The Purity Principle

Have you ever wondered why God seems so concerned with purity in the Bible? Why are there so many rules and regulations about cleanliness, holiness, and who can approach God? At first glance, it might seem like God is just being overly strict or trying to keep people away. But what if there's a deeper, more beautiful reason behind it all?

The heart of the matter is this: God desires to dwell with His people. From the very beginning, His intention has been to have a close, intimate relationship with humanity. This desire is woven throughout Scripture, from the Garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem. However, there's a problem – a purity problem.

God is perfectly pure and holy. He cannot dwell with impurity. It's not because He's cruel or unjust, but because His very nature is incompatible with sin and uncleanness. This creates a dilemma: How can an impure people ever hope to dwell with a pure God?

In the Old Testament, we see this tension played out in various ways. In Deuteronomy 23, for example, there are strict regulations about who can enter "the assembly of the Lord." Certain people are excluded – those with physical defects, those born of forbidden unions, and even entire people groups like the Ammonites and Moabites. At first, this might seem harsh, but it's actually a picture of God's holiness and His desire for His people to reflect that holiness.

Even in the seemingly mundane details of camp life, we see this principle at work. The Israelites were instructed to keep their camp clean, burying their waste outside the camp "because the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you" (Deuteronomy 23:14).

This brings us to a crucial realization: We have a purity problem. None of us are pure. As the apostle Paul writes, "None is righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10). We can't make ourselves pure any more than a dirty swimming pool can clean itself. We need an outside force to purify us.

Here's where the good news comes in. God doesn't just demand purity – He provides it. In Jesus Christ, we see the ultimate solution to our purity problem. Jesus lived a perfectly pure life, fulfilling all the requirements of God's law. He then took our impurity upon Himself on the cross, dying in our place. Through His resurrection, He offers us His righteousness, His purity.

This is what Paul is getting at in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 when he writes to the church in Corinth. After listing various types of sinners who "will not inherit the kingdom of God," he says, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

Do you see the beautiful exchange that's happening here? We bring our impurity to Christ, and He gives us His purity in return. This is how God makes it possible for us to dwell with Him. It's not based on our own efforts or goodness, but on the finished work of Christ.

This truth should radically change how we live. We don't pursue purity to earn God's presence; we pursue purity because we already have God's presence through Christ. As Paul writes in Philippians 2:14-15, "Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world."

We're called to live as lights in a dark world, reflecting the purity that Christ has given us. This applies to every aspect of our lives – our thoughts, our words, our actions, our relationships. Whether we're gathering with other believers for worship or going out into the world for work and daily life, we're called to steward the purity Christ has provided.

This brings us to what we might call the "purity principle": Because God desires to dwell with His people, He purified them through Christ His Son so that they can live in purity as they gather and go. This principle should shape our entire approach to the Christian life.

When we gather for worship, we come not based on our own purity, but celebrating the purity Christ has given us. We remember His life and death through communion, recognizing that it's "by His blood" that we have access to God.

When we go out into the world, we go as people who have been made pure in Christ. We're called to live differently, to pursue purity in a world that often celebrates impurity. This isn't about following a set of rules, but about living out our new identity in Christ.

For those who haven't yet experienced this purifying work of Christ, the invitation is open. You don't need to clean yourself up before coming to God – that's like trying to take a shower before getting in the bath! Instead, come as you are, trusting in the purity that only Christ can provide.

In the end, this is all about relationship. God's desire for purity isn't about keeping us at arm's length, but about making it possible for us to draw near to Him. He longs to dwell with us, to walk with us, to be in intimate relationship with us. Through Christ, that relationship is made possible.

So let's embrace the purity principle. Let's celebrate the purity Christ has provided, and let's live it out in our daily lives. As we do, we'll find ourselves drawing closer to God, experiencing the joy of His presence, and shining as lights in a world that desperately needs to see His purity and love.