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What the Bible says about Cleanliness
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Leviticus 22:4-9

The priesthood received a portion of some of the offerings, the devoted things that Israel brought to be offered to God. However, they could only eat it if they themselves were clean.

It is important for us to understand that the defiling thing (what makes a person unclean) may not, of itself, be sin—or that the person has necessarily sinned by coming in contact with it. What it represents or symbolizes is important to us here. We are dealing with a ritual, so the defiling thing represents, symbolizes, typifies, sin and its effects. This is not to say that coming into contact with some of these things might not be potentially physically harmful—because disease may very well be communicated by coming into contact with a corpse, for example. Nonetheless, the possibility of defilement by sin is taught in every case in which God declares a person unclean. That person is thus unsuited to serve Him until the defilement is removed through the washing ceremonies He prescribes.

Why is God so insistent about avoiding contamination? The answer appears in Haggai's question to the priests:

On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Now, ask the priests concerning the law, saying, "If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?"'" Then the priests answered and said, "No." And Haggai said, "If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?" So the priests answered and said, "It shall be unclean." Then Haggai answered and said, "'So is this people, and so is this nation before Me,' says the LORD, 'and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.'" (Haggai 2:10-14)

God is consistent about avoiding contamination because it is so easy for what is contaminating and defiling to our character to transfer to us. Human nature is like a magnet that attracts defilement. Above all people in Israel, the priests had to be clean, and the principle applies to us. Theirs was mostly a physical cleanliness, but moral, spiritual, and ethical cleanliness is certainly implied. By contrast, ours is primarily a spiritual, moral, and ethical cleanliness with the physical implied.

These Old Covenant laws serve as reminders and guides about how serious God is—and therefore, we should be—about not becoming contaminated by the world.

John W. Ritenbaugh
New Covenant Priesthood (Part Two)

Deuteronomy 23:9

Do we have any idea how dirty warfare is? Yet, even then, God required cleanliness among His people. Though we do not know the reason why God gave every regulation, we do understand the overall principle involved here. There is no doubt that religion draws those devoted to it together, but inevitably, a line of separation will be drawn between the faithful and the unfaithful. Under the Old Covenant, these lines were shown in physical terms.

To many, this might smack of a narrow exclusiveness, but there is a fundamental truth contained within these regulations. Religion does make a difference! God demands—for our good and for the outworking of His purpose—that there be absolute loyalty in the people whom He has cleansed through the blood of Jesus Christ. The loyalty is not merely seen in how one feels inwardly about certain things, but also is manifested outwardly in one's behavior—in how we relate to one another. A Christian must never step out of character, and he must not step aside from what he agreed to in making the covenant with God.

Every time we baptize a person, we make sure that we go through Luke 14 (beginning in verse 25)—where Christ essentially says, "Do I have your loyalty? Am I going to come before your father, mother, sister, brother, wife or husband? Are you willing to forsake all that you have for Me?" And we could add, "Are you willing to keep yourself uncontaminated and undefiled from contact with this world?"

This book of Deuteronomy shows that God's purpose can be worked out only if we are separated from the world around us to a fair degree. It is this separation that greatly aids in keeping us clean and unspotted. Know this, there are not "many ways to God." The people of the earth are not worshipping the same God in different guises and different names. The universalism of Catholicism has no part in God's plan. There is only one way. If there were many ways, each way would produce something different. God's way—His one way—reproduces Himself. Anybody who worshipsa false god will not reproduce in himself the image of the God of Creation.

John W. Ritenbaugh
New Covenant Priesthood (Part Two)

Haggai 2:11-14

Haggai 2:11-14 illustrates the impossibility of holiness being transferred from one to another, and by contrast, how easily defilement is transmitted. The sanctity of something or someone dedicated to God cannot be transferred merely by contact with another. However, the defilement of an unclean thing transfers easily to the clean, defiling it!

Washing is the primary means of ceremonial purity. From these biblical examples, John Wesley's well-known comment, "Cleanliness is next to godliness," arose. He realized that cleanliness is somehow related to what God is like and that personal hygiene has a spiritual dimension. Indeed, the very first mention of washing in Scripture is when Abraham's hospitality to his three visitors includes providing water to wash their feet (Genesis 18:4). This symbol of hospitality and servanthood reaches its zenith when Jesus includes it as part of the New Covenant Passover ritual.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beatitudes, Part 6: The Pure in Heart


Find more Bible verses about Cleanliness:
Cleanliness {Nave's}
 




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