How the Bible Tells Us to Pursue Purity

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
—Psalm 119:9

What Is Purity?

In recent years, purity has gotten a bad rap. Some of this is a result of the backlash against so-called “purity culture,” which refers to the supposed overemphasis on sexual purity, abstinence, courtship, and the like, that pervaded evangelical churches about two decades ago. The despisers of purity culture claim that these emphases are, at best, only partially biblical and, in most cases, seriously harmful to those who adopt its tenets. One writer, reflecting on her past experience of purity culture, laments, “I felt embarrassed realizing that so much of what I had accepted as true had nothing to do with biblical sexuality or the grace of God.”¹ In light of such experiences, purity culture needs to be jettisoned. Yet, I wonder if, in the aftermath of this onslaught against purity culture, we are in danger (and are sometimes guilty) of discarding the baby (purity) with the bathwater (purity culture). If calling young people to a life of purity produces a cringe, then we’ve likely crossed that line.

Our Longing for Purity

As much as we may question the importance of purity, there is no evading the primal human sense that we require it. Religions as diverse as possible share a common belief that, in some way, we must be cleansed. During the Pitcher Festival (or Kumbh Mela), tens of millions of Hindus bathe in the filthy waters of the Ganges River in the belief that they will be cleansed of sins and even end the cycle of reincarnation. The desperation for purification is so strong that people risk grave sickness by bathing in the bacteria-laden water.

Purity is also woven into the fabric of the Jewish faith. The categories of clean/unclean and pure/defiled fill the pages of the Old Testament. Those who were pure had access to God in the tabernacle. Those who were impure, whether through disobedience or contact with an impure thing, had to be ritually cleansed to gain that access. The laws of ritual purity were daily reminders of what was required to approach their holy God. In Israel, their highest good was bound up with their purity.

The Goodness of God in the Gift of Scripture

Uche Anizor

Twenty warm, engaging readings, based primarily on Psalm 119, encourage regular meditation on God’s gifts in Scripture—including blessedness, hope, and peace—as well as warnings and wisdom that bring repentance.

Lest we think purity is solely an Old Testament thing, this sentiment is repeated in a powerful statement from the author of Hebrews: “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). There are no two ways about it: holiness is, in some sense, essential to salvation. J. C. Ryle, commenting on this passage, affirms: “If unsanctified souls can be saved and go to heaven, the Bible is not true.”² Therefore, strive for holiness, the author of Hebrews implores. The apostle Paul exhorts Timothy to set an example of purity (1 Tim. 4:12) and for the young women “to be self-controlled, pure” (Titus 2:5). Paul’s ministry is centered on presenting the church as a “pure virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2). James is concerned about “pure and undefiled” religion (James 1:27), while Peter calls the church to “respectful and pure conduct” before non-believers (1 Pet. 3:2). John talks about how our ultimate, eschatological purity—reflecting Christ’s own purity—is the motivation for a life of pursuing purity (1 John 3:3). And believers in heavenly glory are regularly portrayed in Revelation as clothed in pure garments (Rev. 15:6; Rev. 19:8, 14). Purity is not an incidental feature of the Christian worldview. In fact, whether Hindu, Israelite, Christian, or otherwise, God’s revelation in our consciences and in Scripture bears witness to the fact that we need to be purified if we want life.

Keeping Our Way Pure

In Psalm 119:9, the psalmist poses one of the most important questions one can ask in light of our need for purification: How can a young man keep his way pure? In other words, he’s asking: How do I live a life that keeps me close to God? How do I live a life reflective of the holiness granted to me through my covenantal bond to the Lord? How do I ongoingly mirror God’s holiness in my day-to-day life? This passage is beautiful for the simplicity of its question and answer. How does a young man—typically viewed as susceptible to youthful lusts and prone to folly—pursue the pure path? The answer: He must “cleanse his way,” as the older translations have it, by “guarding it according to” God’s Word (Ps. 119:9b). Some translations focus on guarding the path according to God’s Word, while others stress holding fast to or heeding the Word itself. Both senses are true and are captured well by Charles Spurgeon in his classic work on the Psalms:

Young man, the Bible must be your chart, and you must exercise great watchfulness that your way may be according to its directions. You must take heed to your daily life as well as study your Bible, and you must study your Bible so that you may take heed to your daily life. With the greatest care, a man will go astray if his map misleads him; but with the most accurate map, he will still lose his road if he does not take heed to it. The narrow way was never hit upon by chance, nor did any heedless man ever lead a holy life.³

The presence of God’s Word, coupled with our vigilance in knowing and heeding it, will keep both young and old pure in our way. Left on our own, we will drift toward sin and folly.

This is why the psalmist will go on to say two verses later, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Ps. 119:11). The Word of God is like a treasure locked up in a safe, like a pearl of great price worthy of selling everything to own. The Word, when treasured, is a defense against sin—especially as it is used by God to shape our affections and actions. In his characteristically punchy way, Spurgeon summarizes the psalmist’s spiritual instruction: “His heart would be kept by the Word because he kept the Word in his heart.”⁴ How? By meditating on, that is, singing it, thinking about it, reciting it, memorizing it, listening to it, reading and re-reading it (see Ps. 1:2). By looking at it from every angle as if it were as precious to us as the Ring was to Gollum in Tolkien’s volumes.

The Word of God, activated by our obedience to it, purifies us.

Agent and Instrument

The psalmist’s theology of Word-centered purification is repeated in the New Testament. The apostle Peter writes in his letter: “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth” (1 Pet. 1:22). The believers have been purified by means of obedience to God’s Word. In fact, Peter will go on to say that they were “born again,” made new, through the Word of God (1 Pet. 1:23). The Word of God, activated by our obedience to it, purifies us.

The Scriptures and our willed obedience to them alone cannot purify us. The apostle Paul writes to the Thessalonian believers, “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23). Like the Old Testament writers, he views our sanctification as primarily God’s work. God alone cleanses us. Placing these two biblical emphases together—our self-cleansing and God’s cleansing of us—it should be clear that we are encountering a familiar biblical pattern: God works through means.

Imagine washing your car. You take out the hose, turn on the water, and start firing away at weeks of caked-on mud. Who is washing the car? You are. What is washing the car? The water. The water does not wash the car without you, nor is the car cleansed without the water. Both are in fact washing the car: one as the agent, the other as the instrument—but they are inseparable. So it is with Scripture. God is the purifier. Yet, God purifies us through our engagement with Scripture. In other words, the gift of purity comes to us through the gift of Scripture.

Notes:

Rachel Joy Welcher, “What Comes After the Purity Culture Reckoning,” Christianity Today, October 14, 2021. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/october-web-only/purity-culture-reckoning-rules-sex-spiritual-formation.html.
J. C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots (Moscow: Charles Nolan, 2001), 38-39, 55.
C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1968), 157.
Spurgeon, Treasury of David, 3:159.

Uche Anizor is the author of The Goodness of God in the Gift of Scripture: 20 Meditations.

Uche Anizor (PhD, Wheaton College) is professor of theology at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. His other books include Overcoming Apathy and How to Read Theology.

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