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Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God
(Matthew 5:8)
The Greek word for pure is katharos which has a very great width of
meaning. It is used of clean clothes in contrast with soiled ones, pure water
in contrast with adulterated water, of silver and gold which have no alloy in
them, of an army which as been cleansed of all inefficient and disloyal
soldiers. It is used of blood which is absolutely pure.
The psychological term katharsis is derived from this word and in a sense,
katharsis is the cleansing of the body and mind of all those pent-up
frustrations and anger.
The Jews especially understood purity for they were meticulous about
external purity. On the day of Atonement for example, the High Priest
would have washed his whole body in clean water 5 times and his hands and
fee 10 times. They were obsessed with external purity that they failed to
realize the need of internal purity. A man might be an arrogant sinner, an
adulterer but if he was a descendant of Aaron, he was a priest. The only
thing that would disqualify him would be a physical blemish which he might
have.
From this point of view, it is clear that purity has been externalized. Yet
Jesus taught purity as an inward thing, a thing of the heart, of the mind and
of the attitude of the soul.
The Jews taught that so long as a man observed the outward rituals correctly,
he was pure in spite of his thoughts of arrogance, hate and other unclean
thoughts. But Jesus stressed purity of heart and his assessment of the natural
heart, was not very encouraging. He says, for out of the heart, come evil
thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony,
slander (Matthew 15:19).
Unmixed milk or wine, unalloyed silver are all Katharos. They have no
element in them to affect their purity. We can therefore understand this
Beatitude to read, Blessed are those whose thoughts and motives are
absolutely unmixed and pure.

Simon Siew
Southeast Asia Union Mission

When we realize what this Beatitude is saying to us, we realize that it is the
most demanding of all the Beatitudes. It necessitates the strictest and the
most honest self-examination.
Even an action which looks generous and sacrificial may have in it some
ulterior motive, some residue of self-display and pride which we are scarcely
conscious of. There is no way to the purity that is demanded here than the
death of self and the springing of life of Christ within the heart.
The promise of the Beatitude is that the man who is pure in heart will see
God. Even within the promise is a warning. It is a fact of life that what we
see depends not only on what is present before our eyes but on our
knowledge, what is in our minds and hearts. Moral character, the state of
mans mind and his knowledge makes a difference in what he sees.
Illustration: The man who knows nothing of botany will see by the wayside
a tangle of weeds which are insignificant to him but he botanist delights at
seeing from its tangle a rare weed.
The idea of seeing God is something which the hearers could identify with
in the day of Jesus. The greatest privilege that a servant could have was to
have the right constantly to stand in the presence of the king, constantly to
see his face and to hear his wisdom. Thus Queen Sheba made this remark
about Solomons servants, Happy are your men, those servants, who stand
continually before you and hear your wisdom (1 Kings 10:8).
The Bible says that everyone who has hope in him (Jesus), purifies himself,
just as He is pure (1 John 3:3). In other words, according to John, the
Christian purifies himself now because pure is what he will ultimately be.
His present efforts are consistent with his future hope.
The man whose heart has been cleansed in Jesus, whose motives, thoughts,
emotions and desires are absolutely unmixed will be given nothing less than
the vision of God. But to see God is not literally to see God with the
physical eyes, that is not possible. No man had seen God at any time (John
1:18). To see God means 2 things:
a.
It means to enter into fullness of knowledge of God, without having to
guess and grope and to see and to know the truth as it is.

Simon Siew
Southeast Asia Union Mission

b.

It means to enter into the intimate fellowship of His love. Loves

highest joy is to be in the presence of the loved one.

Simon Siew
Southeast Asia Union Mission