Blessed Are the Pure in Heart…

…for they shall see God.

DMLJ: [The heart] 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 the Lord emphasizes.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, by D. Martin Lloyd-Jones

Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching, Vol.2 - The Sermon on the Mount, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev

Lloyd-Jones describes this verse as “one of the greatest utterances to be found” anywhere in Scripture.  He is referring to the “see God” part.  If we can even grasp an inkling of what this means, we would get some understanding of what a great utterance this statement is.

As both authors have done throughout their work, they look at this verse in the context of the other Beatitudes; the order is not random.  Why is this statement put here? 

Lloyd-Jones offers a view.  The first three Beatitudes focus on our need, what we lack: we are poor in spirit, we mourn, and we are meek because of our understanding of this condition.  The fourth Beatitude identifies God’s provision to fill this need: those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.  The result of being filled is that we are merciful, pure in heart, and peacemakers. 

This culminates in being persecuted for righteousness’ sake.  As an aside and with this realization, one might wonder why we should even start down this path.  I think I can grasp it by considering family: many are willing to die, if necessary, for the sake of the family that they value.  I suspect when we get to this last Beatitude, the two authors will examine this question.

Both authors point to the two key terms in the opening of this Beatitude: “heart,” and “pure.” 

MHA: In the language of the Old Testament, the concept of purity is connected primarily with sacred objects, divine service, the offering of sacrifices, the alter, the tabernacle, and the temple; nothing impure is to touch what is sacred.

The pure in heart: this is precisely the Christian teaching.  This term “heart” encompasses the mind, the will, and the heart; the center of the personality.  All pure.  Jesus would charge the Pharisees with appearing pure on the outside but who were darkened on the inside.  Beyond a matter of doctrine, which is not at all unimportant, is the matter of the heart. 

Intellectual assent is one thing, and necessary.  But we see the shortcoming of this even today.  There are many atheists – and who remain as atheists – who are discovering the value of intellectual assent to many Christian propositions – propositions thought discardable with the “reason” of the Enlightenment.  But today they are finding the value, even necessity, of these propositions for a free and prospering society.  

But the question is the heart – the heart, mind, and will; the embrace of the total man, of the center of his personality, the source of his every activity.  Merely developing one’s intellect does not address the heart – man’s total being.

MHA: …the heart is understood to be not merely a physical organ or the center of a person’s emotional activity.  It is also a spiritual center that determines a person’s actions, life choices, and attitude toward God and other people.

It is the heart where thoughts and decisions take shape; it is here where one conducts a dialogue with God; it is here where God examines one’s spiritual depth and condition. 

The heart is also the source of our troubles: out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, as Jesus would say.  This, contrary to the world’s view that it is merely a bad environment which creates bad people.  Nonsense, per Lloyd-Jones: it was in Paradise that man fell!

As to the term “pure”?  The word has a couple of main meanings.  First, it means without hypocrisy – without folds, open, nothing hidden.  It is a heart not divided, but single.  Pure also means cleansed, without defilement.  And it is only in this condition that one will see God. 

DMLJ: …we can perfectly express it by saying that being pure in heart means to be like the Lord Jesus Christ Himself….

It means we have an undivided love, with God as our highest good.  It means keeping the first and greatest commandment in the place of first and greatest.  It means living to the glory of God in every respect, and keeping God as the supreme desire of our life.  And only these will see God. 

Metropolitan Alfeyev considers, from Psalms: Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord?  Or who shall stand in His holy place?  He that is innocent in hands and pure in heart….

Considering what this term signifies, can anyone suggest that achieving a pure heart is possible without God?  Metropolitan Alfeyev answers this question: The source of purity and cleansing is God.

MHA: Purity of heart is impossible to attain through a person’s own efforts alone; God’s help is necessary.

Of course, there is a bit of a dilemma in this idea of seeing God.  There are statements in Scripture that indicate this is possible and others which indicate the opposite.  Per Lloyd-Jones, this dilemma poses a question that cannot really be answered. 

MHA: …in both the Old and the New Testaments we find emphatic assertions that it is impossible for a human being to see God. … On the other hand, some passages speak of the possibility of seeing God.

God’s very Being is beyond our understanding, and Scripture does not attempt to offer an adequate conception.  In my view, how could it?  How could God explain or reveal Himself fully in terms humans can understand?  This isn’t the shortcoming of God, but our inability to grasp the fully transcendent and eternal, the One Who created all from nothing.

Trying to resolve this dilemma, to the extent humanly possible, Metropolitan Alfeyev offers some possibilities: God, by His nature cannot be seen, but His energies (actions) can be seen; God is invisible in His essence, but is visible in Christ; eschatologically, we cannot see Him here and now, but will see Him after death, in the age to come; finally, we cannot see Him in our fallen state, but He is visible to those who have achieved, through God’s grace, a pure heart.

He does not come out strongly in favor or opposed to any of these possibilities, but offers these primarily for contemplation.  In any case, the promise is there, given by Jesus in this Beatitude: the pure in heart will see God.  We need not fully comprehend it to accept it as promised.

A statement at the same time awesome and overwhelming, yet also incomprehensible to our human understanding.  We are meant for the audience chamber of God!

Conclusion

MHA: Purity of heart is a precondition for communion with God. … Without purity of heart it is impossible to touch the sacred, to meet God, to see the face of God.

Only the pure in heart will see God; it cannot be any other way.

This pure heart, while being God’s work, does not mean we remain in a passive state.  The apostle James writes, draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you.  The apostle Paul offers that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

And for me, among other things, examining myself through this examination of the Sermon on the Mount.