Purification
Purification in Scripture is sanitary and symbolical at once. Yahweh prescribes washings of the body, of garments, of vessels, of houses, and of land; he names water, fire, blood, and hyssop as the agents that move a person or thing from unclean to clean. The same vocabulary is then turned inward by the Psalms and the prophets, where the unclean thing is the heart, and the agent is Yahweh himself. The New Testament inherits both registers — the carnal ordinances of meats, drinks, and diverse washings on the one hand, and the cleansing of conscience by the blood of Christ on the other.
The Removal of Defilement
The fundamental statute is that uncleanness must be removed before approach. "When a soul will touch any unclean thing, the uncleanness of man, or unclean beast, or any unclean reptile, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which pertain to Yahweh, that soul will be cut off from his people" (Le 7:21). The penalty stands behind every rite that follows: "but the soul who eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offerings, that pertain to Yahweh, having his uncleanness on him, that soul will be cut off from his people" (Le 7:20). The land itself takes on the defilement of those who live on it. "Don't defile yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations have been defiled which I am casting out from before you⁺" (Le 18:24); "And you⁺ will not walk in the customs of the nation, which I am casting out before you⁺" (Le 20:23). The body of an executed man "will not remain all night on the tree, but you will surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God; that you do not defile your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance" (De 21:23). Israel's separation from the nations is the same line that separates her from her own creeping things: "You⁺ will not make your souls detestable with any creeping thing that creeps, neither will you⁺ become unclean with them, so that you⁺ should be defiled by them" (Le 11:43).
Where uncleanness has been contracted, the prescribed remedy is washing — of the flesh, of the garments, and of the time. "The soul who touches any such will be unclean until the evening, and will not eat of the holy things, unless he bathe his flesh in water" (Le 22:6). "And every soul who eats that which dies of itself, or that which is torn of beasts, whether he is home-born or a sojourner, he will wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening: then he will be clean" (Le 17:15). The pattern is repetitive across statutes: bathe the flesh, wash the clothes, wait for evening.
At Sinai and the Tent of Meeting
The whole nation purified itself before the giving of the law. "And Yahweh said to Moses, Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments" (Ex 19:10). "And Moses went down from the mount to the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their garments" (Ex 19:14). The third day required sexual abstinence as well: "And he said to the people, Be ready against the third day: don't come near a woman" (Ex 19:15).
Long before Sinai, Jacob had bound the same demand on his household: "Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, Put away the foreign gods that are among you⁺, and purify yourselves, and change your⁺ garments" (Ge 35:2). Putting away the foreign gods, washing, and changing clothes are linked actions, not a sequence of separate ones.
The Priesthood
Aaron and his sons are washed at the door of the tent of meeting at their consecration: "And Aaron and his sons you will bring to the door of the tent of meeting, and will wash them with water" (Ex 29:4); "And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water" (Le 8:6). A bronze basin is then set between the tent and the altar so that they will wash before each entry and each sacrifice: "You will also make a basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, whereat to wash. And you will put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you will put water in it. And Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and their feet from it: when they go into the tent of meeting, they will wash with water, that they will not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to Yahweh. So they will wash their hands and their feet, that they will not die: and it will be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations" (Ex 30:18-21). The temple later expands the apparatus into ten basins and a sea: "He also made ten basins, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them; such things as belonged to the burnt-offering they washed in them; but the sea was for the priests to wash in" (2Ch 4:6). The same statute is repeated in the chapter of the tent's setting up: "And you will bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting, and will wash them with water" (Ex 40:12); "when they go into the tent of meeting, they will wash with water, that they will not die" (Ex 30:20). The penalty for neglect is named explicitly — that they will not die.
The Levites have their own purification. "Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and cleanse them" (Nu 8:6). "And thus you will do to them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of expiation on them, and let them cause a razor to pass over all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves" (Nu 8:7). The performance follows: "And the Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them for a wave-offering before Yahweh; and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them" (Nu 8:21).
