Does Purity of Heart Means You�ll Live a Sinless Life?

This is another of the Beatitudes that has been grossly perverted by the enemies of the Lord, enemies who have, like their predecessors the Pharisees, posed as the champions of the truth and boasted of a sanctity superior to that which the true people of God would dare to claim. All through this Christian era, also, there have been poor, deluded souls who have claimed an entire purification of the old man. Others have insisted that God has so completely renewed them that the carnal nature has been eradicated, so that they not only commit no sins but have no sinful desires or thoughts. But the Spirit-inspired Apostle John declares, �If we say that we have [present tense] no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us� (1 John 1:8).



Of course, such people appeal to the Scriptures in support of their vain delusion, applying to experience verses that describe the legal benefits of the Atonement. The words �and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin� (1 John 1:7) do not mean that our hearts have been washed from every trace of the corrupting defilements of evil, but primarily teach that the sacrifice of Christ has availed for the judicial blotting out of sins. When the Apostle Paul, describing the man who is a new creature in Christ, says that �old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new� (2 Corinthians 5:17), he is speaking of the new disposition of the Christian�s heart, which is wholly unlike his inner disposition prior to the Holy Spirit�s work of regeneration.



That purity of heart does not mean sinlessness of life is clear from the inspired record of the history of God�s saints. Noah got drunk; Abraham equivocated; Moses disobeyed God; Job cursed the day of his birth; Elijah fled in terror from Jezebel; Peter denied Christ. �Yes,� perhaps someone will exclaim, �but all these things transpired before Christianity was established!� True, but it has also been the same since then. Where shall we go to find a Christian of superior attainments to those of the Apostle Paul?



And what was his experience? Read Romans 7 and see. When he would do good, evil was present with him (v. 21). There was a law in his members, warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin that was in his members (v. 23). He did, with the mind, serve the Law of God; nevertheless, with the flesh he served the law of sin (v. 25).



The truth is that one of the most conclusive evidences that we do possess a pure heart is the discovery and consciousness of the remaining impurity that continues to plague our hearts. But let us come closer to our text. �Blessed are the pure in heart.� In seeking an interpretation to any part of this Sermon on the Mount, the first thing to bear in mind is that those whom our Lord was addressing had been reared in Judaism. As one said who was deeply taught of the Spirit, I cannot help thinking that our Lord, in using the terms before us, had a tacit reference to that character of external sanctity or purity which belonged to the Jewish people, and to that privilege of intercourse with God which was connected with that character.



They were a people separated from the nations polluted with idolatry; set apart as holy to Jehovah; and, as a holy people, they were permitted to draw near to their God, the only living and true God, in the ordinances of His worship. On the possession of this character, and on the enjoyment of this privilege, the Jewish people plumed themselves.



A higher character, however, and a higher privilege, belonged to those who should be the subjects of the Messiah�s reign. They should not only be externally holy, but �pure in heart�; and they should not merely be allowed to approach towards the holy place, where God�s honor dwelt, but they should �see God,� be introduced into the most intimate intercourse with Him.