How & why we purify ourselves - 1 John 3

I was assigned 1 John chapter 3 to teach for a monthly class, and this is a long chapter. Some of the ideas in this chapter are self-explanatory and easy to understand, and some are not. Verses 2-3 was one of those passages that I had a difficult time understanding. The author seems to be linking hope and purity together, but I can't say that I've ever really considered hope and purity as having something to do with each other, so I was confused until I did some investigating. Here is the passage I'm referring to:

1 John chapter 3:2-3 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

John does not spend any more time explaining what he means by this exactly, he goes on to a different topic. So I had 2 questions about this passage:

1. what exactly is this hope he is referring to?

2. and what is this purification that we do to ourselves, and how exactly do we do that?

Let me begin with verse 3 and the Greek word there, HAGNOS.

And everyone who has this hope in Jesus purifies (hagnizō) himself, just as Jesus is pure (hagnos).

“HAGNOS” means “pure”, but also “purified” in a way such that any and all impurities or contaminants have been removed. Like water would be if you put through really good filtration system - just clean and pure water. (I have a new Zerowater filtration pitcher, and a meter that comes with it, and you can test it out on all kinds of water, and it's true, the meter comes out as 000 when I put it in water filtered with my Zerowater pitcher, and somewhere in the 200's with Houston's tap water).

Now, since I was starting in chapter 3, I also had to see if John had mentioned purity in any other previous chapters of this book, and he does mention cleansing in chapter 1 - but it's not the same Greek word there, although some translations do translate the word there as "purify". And when I researched the occurrences of these words in different scriptures, I discovered that the Greek words in chapter 1 and chapter 3 are used together to show us how we can purify ourselves.

Cleansing: 1 John 1

So let's now go to 1 John 1 to understand cleansing:

1 John 1:7  the blood of Jesus cleanses (katharizo) us from all sin If we walk in the light as He is in the light,  1:9 he will cleanse (katharizo)  us from all unrighteousness, If we confess our sins 

The Greek word here is KATHARIZO:

The definition of katharizo is: to cleanse or purge or purify by removing any bits of impurity or contamination or corruption, to completely cleanse something so that it is totally pure.  

We do have a word in English, comes from this word. Cathartic.

Sometimes we just need to have a good cry - whether we have a reason or not. And how do we feel afterwards? I usually feel good and better, like a weight has been lifted.

Cathartic (or Kathartic) Psychological definition: The primary meaning of "cathartic" relates to the release of strong emotions, often leading to a feeling of relief or purification. This can be achieved through various means, such as crying, talking about problems, or physical activity. (boxing, hitting a pillow or breaking dishes)

Sneezing or throwing up would be an example of something that is physically cathartic. I wish there was a limit to how many times we could sneeze or throw up, but our body has to decide when the "bad thing" is finally out!

So, basically, if you have something inside you, that needs to come out or that you want to come out or release, you need to have or take a “cathartic” action to get rid of it or purge it from your body or your soul.  Me: I feel things that are cathartic for me are cleaning out the fridge or sweeping the floor, I get a very nice "ahh" feeling afterwards.

Cathartic can also be applied in a spiritual sense,  so now lets look at how katharizo (cathartic action) makes something pure (hagnos) or holy!

O.T.: How Cleansing Makes Pure/Holy

2 Chronicles 29: the temple had been abandoned, Hezekiah tells the Levites to clean it up. (are abandoned houses clean? Not the ones I've seen on house flipping shows, 95% of the time they are totally trashed!!)

Verse 15-16: they cleansed/purged (katharizo) the house of the LORD to sanctify/ it (make it holy/set apart) and they cast out all the rubbish/uncleanness = stuff that was not purged or thrown out that should have been thrown out) into the valley outside the city walls.

the cleansing of the temple was a carthartic action,  Basically to make the temple holy/clean again, they had to take out the trash!

This wasn’t the only time the temple had to be cleaned out.  (In 2 Kings 23) Hezekiah's son put a lot of idols and altars to other gods in the temple, dedicating the temple to false gods. there were even ‘huts’ for male prostitutes.  And his son, Josiah, when he was made king, cleaned up the temple again and threw all that stuff out, including the male prostitutes. 

BTW, Hebrew word for “prostitute” comes from the Hebrew word for holy. How can you have holy prostitutes? Holy means set apart or dedicated to. They were dedicated and set apart, but they weren't set apart to God, they were set apart and dedicated to sexual immorality, serving idols/false gods by prostitution.  So God’s temple had to be cleaned out and rededicated for service to God.

