Each woman stopped at the door, adding her shoes to the growing pile. Why? Because the dirt and filth you could find on Hong Kong streets had their place… outside. Like people in the ancient world, we also have purity maps. Pollution and dirt are unclean and belong outside; purity and cleanliness are desirable and should reside inside.

Purity in Biblical Culture

In biblical, honor/shame culture, purity codes delineated how to be acceptable before a holy God. They defined the boundaries between what was holy and common (subdivided into clean and unclean). The regulations categorized every area of life compared to the ultimate standard of God’s holiness. Purity maps existed for:

• People—from the Jewish high priest to non-Jews (Gentiles)
• Space—from the restricted Holy of Holies to the unclean Gentile world
• Time—from the Sabbath to ordinary days of the week
• Diet—from kosher/clean to pork (and those who ate it)

Both the Old and New Testaments reveal the prevalence and influence of purity codes.

Old Testament

Obedience to purity codes protected people from the dangers of sacred power. 

[Uzziah] … entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar… [The priests] confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is for the priests… who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the Lord God.”

Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the Lord’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead.

2 Chronicles 26:16-19

Had the king adhered to the purity laws, he could have avoided the leprosy, which made him unclean. But he confused his power with purity.

New Testament 

Mission ONE’s Interim President Werner Mischke observes, “Jesus transcended Old Testament laws of ritual cleansing—offering his cure for people in shame due to moral failure, disease, disability, disfiguration, or death.” He redefined and rewrote traditional purity maps. He accepted outsiders—the unacceptable and unclean, and by his power made them acceptable and clean. He gave them honor. For example:

While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.

Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

Luke 5:12-14

Mosaic law required lepers to wear torn clothes, let their hair hang loose, and cover their mouths, crying, “Unclean! Unclean!” (Leviticus 13—14) Excluded from fellowship with both God and people, they lived apart. Their uncleanness was contagious. But what happened when Jesus touched the leper? Rather than becoming unclean, Jesus’ holiness overpowered the leper’s uncleanness and made him clean. Jesus’ power to cleanse was greater than the leper’s power to contaminate. Reintegration into the community required a declaration by the priest that the man was clean.

Why Does Purity Matter Today?

What was the purpose of purity codes? To provide physical and spiritual protection, to instruct fallen, sinful humanity how to live in fellowship with a holy God. Our Western disdain for hierarchy causes us to treat God as our buddy instead of as God. In our rush to eliminate anything that might impede our “right” to do whatever we want, we trample God’s guidelines for a holy life. We call them unreasonable, outdated, and old-fashioned. Everything God created is good, but purity demands everything to be in its God-ordered time and place. God calls us to updated purity, to holiness in thought, in speech, in deeds.

God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God…

1 Thessalonians 4:7-8

God still longs to protect his people. When we replace his wisdom with our wishes, we suffer the consequences. Our hearts, minds, and lives become polluted, and we miss the blessings God yearns to give. Are your purity maps aligned with God’s? Or do you call pure what he calls polluted?