|
"Blessed are the pure in heart."
(Matthew 5:8)
Happy and blessed New Year to you! As we begin 2026, I invite you to join us this week as we explore what it means to be pure in heart.
Before we jump back into this study which we began earlier this week, I just want to thank everyone who donated to our Calendar Year End giving campaign. We are deeply grateful for you and could not continue to do all we do without your generous support.
I agree with those interpreters of Scripture who see how some of the beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12 correlate with others. For example, the poor in spirit correspond most closely with the merciful, the mourners with those who are pure in heart, and the meek with those who are the peacemakers. It makes good sense that those who have mourned their sin and received God's forgiveness and extended that forgiveness to others are those whose hearts are clean, pure, and whole. (Sources: Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, p. 91, and MacArthur, The Beatitudes, p. 154.)
The Greek words in this passage are very revealing. The word that is translated "pure" is the Greek word katharos. It is where we get words in English like chaste, cathartic, and catharsis. The basic meaning is to be cleansed from filth, free from sin. In medicine, it means to clean a wound or an infected area. Years ago, at our church, we had a clean-up workday, and I helped for a couple of hours. But toward the end of the morning, I felt my ankle go out, and I thought I must have done something but nothing too bad. Then it went out again, and with a sharp pain in the side of my ankle. I then thought I may have torn something. I went home, took off my tennis shoe, and pulled out this long thorn that had been embedded in my ankle right above the bone. As soon as I removed it, the pain was gone. A medical doctor told me that thorns can be infected, so I needed to clean that wound. So, I went home, and I cleaned it with alcohol and rubbed in some Neosporin. The lesson I learned from this incident was that I need to be as aggressive and proactive removing any thorn of pride, bitterness, envy, anger, etc. that would contaminate my heart and cause a stumbling or tripping up of my spiritual walk with God.
The katharos or pure in heart have a single-mindedness about them, a sincerity, a transparency with no mixture of duplicity or hypocrisy. The pure in heart have undivided loyalty to Christ with no competing allegiances (Lloyd-Jones, p. 94-95). A great verse in Scripture that speaks of this purity in heart in terms of holiness is Hebrews 12:14: "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord."
The Greek word translated "heart" is kardia, from which we get words like cardiac and cardiology. The Bible speaks of the heart as encompassing the total being of man: personality, intellect, and will. Jesus is not speaking of the 9-12 ounces of muscle about the size of your fist that pumps blood to the extremities of your physical body. Rather, He is addressing who you really are on the inside: your very soul. Jesus said in Mark 7:21-23:
"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man."
Who are the pure in heart? They are not necessarily the most outwardly religious people. Jesus is not as interested in your outward or your externals as He is in your heart, your inner man or woman. For if you can keep God boxed in the world of externals and never give Him the reins of your heart, then Satan has you living the mediocre life, not the blessed life that Jesus offers.
|
Apple
Spotify
Deezer
YouTube