The high priest's preparation for the Day of Atonement is the same pattern, intensified. "He will put on the holy linen coat, and he will have the linen breeches on his flesh, and will be girded with the linen belt, and with the linen turban he will be attired: they are the holy garments; and he will bathe his flesh in water, and put them on" (Le 16:4). The man who lets the goat go for Azazel "will wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he will come into the camp" (Le 16:26); the man who burns the carcasses "will wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he will come into the camp" (Le 16:28). Atonement itself is described in terms of uncleanness: "and he will make atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleannesses of the sons of Israel, and because of their transgressions, even all their sins: and so he will do for the tent of meeting, that stays with them in the midst of their uncleannesses" (Le 16:16). The priests are themselves bound by ordinary purity rules in their relations: "And Yahweh said to Moses, Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, None will defile himself for a soul among his relatives" (Le 21:1).
Discharges of the Body
Statute for women, before marriage, is laid out in Esther's account of the Persian harem: "Now when the turn of every maiden came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after that it had been done to her according to the law for the women twelve months (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, [to wit,] six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors and with the things for the purifying of the women)" (Es 2:12).
For the woman after childbirth: "And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she will bring a lamb a year old for a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin-offering, to the door of the tent of meeting, to the priest: and he will offer it before Yahweh, and make atonement for her; and she will be cleansed from the fountain of her blood. This is the law for her who bears, whether a male or a female. And if her means are not sufficient for a lamb, then she will take two turtledoves, or two young pigeons; the one for a burnt-offering, and the other for a sin-offering: and the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean" (Le 12:6-8). The atonement is required for cleansing; the alternative offering of birds preserves access for the poor.
For the woman after menstruation: "And if a woman has a [genital] discharge, [and] her discharge in her flesh is blood, she will be in her impurity seven days: and whoever touches her will be unclean until the evening" (Le 15:19). The narrative account of David and Bathsheba uses the same vocabulary: "And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he plowed her, for she was purified from her uncleanness; and she returned to her house" (2Sa 11:4).
For the man with a discharge, the parallel statute holds: "When any man has discharging out of his flesh a [genital] discharge, he is unclean" (Le 15:2); and the vocabulary repeats — "this will be his uncleanness in his discharge" (Le 15:3). Whomever the man touches must in turn wash: "And whomever he who has the discharge touches, without having rinsed his hands in water, he will wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening" (Le 15:11). The aim of all the discharge laws is named in Leviticus 15:31 — "Thus you⁺ will separate the sons of Israel from their uncleanness, that they will not die in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is in the midst of them."
The Leper
Leprosy is the paradigmatic uncleanness, examined and pronounced by the priest. "And the priest will look at the plague in the skin of the flesh: and if the hair in the plague has turned white, and the appearance of the plague is deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is the plague of leprosy; and the priest will look at him, and pronounce him unclean" (Le 13:3). Variants follow — raw flesh (Le 13:14), the bright spot (Le 13:25), spreading lesion (Le 13:36) — each ending in the same verdict. The leper's social status is then prescribed: "And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes will be rent, and the hair of his head will go loose, and he will cover his upper lip, and will cry, Unclean, unclean" (Le 13:45). He is put outside the camp: "Command the sons of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is unclean for a soul" (Nu 5:2). Even Aaron's line is barred by it: "Any man of the seed of Aaron who is a leper, or has a discharge; he will not eat of the holy things, until he is clean" (Le 22:4).
Where the verdict reverses, the priest washes the cloth or pronounces clean. "Then the priest will command that they wash the thing in which the plague is, and he will shut it up seven days more" (Le 13:54); "and the priest will look at him again the seventh day; and see if the plague is dim, and the plague has not spread in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him clean: it is a scab: and he will wash his clothes, and be clean" (Le 13:6). For a man cleansed of leprosy, the rite uses a living bird, cedar wood, scarlet, hyssop, and the blood of a slain bird: "As for the living bird, he will take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and will dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water" (Le 14:6); "And he will sprinkle on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and will pronounce him clean, and will let the living bird go into the open field" (Le 14:7). The cleansed man then "will wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water; and he will be clean: and after that he will come into the camp, but will dwell outside his tent seven days" (Le 14:8). On the seventh day "he will shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he will shave off: and he will wash his clothes, and he will bathe his flesh in water, and he will be clean" (Le 14:9). A house pronounced leprous is treated similarly; "he who goes into the house all the while that it is shut up will be unclean until the evening" (Le 14:46).