Cleansing the temple in the N.T.

There’s no more temple in Jerusalem, so where God’s temple is today?  Some people think the church building is God's temple, or that's where God lives. But what does Paul tell the Christians in Corinth?

1 Cor. 3:16-17  Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

Speaking of the Church in Corinth: Paul says they made themselves pure (hagnos) 

2 Cor. 7:11 “you proved yourselves to be pure (hagnos)”.

So how did they do that? Well, I had to go back and read the previous 2 chapters and some of 1 Corinthians to see what he was talking about.

The church in Corinth had a lot of sinful things going on in the church.  He tells/reminds the Christians in Corinth - 3 times, they are temple of God - (1 Cor. 3, 1 Cor. 6 and 2 cor. 6). Then he tells them to clean their temples out:

1 Cor. 5:7 “Purge/clean out [from among yourselves]” (ekkathairó - root word cathartic + in) this old leaven among you (the sinful behavior that they were proud of, not sad about). 

He also uses this word in his 2nd letter to that church.

2 Cor. 7:1 We have these promises (of being God’s children and he being our father- in order for that happen),  beloved, let us cleanse/purge  (katharizo) ourselves from all the filthiness of the flesh and spirit, completing/perfecting holiness  (dedication to God)  in the fear of God. 

The reason I put dedication in parentheses is because it's hard for me to get my head around how we can grow in holiness...I've always pictured "holy" as being either holy or not. But if we understand it as dedication, then yes, we can grow in our dedication to God, getting rid of things that shouldn’t be in our temples.

 And the church listened and obeyed! Paul pointed out the sinful behavior (the trash in their temple(s), and they mourned, they felt Godly sorrow. AND Look what that Godly sorrow did!  you repented and cleansed yourself of that sinful behavior and you became diligent! And zealous! So that's why he says 

2 Cor. 7:11  “you proved yourselves to be pure (hagnos)”

This is an example and instruction for us,  of how we - as God’s temple (s) make ourselves pure (hagnos) like John says, by repenting of our sin, cleanse ourselves (purging/getting rid (carthartic action) of all and any kinds of impurity / sinful desires in our hearts or minds. 

(taking out the trash, just like the took out the trash from the temple in the Old Testament . 

There are no more holy places on the earth, there are now just a holy people!

Swimming Pools & Dead Rodents

Even though the scriptures don't mention swimming pools, it's what I kept thinking about when I was studying this. How does a nice, clean pool go from clean to green? 

One time I went to a friend of a friend's house, and they had an in-ground pool. The bratty kid next door to them threw a dead mouse over the fence, trying to get it into their pool, but it fell on the pool cover. And is that not just like Satan.? Trying to throw things in our clean pool? What kind of things/trash might the devil be trying to throw in our pool? Hate? Jealousy? Greed? Desires for?

And what is Satan hoping for? Either that we wont notice - or if we do notice, we wont think its bad or think its that big of a deal. 

We can’t let our temple become defiled - small thing turn into a big things. But Satan would love nothing more than to come and set up shop in our temple (our bodies) and dedicate it or us to doing all sorts of bad things. If we find anything unclean or any kind of sin or sinful desire, we got to get rid of it, or like fire, or cancer or mold, or yeast it will just keep growing.

The practice of the Jews getting rid of all the yeast in their homes before the Feast of Unleavened Bread is also good to remember. They understood that yeast is not "evil", but it represented sin and corruption and how they had to be diligent to get rid of every speck and repent and turn back to God and rededicate themselves, just as Paul referred to sin as leaven above in 1 Cor. 5, and we must also treat any sinful desires, sin or corruption in us the same way if we are to be dedicated and holy temples of God.

WHY we make ourselves pure

Now that we understand how to make ourselves pure, we need to understand "why" we need to make ourselves pure:

Before I go into this, I just want to bring up 2 things I heard on TV in the last month:

1. A host of very popular religious TV show, said this: and I quote: “just believe in God, and God will take care of the rest”. 

2. A famous and popular TV evangelist said this: and I quote: “Jesus was righteous, so I don’t have to be”.

The religious world around us (friends, neighbors, family members) believe these teachings to be true, but is this what the first century church believed? Keep this in mind as we see what the scriptures say about this.

So John says the reason we purify ourselves is because of hope? What hope is he talking about and what does hope have to do with purity?

