Understanding Purity and Impurity

Learning about chemical impurities can give some insights into spiritual impurities. But in other ways, God’s standards of purity are much higher.

In my college science career, I’ve had to learn a lot about purity and impurity. Purity is the absence of contaminants in a substance. Materials behave differently based on their impurities. For example, we can add about 1 percent of aluminum to zinc oxide to increase its conductivity.

But often impurities can be destructive by obstructing the beneficial qualities of the material. It is usually impossible to remove a chemical impurity completely. This would require an infinite amount of work and energy. So technicians increase the purity of a material to as near 100 percent as possible or economically feasible.

The level of purity is important. If you were to buy a highly pure material, you would get something that is probably more than 99 percent pure, and usually this is good enough.

Spiritual purity—a much higher standard

Spiritually speaking, impurities are very dangerous to our Christian lives. Sin causes defects in our character.

When it comes to the Kingdom of God, 99 percent isn’t good enough. We are not graded on a curve when it comes to our character. We are to measure it against that perfect individual, Jesus Christ! He is our standard, the highest level of purity (Ephesians 4:13).

Society tells us that if we have “some” morals, we’re not that bad. But God has a higher standard than saying 99 percent is okay. The Bible says that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Biological impurities provide an even closer analogy to sin than chemical impurities. That’s because leaven and contagious diseases can grow exponentially and spread rapidly—like sin.

God calls us to live a life of purity, to become 100 percent pure. There should be no hint of evil in us.

Wrong behavior causes impurities to grow in us. Our actions reflect what is inside our hearts. We must overcome this and remove any spots on our character.

How do we become pure?

We must become pure! But how?

Recognize our role and God’s role. Christ will cleanse us by His blood, which was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. However, we must confess our sins. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. … If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7, 9).

We need His forgiveness. Only God can eradicate our past sins and give us the help to overcome the impurities in our character. “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols” (Ezekiel 36:25).

God’s love leads us to repentance, and our love for God should push us to continue to repent and change. We should love God because He first loved us.

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:1-3).

We should actually change because we love Him and want to please our loving Father. Look at what He has been willing to do for us. He has given us every opportunity and blessing. “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

We can change by obeying God’s Word. God has given us His wisdom and shows us the way to live. “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word” (Psalm 119:9).

After we realize that God’s Word is pure and right, we must follow what He says. The Bible is God’s Word, and it is what He is telling us. If we change and follow His commands, we will walk in purity.

Stay pure and be an example to others. The Bible tells us to keep ourselves pure (1 Timothy 5:22). This implies that we’ve been cleansed and are living a life of purity, striving to overcome sin. As we overcome, we must maintain purity and continue to grow. We cannot sit idle.

We are in this fight together, and overcoming sin is difficult. We need to encourage and help one another as a brotherhood of believers.

We cannot allow our character to be contaminated with wrong thoughts and behaviors. We must fight against society’s pull to pollute us with complacency in our character. We must be pure just as Christ is pure.

The heat of the moment is not the time to decide what your boundaries are. Purity takes planning! We should plan to prevent sin. We know what we need to do to change, but we need to strengthen our desire and will to change.

“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation” (Psalm 24:3-5).

Johnathan Armstrong attends the Little Rock, Arkansas, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, and is a graduate student working on his doctorate in physics.

See Johnathan Armstrong's previous posts at:

• Avoiding Spiritual Calluses
• Science Can't Fix Our Problems