The Pure In Heart
Matt. 5:8

A. The Greek adjective katharos meant “clean” or “pure.”
1. “catharsis” is a purging or cleansing. Often meant something that had been purged, a soiled garment that had been washed.
a. Corn with the chaff winnowed out. An army purged of unacceptable soldiers.
(A) In Matt. 5:8, it is this word that is translated “pure.”
The need for a pure heart is emphasized often in the New Testament - 1 Tim. 1:5;
Acts. 15:9; 2 Tim. 2:22; 1 Pet. 1:22.
(1) We basically think of purity as cleanness, and so we take Jesus’ meaning to
be that our thinking must be innocent and chaste. It must be clean.
(a) But consider these definitions of “pure” in the English Dictionary.
Having a homogeneous or uniform composition; not mixed.
Free from adulterants or impurities; full?strength.
Free from foreign elements.
(2) Containing nothing inappropriate or extraneous. of unmixed blood or ancestry.
“the pure milk of the word,” 1 Pet. 2:2.
In this passage a different Greek word, adolos, is used — but the point is much the same.
How is this idea involved in being “pure in heart”?
Jesus said it all in Matt. 5:8.
Consider this paraphrases of Matt. 5:8, by William Barclaly, “Blessed is the man whose motives are always entirely unmixed.” Strive to obey God for reasons the right reasons. In Matt 23:5?7, Jesus talks about people who served God “Because of the prestige they gained in the eyes of others.” John in Montana. Enhance his business. Use religion and God for own selfish purpose.
Do good with no taint of impure motive or otherwise it’s useless.
(B) If your heart is not pure, If your motive, not pure, Reasons not pure all you
did was exert a lot of wasted energy, time and effort. Ended up cursed not blessed.
It is the idea of single minded Commitment.
If something is pure it has not been polluted by an additive. Not been diluted by adding something to it.
Pure denotes that which is free from foreign elements.
It is exactly and fully what is was made to be without additions or deletions.
Pure aluminum has no trace of alloy, pure acid is full?strength acid. Not watered down. Not polluted with an additive.
When we talk of purity in this way, we mean that a thing is “exclusive” — it excludes everything else in order to be one thing!
Looking at it in this way, we can say that being “pure in heart” means being single?minded in our devotion to God.
We must be able to “focus” on God with a whole hearted commitment that has no competition. 2 Cor. 10:5, describes it this way, “Bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
Exod. 20:3; Deut. 6:4-5.
And Jesus repeated it in Matt. 22:35?38.
In our relationship to Him, God wants us to have a “one?track mind.” In

Psalm 86:11?12.
b. You cannot love anything more than you love God and be saved.
(1) Matt. 6:24.
(1) James the brother of Jesus speaks to this matter of purity in Jas. 4:8.
(2) Rendered down to the bare bones truth, The fact is this: It is impossible to have an ultimate commitment to two things at once.
(2) There are no free rides. There is no thing as a free lunch. It is just unrealistic to believe that you can have your cake and eat it, too.
(1) It’s time to make up your mind about God. Many members of this congregation have not really made up our minds about God.
(2) We must have an unqualified, unreserved, no?strings?attached commitment.
(1) We must be certain about our faith, and decisive in our dedication to God.
(2) To many are committed, over extended to everything except to God.
(3) Do you know why a lot of people who profess to be Christians will not go to heaven?
(1) Because they have just never fully made up their minds to go there. There are to many other thing that are more important to them.
(2) Who are the only people who will see God? Those who want to see God so much, they will not be denied.
(3) Acts 20:32.

Spur - 6/17 /2001 am