The preachers quoted here describe a pure heart as single and undivided, not trying to live for God and the world at once. They say it is a changed heart and not only a cleansed one, measured by God's standard, in love with purity, and loyal to him. They call it essential, the way to seeing God.
"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). The word for pure, katharos, means clean and also unmixed, as of metal without alloy.1 Jesus was echoing a psalm: "Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? ... He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully" (Psalm 24:3-4).
The stress falls on the heart. In Scripture the heart is the centre of thought, desire and will: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). Jesus taught that defilement comes from within, "out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries" (Matthew 15:19), and rebuked those who cleaned the outside of the cup and left the inside foul (23:25-26).
Purity therefore includes moral cleanness and also singleness. James joins the two: "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded" (James 4:8). The pure heart is the undivided heart.
No one has it by nature, and so it must be given. David prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10). Peter says God gave the Spirit to the Gentiles, "purifying their hearts by faith" (Acts 15:9). "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).
It must also be pursued. "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:3). Paul speaks of "charity out of a pure heart" (1 Timothy 1:5) and tells Timothy to flee youthful lusts and follow righteousness "with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2:22). Thomas Watson wrote, "A pure heart is so in love with purity that nothing can draw him off from it."2
The promise attached is the highest in Scripture: to see God. It begins now, in the knowledge of God that sin clouds and purity clears, and is completed hereafter, when "we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). Jonathan Edwards preached, "To be pure in heart is the sure way to obtain the blessedness of seeing God."3
- Strong's Greek 2513, katharós: "clean (literally or figuratively)".
- Thomas Watson, "Heart Purity" (sermon).
- Jonathan Edwards, "The Pure in Heart Blessed" (sermon).
In their own words
Each line below is quoted exactly from a sermon on this site. Follow the link to hear or read it where it was said.
So a pure heart is a single heart, not a double heart, not a heart that's divided, trying to live for the world and trying to live for God.
Keith Malcomson
in A Pure Heart
Listen at 16:36
A pure heart is not only a cleansed heart, but a changed heart.
J. Glyn Owen
in Sermon on the Mount: Purity of Heart and Vision of God
Listen at 31:54
To be pure in heart is the sure way to obtain the blessedness of seeing God.
Jonathan Edwards
in The Pure in Heart Blessed
Read in context
A pure heart is so in love with purity that nothing can draw him off from it.
Thomas Watson
in Heart Purity
Read in context
So purity is not only clean, it's not only genuine, but it's also allegiance to God.
Jeremy King
in Blessed Are the Pure in Heart
Listen at 17:05
And purity means basically not our idea of purity, but God's idea of purity.
Zac Poonen
in (Pure Testimony) the Church as a Burning Bush
Listen at 0:40
A pure heart is not a nice extra we can choose or not choose to add to our religion.
Anton Bosch
in Blessed Are the Pure in Heart
Read in context
Purity is the longed-for house of Christ and the earthly heaven of the heart.
St. John Climacus
in Step 15 on Incorruptible Purity and Chastity to Which the Corruptible Attain by Toil and Sweat.
Read in context
Purity is the best preparation for growth, but it is not the consummation of growth.
Thomas Cook
in Purity and Maturity
Read in context
Now, a pure heart is more than just a clear heart, clean heart.
Stephen Kaung
in A Pure Heart
Listen at 19:39
What Scripture says
- Matthew 5:8 blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God
- Psalm 24:3-4 he that has clean hands, and a pure heart
- Psalm 51:10 create in me a clean heart, O God
- James 4:8 purify your hearts, you double minded
- 1 John 3:2-3 every man that has this hope purifies himself
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