Letters from the Beloved – As He Is Pure

We are exploring the “He is” statements found in the book of 1 John, which was written by John, the self-titled disciple whom Jesus loved. We have already explored 1 John 1:7, where we are told “He is light”, and that we must walk in His light.

Today, let’s examine “He is pure”, found in 1 John 3:3 [NKJV]. “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

Let’s review the previous verses to see just what hope it is that causes us to do the work of purifying ourselves.

James 1:27 [NKJV] Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, [and] to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

1 John 3:1-3 [NKJV] 1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 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.

These verses tell us that it is the hope of knowing that we are now the children of God and that we will become like God in the future. It is hope underpinned by the overwhelming love of the Father, freely given to us. This is what drives us to purify ourselves.

But exactly how do we do that? That’s kind of a trick question. We cannot make ourselves pure from sin. We are initially made pure by being washed by the precious blood of Jesus.

Revelation 1:5 [NKJV] (latter part) …Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,

And we are washed by the water of baptism into the body.

Hebrews 10:22 [KJV] Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

1 Corinthians 6:11 [NKJV] And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Then, being washed by His blood, and by the water of baptism, we must work on staying pure.

It begins with what we think about. Philippians 4:8 [NKJV] tells us that we should purposefully choose to think about pure things, Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things [are] noble, whatever things [are] just, whatever things [are] pure, whatever things [are] lovely, whatever things [are] of good report, if [there is] any virtue and if [there is] anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.

Then we act on it - we practice pure religion as outlined in James 1:27 [NKJV] Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, [and] to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

We obey. 1 Peter 1:22 [NKJV] Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

We love. 1 Timothy 1:5 [NKJV] Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, [from] a good conscience, and [from] sincere faith,

Doing all that, our focus and outlook ultimately changes. 1 Timothy 1:15 [NKJV] To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.

And we are blessed. Matthew 5:8 [NKJV] Blessed [are] the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

I welcome your comments and questions. You can write me in the comments section or at Nancy@DynamicChristianMinistries.org