![]() ![]() The attitude of the Bible in respect to that relation is unmistakable. When we turn to that department we shall at once realize the fact that the sex relation is the most primitive and comprehensive of all the human relations. If in after-days the thing symbolized was forgotten in the symbol, that was owing to "blindness of mind." The darkness was not necessary.īut the main subject in respect to which we shall in this article seek light on purity from the Bible will not be hygiene or aesthetics, but morals. They were interpretative of something spiritual-were a parable way of illustrating the necessity of purity of heart in order to gain acceptance with God. The ceremonial cleansings called for by the Law had meaning and influence. He shall receive a blessing from Yahweh, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." The Psalmist blends these two elements, the physical and the ethical, in the familiar question and answer ( Psalm 24:3-5), "Who shall ascend into the hill of Yahweh? And who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart who hath not lifted up his soul unto falsehood, and hath not sworn deceitfully. And these Levitical directions for cleanliness are connected inseparably with the worship of Yahweh, as though physical purity were to that an essential. We can read therein what sounds like the hygienic orders of a general to his soldiers on the march, or like the rules of the board of health to preserve a city from pestilence. Though it is Isaiah who says (52:11) "Cleanse yourselves, ye that bear the vessels of Yahweh," and Mark 7:3, 4, "All the Jews, except they wash their hands diligently, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders and when they come from the marketplace, except they bathemselves, they eat not and many other things there are, which they have received to hold, washings of cups, and pots, and brasen vessels," yet such statements are but summaries of directions distributed here and there throughout the whole Levitical Law. The perception of this relationship is of very ancient date. So near are the departments of physical and ethical cleanliness that now if one hears the word "slum" without explanation, he cannot tell whether it relates to filth or sin. "Ought" comes in on the sphere of cleanliness, and then the whole realm of ethics is open. ![]() When one realizes that by uncleanness of person or property he may endanger the health or life of family, or even of society about him-as in keeping conditions that develop typhoid fever-he begins to realize that there is, a close tie between cleanliness and morals. But cleanliness and ethics do not dwell farther apart. We have a common proverb that "cleanliness is akin to godliness." Cleanliness and aesthetics are certainly nigh neighbors. The various forms of purity have relation to each other. Pu'-ri-ti: The Bible bears witness to the long struggle over and in man to secure physical, mental, and moral cleanliness. A different word (eilikrines) is used in 2 Peter 3:1, the Revised Version (British and American) "sincere." "Purity" (hagneia) occurs only in the King James Version in 1 Timothy 4:12 1 Timothy 5:2 in the Revised Version (British and American) in 2 Corinthians 11:3 (as the translation of tes hagnotelos). alkali for soap) in Isaiah 1:25, the Revised Version (British and American) "thoroughly (margin "as with lye," the King James Version "purely") purge away thy dross" "pureness" is the King James Version translation of the same word in Job 22:30, the Revised Version (British and American) "cleanness." In the New Testament "pure" is the translation chiefly of katharos ( Matthew 5:8, Blessed are the pure in heart," etc.), but also of hagnos ( Philippians 4:8 1 Timothy 5:22 James 3:17 1 John 3:3 -always in an ethical sense). "Pure" in the Old Testament represents many Hebrew words, most frequently Tahor "purely," occurs once only in the King James Version, as the translation of bor, properly "that which cleanses" (compare Job 9:30, the Revised Version margin "Hebrew `cleanse my hands with lye,' " i.e. Pur, pur'-li, pu'-ri-ti: This group of words has in the Old Testament and the New Testament an almost exclusively ethical significance, though the word "pure" is of course used also in its literal sense of freedom from alloy or other alien matter ( Exodus 25:11, etc.). International Standard Bible Encyclopedia PURE PURELY PURITY ![]()
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