The narrative cases follow the law. Miriam is shut up: "And the cloud removed from over the Tent; and, look, Miriam was leprous, as [white as] snow: and Aaron looked on Miriam, and saw that she was leprous" (Nu 12:10). Naaman, captain of Syria's host, "was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had given victory to Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, [but he was] a leper" (2Ki 5:1-27); his servant Gehazi receives the leprosy in turn — "the leprosy therefore of Naaman will stick to you, and to your seed forever. And he went out from his presence a leper [as white] as snow." Uzziah's pride is requited the same way: "And Uzziah the king was a leper to the day of his death, and dwelt in a separate house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of Yahweh" (2Ch 26:21). And in the Gospels, ten lepers stand at a distance: "And as he entered into a certain village, ten men who were lepers met him, who stood far off" (Lu 17:12).
Contact with the Dead, and the Water of Impurity
Whoever has touched a corpse contracts a defilement that requires sprinkling with the water of impurity, mixed from the ashes of a heifer-offering and living water. "And for the unclean they will take of the ashes of the burning of the sin-offering; and living water will be put thereto in a vessel" (Nu 19:17). The hyssop branch is part of the rite at the heifer's burning: "and the priest will take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer" (Nu 19:6). The penalty for refusing the rite is severe: "Whoever touches a dead [body] of the soul of the man who dies, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of Yahweh; and that soul will be cut off from Israel: because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he will be unclean; his uncleanness is yet on him" (Nu 19:13). The priest who handles the rite is himself unclean for the day: "Then the priest will wash his clothes, and he will bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he will come into the camp, and the priest will be unclean until the evening" (Nu 19:7).
The same water purifies after battle. "And encamp⁺ outside the camp seven days: whoever has killed any soul, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you⁺ and your⁺ captives" (Nu 31:19). The captives' garments and goods are also purified: "And as to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats' [hair], and all things made of wood, you⁺ will purify yourselves" (Nu 31:20). Things that resist fire are passed through fire; the rest, through water: "everything that may go into fire, you⁺ will make to go through the fire, and it will be clean; nevertheless it will be purified with the water for impurity: and all that does not go into fire you⁺ will make to go through the water" (Nu 31:23). And on the seventh day: "And you⁺ will wash your⁺ clothes on the seventh day, and you⁺ will be clean; and afterward you⁺ will come into the camp" (Nu 31:24).
Sirach later reflects ruefully on the limits of the rite when sin is willful: "He who washes after [contact with] a dead body, and touches it again, What profit does he have by his washing?" (Sir 34:30); and asks the broader question, "What can be made clean from an unclean thing? And how can that which is true come from a lie?" (Sir 34:4).
Purification by Blood
"According to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission" (He 9:22). The Sinai covenant is sealed by sprinkled blood: "And he sent young men of the sons of Israel, who offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen to Yahweh. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the Book of the Covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that Yahweh has spoken we will do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Here is the blood of the covenant, which Yahweh has made with you⁺ concerning all these words" (Ex 24:5-8). Hebrews recalls the same scene with the hyssop and water and scarlet wool added in: "For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people" (He 9:19). The leper's rite (above) used sevenfold sprinkling of bird's blood. The garment touched by sin-offering blood is also washed: "Whatever will touch its flesh will be holy; and when there is sprinkled of its blood on any garment, it will be washed that on which it was sprinkled in a holy place" (Le 6:27). And the New Testament reads the whole apparatus as type: Christ "nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption" (He 9:12); "how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (He 9:14).
The Hyssop Branch
Hyssop is the agent of dipping and sprinkling. At the Passover, "you⁺ will take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you⁺ will go out of the door of his house until the morning" (Ex 12:22). It belongs to the leper rite (Le 14:6) and the heifer's burning (Nu 19:6). David's penitential psalm moves the branch into figurative use: "Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean: Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow" (Ps 51:7). And John records hyssop at the cross: "There was set there a vessel full of vinegar: so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop, and brought it to his mouth" (Jn 19:29).
Washing the Sacrifice and the Vessel
The animal is washed before being burned: "but its insides and its legs he will wash with water: and the priest will burn the whole on the altar, for a burnt-offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh" (Le 1:9).
Hands Washed in Innocence
When a slain man is found in the field and the killer is unknown, "all the elders of that city, who are nearest to the slain man, will wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley" (De 21:6). The Psalmist takes this gesture into worship: "I will wash my hands in innocence: So I will go about your altar, O Yahweh" (Ps 26:6). And in another psalm he questions whether the gesture has been worth it — "Surely in vain I have cleansed my heart, And washed my hands in innocence" (Ps 73:13).
