Mat. 5:8 Quotations
Pure in Heart, shall see God
Those who are qualified to “ascend the hill of the Lord” and “stand in his holy place” are characterized by “clean hands and a pure heart,” which is then defined in terms of truthfulness and of an active “seeking” for God (Ps 24:3–6). The meaning is thus not far from that of v. 6, with its emphasis on a longing to live the life God requires
the phrase “pure in heart” might also be understood to imply a contrast with the meticulous preservation of outward purity which will be condemned in 23:25–28 as having missed the point of godliness
A specific tie with Ps. 24 is likely, where in vv. 3–4 a pure heart is one of the conditions for ascending the hill of the Lord (to go into the temple), and part of what is involved in ‘seek[ing] the face of the God of Jacob’ (v. 6). The material in vv. 7–10 on the king of glory coming in should probably be understood as referring to God’s arrival in the temple and thus by implication as pointing to the fruition of seeking God’s face.
This psalm attests all the ideas needed for the beatitude in SM/Matt 5:8*. This does not mean, however, that the beatitude merely “quotes” Psalm 24. Rather, the beatitude confirms ideas that were commonly accepted in Judaism at the time. Beginning in the Old Testament, but even more so at the time of early Christianity, purity of heart was the great virtue sought by the truly religious. One can assume that everyone knew passages such as Ps 51:10*:
This beatitude calls us to the most exacting self-examination. Perhaps we need to examine our motives in religious exercises more than in any other area. How easy it is to cover selfish ambition with the cloak of religious service.
One is reminded of Kierkegaard’s conviction, Purity of Heart is to will one thing: a call for unmixed motives that seek only the will of God. This is the way of the disciple and the reward is that such “shall see God.”
Who are the pure in heart? Essentially, as I am going to show you, they are those who are mourning about the impurity of their hearts. Because the only way to have a pure heart is to realize you have an impure heart, and to mourn about it to such an extent that you do that which alone can lead to cleansing and purity.
Let us for a moment consider this emphasis in terms of a few negatives. He puts His emphasis upon the heart and not upon the head. ‘Blessed are the pure in heart.’ He does not commend those who are intellectual; His interest is in the heart. In other words we have to remind ourselves again that the Christian faith is ultimately not only a matter of doctrine or understanding or of intellect, it is a condition of the heart. Let me hasten to add that the doctrine is absolutely essential; the intellectual apprehension is absolutely essential; understanding is vital. But it is not only that.
But again, why is it that He puts His emphasis upon the heart rather than upon externalities and conduct? The Pharisees, you will remember, were always ready to reduce the way of life and righteousness to a mere matter of conduct, ethics and behaviour. How this gospel finds us all out!
The heart in Scripture includes the three. It is the centre of man’s being and personality; it is the fount out of which everything else comes. It includes the mind; it includes the will; it includes the heart. It is the total man; and that is the thing which our Lord emphasizes. ‘Blessed are the pure in heart’; blessed are those who are pure, not merely on the surface but in the centre of their being and at the source of their every activity. It is as deep as that. Now that is the first thing; the gospel always emphasizes that. It starts with the heart.
it emphasizes that the heart is always the seat of all our troubles. You remember how our Lord put it, ‘Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies’.
This pureness of heart, therefore, corresponds to ‘singleness’. It means, if you like, ‘without folds’; it is open, nothing hidden. You can describe it as sincerity; it means single-minded, or single-eyed devotion. One of the best definitions of purity is given in Psalm 86:11, ‘Unite my heart to fear thy name’. The trouble with us is our divided heart.
To be pure in heart, in other words, means to keep ‘the first and great commandment’, which is that ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.’
I suggest, therefore, that it means something like this. As with all the other Beatitudes, the promise is partly fulfilled here and now. In a sense there is a vision of God even while we are in this world. Christian people can see God in a sense that nobody else can. The Christian can see God in nature, whereas the non-Christian cannot. The Christian sees God in the events of history. There is a vision possible to the eye of faith that no-one else has. But there is a seeing also in the sense of knowing Him, a sense of feeling He is near, and enjoying His presence.
All such efforts at self-cleansing are doomed to failure. The way of the Scriptures is rather this. All you and I can do is to realize the blackness of our hearts as they are by nature, and as we do so we shall join David in the prayer, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me’.
The only way in which we can have a clean heart is for the Holy Spirit to enter into us and to cleanse it for us. Only His indwelling and working within can purify the heart, and He does it by working in us ‘both to will and to do of his good pleasure’.
The fact that I know that I cannot ultimately purify and cleanse my heart in an absolute sense does not mean that I should walk in the gutters of life waiting for God to cleanse me. I must do everything I can and still know it is not enough, and that He must do it finally.