Pure in Heart

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:20

This is quite a startling statement from our Lord Jesus Christ that can be discouraging if we don’t understand what He really meant. Some have taught that Christ was talking about the righteousness of God which is imputed to us by faith rather than practical righteous living. Because, as they suppose, the Pharisees and teachers of the law were already living up to such a high standard of righteousness so it is ridiculous to even consider we could do better. Therefore Christ had to have been speaking of imputed righteousness. But I have to respectfully disagree with this simply because Christ’s entire sermon that follows this statement is all about practical righteous living. What would be the point of the whole sermon anyway? Also, the entire 23rd chapter of Matthew records the “Woes” Christ pronounced upon the hypocritical Pharisees and teachers of the law, revealing that their standard of righteousness was actually quite low; only outward and paraded to get the praise of men.


Blessed are the pure in heart

Throughout the fifth chapter of Matthew, Christ began each new topic with, “You have heard that it was said…” or “It has been said…” (vs. 21, 27, 31, 33, 38, 43). He seemed to have been quoting what the Pharisees and teachers of the law had been telling the people. But He always followed it with, “But I tell you…” The one passage from the sermon I want to focus on is this:

You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. Matthew 5:27-30

The Pharisees and teachers of the law had evidently been telling the people that it was only the act of adultery that was sin. But Christ made it clear that lust in the heart is sin even if no action ever follows. A person is just as guilty of adultery when lusting in their heart as if they had committed the very act. This is what Christ apparently meant by demanding that our righteousness exceed theirs. We are not only to refrain from sinful actions but also that our hearts are to be pure and free from lust. Pureness of heart is the standard of righteousness Christ expects from us, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (v. 8).

Now when Christ spoke of gouging out the eye and cutting off the hand, this needs to be understood as an extreme example He used to expose the erroneous doctrine of the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Because, if it is the members of our body that cause us to sin as they taught, then why not solve that problem by cutting those members off and throwing them away? We certainly wouldn’t want any member of our body to be the cause of us being cast into hell. Therefore He was clearly not instructing anyone to actually do this. He was simply using this example to show how ridiculous their reasoning was and to reiterate the truth that the root cause of sin is in the heart.

The tenth commandment had clearly expressed the sinfulness of coveting or lusting in our hearts after anything that is not ours: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Ex. 20:17). And this is the commandment that Paul, the former Pharisee, said caused him to die spiritually:

For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘Do not covet.’ But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. Romans 7:7-9

Jesus also told us, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matt. 15:19). Paul said, “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted” (Titus 1:15).

I’m convinced the reason so many men, even Christian men, are addicted to pornography is because they are continually lusting in their hearts. The fact is, even if enough will power is mustered to stop watching that filth the guilt of sin is still there by continuing to harbor lust inside. It is certainly a positive to stop looking at it yet the real problem has not been solved. Now having an accountability partner for routine check-ups can help overcome the action but what is really needed is pure hearts. A pure heart is free from sin and therefore will not commit the act. If we are conscious of our ultimate accountability to God and that He knows every thought and intent of our hearts then we will purify ourselves in His sight. Plus, if we have understood correctly what Christ meant by the statement: “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” then we know we will not be going to heaven if our hearts have been impure.

Now I already see red flags going up objecting that this sounds like legalism. But, actually, it was the Pharisees who were legalistic with their outward behavior and lack of inward purity. Pureness of heart is not legalism. Outward hypocrisy is.


How do we do it?

So how do we go about purifying our hearts? The first step is repentance. James said, “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom” (Jam. 4:8, 9). Genuine heart-felt sorrow before God in prayer over the sinfulness of our hearts is how the cleansing process begins. After that, we have to keep every thought in check and not even start to dwell in our hearts on anything unholy. And the strength to do this comes from yielding to the Holy Spirit living inside. Paul taught, “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Gal. 5:16). We won’t be gratifying our flesh if we are living by the Spirit.

Christ does not command us to do anything beyond our ability and then hold us responsible for not doing it. We can’t use the excuse that we are just unable to keep our hearts pure. Besides, though there are many who are lusting in their hearts, there are also others who are not. The fact that some really are keeping their hearts pure leaves the rest of us without excuse. We can do it too.