"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" -Matthew 5:8
Christ Himself said that it would be those with pure hearts that will see God. Now, concerning this, the questions are; what is it to be pure in heart and how does one attain this? Much confusion swarms around this subject in modern "Christianity", and my goal here in writing this article is to help remove this confusion, strip away the false teachings so prevalent in the churches and clearly allow the Truth of God's Word to shine His Light into our hearts and minds. Get your Bible out, because this is going to be full of Scripture references in the effort to show you not what I think, but what the Bible proclaims in plain language, although this seems a mystery to many (Luke 8:10), and it will remain as such unless one is hungering and thirsting for righteousness (Matthew 5:6) and have renounced the hidden things of shame (2 Corinthians 4:2-4).
In Acts 15:6-9 we find that God was doing to the gentiles just as He was the Jews, "purifying their hearts by faith". Many teach that it is God alone who is responsible for the purification of our hearts and that we play no role beyond simply accepting it as fact that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died on the Cross for our sins. Some also add things to the "plan of salvation" like Church attendance, baptisms, confession of repeated sins, a willingness to change, charitable deeds, witnessing, etc. But the big question here is, how does a person truly become "pure in heart" by the Christ's standards and thus become someone that "shall see God"? Let's consider the following Passage: "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren..." (1 Peter 1:22). Here Peter is telling us that we purify our own souls by obeying the truth in sincere love. So, if in fact it is God that purifies our hearts by faith, and also us who purify our souls by obeying the truth, then it has to be that the faith God purifies our hearts with is our obedience to the truth; thus, Faith = Obedience to the Truth. This brings up a couple more observations...
In John 14:6 we find that Jesus is the Truth: Jesus said to him, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." And in John 17:17 it says: "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth." Then in John 1:14 it proclaims that Christ is the Word: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory..." And then in John 14:23-24 we find that to love God is the same as keeping (obeying) His Word: Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word". This fact is also affirmed in 1 John 5:3: "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome." Also we have 1 John 2:4-6, which states: "He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked" (full of Grace and Truth -- John 1:14).
So, what are these Commandments and Truth that Christ and His Apostles are speaking of here, what we must keep and obey in order to love God and be pure in heart? Let's observe the following passages: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40), and "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another" (John 13:34). And we have John driving this all home in 2 John 1:4-6: "I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father. And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. And Paul sums this up nicely in Romans 13:10: "Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."
What is love? "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails..." (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a). Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection (see Matthew 5:48)” (Colossians 3:12-14).
So, if the only people who will see God are the pure in heart, and God purifies our heart by faith and faith is us obeying the truth, and Christ is the Truth and His commandment is for us to Love God first and our neighbor as our self, then our hearts are made pure by a faith that works by love! "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6). And to drive this point further, Paul writes to young Timothy the following: "Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith" (1 Timothy 1:5). So, the purpose of the Law of Christ (Galatians 6:2), is a sincere, loving faith that operates through a good conscience from a pure heart, and this is done by us obeying the Truth, the words of Christ, God's Law on our hearts and minds (Heb. 8:10), which show us to love others as we would have them love us. This is the Royal Law (James 2:8). So, clearly it is our responsibility to keep ourselves pure, which is done through our faith (obedience to the truth). "Do not... share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure" (1 Timothy 5:22).
Many today deny these truths, saying that we have no role in our salvation, calling those of us that have our hearts set on obeying God such things as "legalistic", saying that we deny the grace of God or are trying to save ourselves. Well, to that I would have to say that it is true that we cannot save ourselves, but God will not save us if we are disobedient and unrepentant in heart. The Bible clearly states that we are workers together with God, and our part is to repent -- stop the willful sins against God's Law which is written on our hearts -- and to have Faith in Christ, which is to obey Him. This makes us save-able, allowing the Holy Spirit to come into our hearts and regenerating us into newness of life. The Holy Spirit will not come into a disobedient, impenitent heart; He only comes to those who obey Jesus. Christ said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever" (John 14:15-16). We find the same claim made in Acts 5:32: "And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
