G47 ἁγνεία (hagneía)

Purity (47) (hagneia from hagnos = pure from defilement, not contaminated) describes the quality of moral purity, of a pure mind and especially conveys the idea of chastity. In secular Greek hagneia was used in association with idolatrous worship (eg, hagneia is found in an inscription cut in the rock near a pagan temple). The secular use was clearly elevated by Paul to a call for Timothy to be morally pure, something that was not characteristic of most pagan worship. Nothing so ravages a one's ministry as sexual impurity! If you are a preacher, teacher, elder or leader in any spiritual capacity, pay special attention to your hagneia. As a leader you are especially vulnerable in this area, since it is a priority area of qualification (or disqualification), and is a frequent point of attack by our adversary the Devil. The UBS Handbook says that hagneia is a general term for an upright and morally blameless life, and specifically as referring to being free from any immoral acts, especially acts related to sex. UBS (The United Bible Societies' New Testament Handbook Series or Logos) Jamieson defines hagneia as simplicity of holy motive followed out in consistency of holy action." (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D. A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments) Robertson describes hagneia as "sinlessness of life" which should be not just in acts but also in motives! Vincent writes that the root word hagnos was... always with a moral sense; not limited to sins of the flesh, but covering purity in motives as well as in acts (hagnos in 1John 3:3 of Christ, 2Cor 11:2 of a pure virgin, James 3:17 describing wisdom from above, Philippians 1:17 [note] describing pure or unmixed motives when preaching the gospel). The only other NT use of hagneia is in this same letter Paul writing that... the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity. (1 Timothy 5:2) (Comment: Here Paul refers to one's moral attitude toward younger sisters in Christ and denotes the chastity which shuts out any impurity of spirit or manner that might defile.) There are 3 uses of hagneia in the Septuagint (LXX) (Nu 6:2, 21; 2 Chr 30:19) Used of a Nazirite (Nu. 6:2, 21). Numbers 6:2 (God instructs Moses to) speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, whatsoever man or woman shall specially vow a vow to separate oneself with purity (Lxx = hagneia) to the Lord (Comment: Nu 6:21 also refers to a Nazarite vow - The Nazarite was a man or woman who was either chosen or consecrated for life or for a set period of time to complete a vow to God. The Nazirite devoted himself to self-imposed discipline in order to perform some special service. This is interesting parallel with Timothy who was to be an example to others of a chaste life. Are not all believers to some degree "modern day Nazarites" for as Paul writes to Titus -- Jesus "gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds." Titus 2:14 [see note]) Show yourself an example - More literally keep on becoming a pattern for this is the correct way of making men to not despise or disregard one's youth. Show yourself (1096) (ginomai) is the ordinary verb of being and in this context means to come into a certain state or possess certain characteristics, to be, prove to be, turn out to be. Note the use of the present imperative calls for this to be an ongoing process or his lifestyle. The idea is "keep on becoming yourself an example." The word for example by itself refers to a stamp or a scar, and can also refer to a shape or a statue. From this the word has acquired the meaning of resemblance or model, hence example. Another way of expressing this is “but you should be a good model for the believers to follow." "Copy and paste the address below into your web browser in order to go to the original page which will allow you to access live links related to the material on this page - these links include Scriptures (which can be read in context), Scripture pop-ups on mouse over, and a variety of related resources such as Bible dictionary articles, commentaries, sermon notes and theological journal articles related to the topic under discussion." http://www.preceptaustin.org/1timothy_412-13.htm#purity