What do purity mean

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Term » Definition. Word in Definition. Princeton's WordNet 4. Wiktionary 5. Webster Dictionary 5. Chambers 20th Century Dictionary 5. The Roycroft Dictionary 2. Matched Categories Condition. How to pronounce purity? Alex US English. David US English. Mark US English. Daniel British. Libby British. Mia British. Karen Australian. Hayley Australian. Natasha Australian. Veena Indian.

There is a great deal of discussion today about purity. Many churches have purity pledges, some of you may have taken them in your youth groups as teens or your teenagers now may be being asked to take them. The idea of pledging yourself to purity is a good thing but I am afraid that it leaves a misunderstanding in your heart when you have taken such a pledge. Most of these pledges are just about sexual abstinence.

Please do not get me wrong; abstinence is a good thing, but it is just one part, and a small one at that, of what true biblical purity is all about.

I will be addressing this here because it is something that each and every one of us, not just hormonally abundant teenagers, must address in our own hearts and lives before the Lord. Let us first talk about what purity is. Purity, according to biblical language, is to be morally clean, without blemish.

Purity was essential in all of the sacrifices — meaning the sacrifice had to be physically perfect, without blemish or fault. Anything less than that was unacceptable to the Holy and Perfect God. If our entire lives are to be a sacrifice of worship to God, how much more should WE be as pure, spotless and clean as the animal sacrifices required in the OT worship! So many times we think we can separate our lives into compartments:.

We are willing to allow God control over one or maybe even several compartments, but we try and hold on to a few of them just or us. We think that if God has part of our hearts that we are entitled to hold on to the rest for ourselves and our own plans and desires. This may allow us to keep our pledge to abstinence, but not any kind of pledge to purity. We watch and revel in movies or games that glorify sexual filth — sometimes even living vicariously through them or we read trashy romance novels perhaps reading certain explicit sections over and over again all the while patting ourselves on the back for our purity in that we are not doing those things.

Sometimes we even will allow the physical part of a dating relationship or even a flirtatious relationship with a man other than our husbands to travel all the way up to intercourse, but stop just short of it, congratulating ourselves on our self-control!

This is NOT purity in the biblical sense and is a violation of our relationship with our Lord. This would lead us to examine the things we have always thought were fine and normal in a dating relationship.

If certain types of physical contact cause our hearts and minds to leap toward impurity, then that behavior should NOT be engaged in or should be stopped immediately. But, of course, once started, it is so difficult to stop. The scripture tells us:. The Greek word for touch is the word that means rubbing two sticks together to start a fire.

For some of us probably for most , that means any touch at all: hand holding, arms around the shoulders, or hugs. The thoughts we need to be honest about are the ones where we lie to ourselves. This leads us to begin to investigate the question of the wisdom of dating at all. We need to look at the wisdom of placing ourselves in a situation that places purity in a very precarious position in our lives, especially if it is not a relationship that we are seriously considering for marriage and if it pulls our hearts away from ministry and our relationship with God.

But that will come up in more detail later. Purity After the Fact. Purity is opposed to being guilty. It stands over against such conduct or attitudes as unfaithfulness to God's covenant Hosea , rebellion against God's law v.

Purity consists of "clean hands" Gen , innocence Psalm ; , and an "empty stomach" Amos Purity is related to guiltless, blameless, or innocent behavior. In Exodus , an innocent person is portrayed as someone who is righteous as measured by the demands of the law. Purity is not a cultic term; in fact, it does not appear in the rules for holiness detailed in Leviticus. Yet the idea of purity does surface in a number of instances.

Before they can engage in any cultic or ceremonial activity, God's people must be consecrated or had to sanctify themselves Exodus Exodus ; Joshua ; 1 Sam ; Job The New Testament. In the New Testament, there is little emphasis on ritual purity. Rather, the focus is on moral purity or purification: chastity 2 Cor ; Titus ; innocence in one's attitude toward members of the church 2 Cor ; and moral purity or uprightness Php ; 1 Tim ; 1 Peter ; 1 John Purity is associated with understanding, patience and kindness 2 Cor ; speech, life, love, and faith 1 Tim ; and reverence 1 Peter