Tradition of the Elders
The post-biblical ritual surrounding hand-washing is named and challenged in the Gospels. "And had seen that some of his disciples ate their bread with common hands, that is unwashed" (Mr 7:2); "For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands diligently, don't eat, holding the tradition of the elders" (Mr 7:3); "And he said to them, Full well do you⁺ reject the commandment of God, that you⁺ might keep your⁺ tradition" (Mr 7:9); "All these evil things proceed from inside, and defile the man" (Mr 7:23). At a Pharisee's table, "when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first bathed himself before dinner" (Lu 11:38). Sirach already had the proverbial form of the warning about defiling company: "Do not talk much with a foolish man, And do not go on the road with a pig, Beware of him lest you have trouble, And you become defiled when he shakes himself; Turn from him and you will find rest, And [so] you will not be wearied with his folly" (Sir 22:13).
The Passover crowds nevertheless went up early to purify themselves: "Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand: and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover, to purify themselves" (Jn 11:55). Those who delivered Jesus to Pilate "lead Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium: and it was early; and they themselves didn't enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover" (Jn 18:28). The Lord's foot-washing is a counter-rite to the same hand-washing world: "Simon Peter says to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head" (Jn 13:9); "Already you⁺ are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you⁺" (Jn 15:3). Hospitality at the door — washing the visitor's feet — is the same gesture stripped of debate: "let now a little water be fetched, and wash your⁺ feet, and rest yourselves under the tree" (Ge 18:4); "and the man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet" (Ge 43:24). And the daily wash of the body is itself part of the move from mourning to worship: "Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel; and he came into the house of Yahweh, and worshiped" (2Sa 12:20); "Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself, and put your raiment on you" (Ru 3:3).
The Heart's Defilement and the Heart's Washing
The prophets and psalmists carry the rite inward. "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your⁺ doings from before my [Speech]; cease to do evil" (Is 1:16); "Come now, and let us reason together, says Yahweh: though your⁺ sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they will be as wool" (Is 1:18). The earth itself is polluted under its inhabitants because they have transgressed (Is 24:5); their hands are "defiled with blood" and their fingers "with iniquity" (Is 59:3). "O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved" (Je 4:14). Where the people defile the temple — "the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight, says Yahweh: they have set their detestable things in the house which is called by my name, to defile it" (Je 7:30); "all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the disgusting things of the nations; and they polluted the house of Yahweh which he had hallowed in Jerusalem" (2Ch 36:14); cf. 2Ch 33:7 — Yahweh's response is to promise the cleansing himself: "And I will sprinkle clean water on you⁺, and you⁺ will be clean: from all your⁺ filthiness, and from all your⁺ idols, I will cleanse you⁺" (Eze 36:25). The same promise opens a fountain — "In that day there will be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness" (Zec 13:1). It refines the priesthood — "and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they will offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness" (Mal 3:3). And it strips the filthy garments — "And he answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, Take the filthy garments from off him. And to him he said, Look, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel" (Zec 3:4). Isaiah's lips are touched and burned clean by the seraph's coal: "and he touched my mouth with it, and said, Look, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven" (Is 6:7).
The Psalmist owns the position. "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin" (Ps 51:2). "For I know my transgressions; And my sin is ever before me" (Ps 51:3). "Look, you desire truth in the inward parts; And in the hidden part you will make me to know wisdom" (Ps 51:6). "Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean: Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow" (Ps 51:7). "Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit inside me" (Ps 51:10). "Don't cast me away from your presence; And don't take your Holy Spirit from me" (Ps 51:11). "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Ps 51:17). "Who can discern [his] errors? Acquit me from hidden [faults]" (Ps 19:12). "Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; And deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name's sake" (Ps 79:9). "Iniquities prevail against me: As for our transgressions, you will forgive them" (Ps 65:3). "Every one of them has gone back; they have together become filthy; There is none who does good, no, not one" (Ps 53:3). And against this Sirach echoes: "Turn from iniquity, and purify your hands; And from all transgressions cleanse your heart" (Sir 38:10).
