Pure in Heart

The sixth beatitude is another difficult statement. What is purity? How may one gain such purity? There is in religion a notion that purity can be attained by strict devotion to religious principles. Some go so far as to assert that one may attain to sinless perfection, using such verses as this to prove their point. Such advocates point to their external religious practices as evidence of their claims. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day would be quick to claim and pridefully acknowledge this status for themselves. Jesus, however, presses the point that the purity here described is that of the heart, an inward condition as opposed to outward practice.

It may be that the Lord was referring to Psalm 18 in setting forth this and the previous beatitude. Verse 26 states, “With the purified you show yourself pure.”  The passage continues by stating that God saves a humble people while resisting those who are proud and haughty. The Lord requires truth in the inward parts: “Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being” (Psalm 51:6). True inward condition is set against outward conformity, which, if practiced, entitles a person to be declared ritually pure. God’s argument with Israel was that outward conformity to ritual standards, while it made one acceptable in the community, was not sufficient to make one right with God.

The Old Testament ritual system was designed to present the inflexible standard of holiness and to provoke the practitioner to realize his utter insufficiency to meet the standard. Sadly, the natural man deceives himself into thinking that his outward conformity to rules is enough to make himself acceptable to God, even while his own heart condemns him (Jeremiah 17:9). Ritual purity, properly understood, was to promote a longing for true purity of heart before God. However, such a state is possible only through the atoning work of Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice and fulfillment of all the types and shadows.

One must also keep in mind that no one this side of glory can be called pure in the purest sense. Nevertheless, in Jesus Christ one is positionally pure while growing in practical holiness, awaiting the coming of Christ, when all His people will be as pure as He is pure. That this ultimate purity is the focus of the verse is evident by the promise attached: “He shall see God.” John plainly states that “no one [on this sin-plagued earth] has ever seen God” (John 1:18). In spite of the many false claims to the contrary, human sinfulness makes viewing God impossible. In addressing Moses’ petition that God reveal Himself, the Lord said, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). However, when the redeemed saints are finally and fully sanctified, purified, and glorified, “they shall see His face” (Revelation 22:3). The psalmist anticipates this glorious time: “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness” (Psalm 17:15).