3/type/ylt'>2Co 11:3, 'the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ,' is the metaphor of 2Co 11:2 (RV), 'I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ' (cf. Tit 2:5; 1Pe 3:2). The same noun is tr 'pureness' in 2Co 6:8 (RV); cf. 1Ti 4:12; 5:2; also, for the wider meaning of the verb, Jas 4:8; 1Pe 1:22; 1Jo 3:3; and of the adjective, Php 4:8; 1Ti 5:22; Jas 3:17. See, further, art. Holiness.
J. G. Tasker.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
and command the people, saying, 'When ye see the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then ye journey from your place, and have gone after it;
'Is mortal man than God more righteous? Than his Maker is a man cleaner?
Favour me, O Jehovah, See mine affliction by those hating me, Thou who liftest me up from the gates of death,
With the pure Thou showest Thyself pure, And with the perverse showest Thyself a wrestler,
The clean of hands, and pure of heart, Who hath not lifted up to vanity his soul, Nor hath sworn to deceit.
through glory and dishonour, through evil report and good report, as leading astray, and true;
for I am zealous for you with zeal of God, for I did betroth you to one husband, a pure virgin, to present to Christ, and I fear, lest, as the serpent did beguile Eve in his subtilty, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in the Christ;
As to the rest, brethren, as many things as are true, as many as are grave, as many as are righteous, as many as are pure, as many as are lovely, as many as are of good report, if any worthiness, and if any praise, these things think upon;
let no one despise thy youth, but a pattern become thou of those believing in word, in behaviour, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity;
aged women as mothers, younger ones as sisters -- in all purity;
sober, pure, keepers of their own houses, good, subject to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be evil spoken of.
and the wisdom from above, first, indeed, is pure, then peaceable, gentle, easily entreated, full of kindness and good fruits, uncontentious, and unhypocritical: --
draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you; cleanse hands, ye sinners! and purify hearts, ye two-souled!