In Matthew 5:8 we read the following beatitude of Jesus: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
From what I recall, in the history of Christian thought, the vision of God — seeing God face to face — has been considered in some sense the ultimate joy that a human being or any created being could or ever will know.
To put it more directly, you will never experience a greater moment of joy in your life than to “see God”. On account of that alone, we have reason to be dead earnest regarding the heart condition Jesus says is essential to that joy: a pure heart.
Here’s some research on the word translated “pure”:
“The Greek word for pure …has a variety of usages, all of which have something to add to the meaning of this beatitude for the Christian life.
(i) Originally it simply meant clean, and could, for instance, be used of soiled clothes which have been washed clean.
(ii) It is regularly used for corn which has been winnowed or sifted and cleansed of all chaff. In the same way it is used of an army which has been purged of all discontented, cowardly, unwilling, and inefficient soldiers, and which is a force composed solely of first-class fighting men.
(iii) It very commonly appears in company with another Greek adjective …used of milk or wine which is unadulterated with water, or of metal which has in it no tinge of alloy.
So, then, the basic meaning of this word is unmixed, unadulterated, unalloyed.” (William Barclay)
This gives rise to the question, just what is it that is supposed to be “unmixed” within our hearts? The answer may very well have to do with our motives. If that is so, then when our words and ways are inlaid by a single, dominant and noble motive it indicates purity of heart. And what is a noble motive? I suggest that it is one that is exclusively devoted to another persons benefit. In other words, a selfless motive. And that is precisely what God is like. He is completely and perfectly selfless in all he does. His whole existence, if you will, is entirely devoted to the wellbeing of all he has created. Consequently, it is no wonder that only the pure in heart — those with unmixed motives in their own actions — will see him, for in the words Psalm 18:26, “to the pure you show yourself pure.”
So this beatitude could be translated like this: Blessed are those whose motives are always entirely unmixed, for they will see God.