The defilement reaches priest and prophet alike: "Her prophets are reckless and betraying men; her priests have profaned the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law" (Zep 3:4); the priests wear filthy garments (Zec 3:4); they have "profaned my holy name" (Eze 43:8) and admitted foreigners "uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh" into the sanctuary (Eze 44:7). They worship the sun in the inner court (Eze 8:16). The land becomes guilty in its own blood (Eze 22:4); the trafficker has "profaned your sanctuaries" (Eze 28:18). Ezra confesses for the post-exilic community: "the land, to which you⁺ go to possess it, is an unclean land through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their disgusting behaviors, which have filled it from one end to another with their filthiness" (Ezr 9:11). And one ceremonial breach — Hezekiah's Passover — is forgiven directly: "For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than it is written. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, The good Yahweh pardon everyone" (2Ch 30:18).
Cleansing the Sanctuary
When Antiochus's officers profane the temple, the language of defilement returns to its ritual register. "And to defile the sanctuary, and the holy things" (1Ma 1:46); "And to build altars, and temples, and idols, and to sacrifice swine's flesh, and unclean beasts. And that they should leave their sons uncircumcised, and let their souls be defiled with all uncleannesses, and detestable things" (1Ma 1:47-48); "look, our sanctuary, and our beauty, and our glory is laid waste, And the nations have defiled them" (1Ma 2:12); "For your holies are trodden down, and are profaned, And your priests are in mourning, and are brought low" (1Ma 3:51). Judas Maccabeus answers in the same idiom: "let us go up now to cleanse the holy places and to repair them" (1Ma 4:36); "And they cleansed the holy places, and took away the stones that had been defiled into an unclean place" (1Ma 4:43). The cleansing extends to the territory: "he cast them out of the city, and cleansed the houses in which there had been idols" (1Ma 13:47); "And having cast out of it all uncleanness, he placed in it men who should observe the law" (1Ma 13:48); "and cleansed the citadel from its defilements" (1Ma 13:50); "took away all uncleanness out of it, and there was none who resisted him" (1Ma 14:7); "in his days things prospered in his hands, so that the nations were taken away out of their country, and they also who were in the city of David, in Jerusalem, in the citadel, out of which they issued forth, and defiled all places round about the sanctuary, and did much evil to its purity" (1Ma 14:36).
The New Cleansing
Hebrews names the Levitical apparatus for what it was: "[being] only (with meats and drinks and diverse washings) carnal ordinances, imposed until a time of reformation" (He 9:10). What it could not finally do — cleanse the conscience — is now offered through Christ's blood (He 9:14, He 9:12, He 9:22, above). The believer "draws near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed in pure water" (He 10:22). The combination of inward sprinkling and outward washing is deliberate; both registers carry over.
The other apostolic letters press the imperative. "Purge out the old leaven, that you⁺ may be a new lump, even as you⁺ are unleavened. For our Passover also has been sacrificed, [even] Christ" (1Co 5:7). "Such were some of you⁺: but you⁺ were washed, but you⁺ were sanctified, but you⁺ were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God" (1Co 6:11). "Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2Co 7:1). "Husbands, love your⁺ wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and delivered himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word" (Ep 5:25-26). "If a man therefore purges himself from these, he will be a vessel to honor, sanctified, meet for the master's use, prepared to every good work" (2Ti 2:21). "Not by works [done] in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Ti 3:5). "Therefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your⁺ souls" (Jas 1:21). "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you⁺. Cleanse your⁺ hands, you⁺ sinners; and purify your⁺ hearts, you⁺ double-minded" (Jas 4:8). "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin" (1Jn 1:7). "Everyone who has this hope [set] on him purifies himself, even as he is pure" (1Jn 3:3). "From Jesus Christ … to him who loves us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood" (Re 1:5). "These are those who come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Re 7:14).
The same vocabulary of defilement still names the failure mode. "All these evil things proceed from inside, and defile the man" (Mr 7:23). The members once enslaved to impurity are to be re-presented as slaves to righteousness (Ro 6:19). "Looking carefully lest [there be] any man who falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble [you⁺], and by it many be defiled" (He 12:15). "And the tongue is a fire: the world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body" (Jas 3:6). "Filthiness, nor foolish talking, or jesting, which are not befitting" are excluded from the saints' table (Ep 5:4); the "desire of defilement" still walks after the flesh (2Pe 2:10); and Lot in Sodom was "very distressed by the sexual depravity of the wicked" (2Pe 2:7). Yahweh's separating word — "you⁺ will separate the sons of Israel from their uncleanness" (Le 15:31) — has become an apostolic exhortation, with the fountain of Zec 13:1 standing open to it.