1 John 3:2-3: And everyone who has THIS HOPE in Him  (hope of Jesus being revealed again and hope of being like him when that happens) -whoever has this hope, purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Other passages elaborate on this a little, how we will be like him when he’s revealed.

The Hope of being made like Jesus one day:

Paul explains in 1 Cor. 15 that there will be a resurrection of the dead. Our bodies will be raised to have a spiritual body, a trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible and we will all be changed.

He also explains in Phil. 3:20-21 that we eagerly await a Savior from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ,  who will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body - (giving more detail as to how we will be made like Him).

Here is what Paul says on this hope and cleansing: Titus 2:11-14

(Jesus) has appeared, 

teaching us that in this present age, (NOW)

we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, renouncing earthly lusts

looking for the blessed HOPE 

and appearing (again) of our Savior Jesus Christ, ( in the future) 

who gave Himself, to redeem us from every sinful act 

and cleanse (katharizo) 

His own special people, zealous for good works.  (not zealous for bad works)

Paul is instructing us on how to walk in the light (1 John 1) and the cleansing that we get from Jesus when we live like that.

It’s Because of the hope we have of Jesus appearing again in the future and our hope of eternal life with him, that we should NOW - in this present time - live righteously.

If we want to be like Jesus when he comes back in the future, we have to be like him NOW- in the present. 

Peter: living now because of the future hope/promises: 2 Peter 3:10 -17

So what does Peter have to say about the topic: He explains in 2 Peter 3 that in the the day of Lord:  everything will be destroyed by fire

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to conduct yourselves in holiness and godliness (NOW) as you anticipate the coming of the day of God, (FUTURE - hope)14 make every effort to be without spot and blameless in His sight. (NOW)

Without spot and blamess: Peter previously described Jesus as without spot and blameless  (1 Peter 1:19 -Christ, a lamb, blameless and without spot) and he is instructing us to be this way too , just like Jesus was

17 since you know this beforehand, ( that everything will be destroyed by fire) beware: (WARNING) Lest you, being led away with the error of the wicked and fall from your own steadfastness

 fall from your own steadfastness. Our own Steadfastness in what?

Steadfast in reading God's word, and in self- examination, looking for sin and tossing it out. Cleansing ourselves. repenting.. Consistency. If we stop making every effort to conduct ourselves in holiness and godliness, how will things get? It’s not just being steadfast in assembling with the church once a week or  or even 3 times a week (common belief).  We gotta be steadfast in living godly lives, consistent about that. like doing the dishes, if I’m not steadfast about doing the dishes things get bad really fast!

(We also have to be aware that it’s not just non-Christians not concerned about the day of the Lord or with being steadfast and consistent, it‘s also the religious world around us, remember the quotes I heard on TV last month?)  

Just believe in God, and God will take care of the rest”??. Jesus was righteous so I don’t have to be??? That’s not encouraging to me to be consistent and steadfast. Or to be righteous. That sounds like an excuse to be unrighteous. Jesus’ perfection and righteousness is not an excuse for us not to be righteous, he’s our example, our goal.

 The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God,  Paul says don’t be deceived.   1 Cor. 6:9 

Don’t be deceived? - the deception is you can be unrighteous and still inherit eternal life. 

We must be steadfast and continue practicing righteousness, growing in our dedication to God!

Concluding thoughts:

If we have this HOPE of Jesus coming back some day and being revealed/manifested, and the hope of being made/changed to be like him, like his glorious body, when he comes back, and the hope of going back to heaven with him to have eternal life, if this is what we hope for IN THE FUTURE, we have to make every effort to be like him NOW - in the present, living righteously and Godly, being cleansed by the blood of Jesus by walking in the light, but also being cleansed by confessing any sin that we notice (and repenting of it too).

We purify ourselves by taking out the “spiritual” trash from our temples so our bodies and lives can be completely and purely dedicated to serving God - just like Jesus was.  and being on the lookout for the devil, because he’s always trying to throw trash in our pool, right?

(I wish I would have understood this earlier, when my friend asked "what do I do now that I've been baptized? I didn't have a good answer for him then except "I guess you keep going to church." I wish I would have encouraged him to make every effort to be steadfast in purity because of the hope that he now has.)

Jesus is our example of how to be righteous! - his perfect righteousness and purity does not excuse us from living righteously and Godly, it’s our goal!   I hope this lesson has helped us understand how we can cleanse ourselves - cleanse God’s temple - so that we can be pure, just like Jesus was pure.