Topical Bible: Impurity

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Topical Encyclopedia

Impurity, in a biblical context, refers to a state of moral or ceremonial uncleanness that separates individuals from God and His holiness. The concept of impurity is prevalent throughout the Scriptures, encompassing both physical and spiritual dimensions. It is often associated with sin, defilement, and actions or conditions that are contrary to God's commands and character.

Old Testament Context

In the Old Testament, impurity is frequently addressed in the context of the Mosaic Law, which outlines various laws and regulations concerning cleanliness and holiness. Leviticus, in particular, provides detailed instructions on what constitutes impurity and how it can be remedied. Impurity could result from a variety of sources, including certain foods, bodily discharges, skin diseases, and contact with dead bodies (Leviticus 11-15).

Leviticus 11:44-45 states, "For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming creature that moves along the ground. For I am the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy."

The Israelites were called to be a holy nation, set apart for God, and thus were required to adhere to these laws to maintain ceremonial purity. Impurity was not only a physical state but also a spiritual condition that required atonement and purification rituals, such as offerings and washings, to restore one's relationship with God.

New Testament Context

In the New Testament, the focus shifts from ceremonial laws to the moral and spiritual aspects of impurity. Jesus Christ emphasized the importance of inner purity over external rituals. In Mark 7:20-23 , Jesus teaches, "What comes out of a man, that is what defiles him. For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. All these evils come from within, and these are what defile a man."

The Apostle Paul also addresses impurity in his epistles, often linking it with sexual immorality and other sinful behaviors that are incompatible with the life of a believer. In Galatians 5:19-21 , Paul lists "sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery" as works of the flesh that prevent individuals from inheriting the kingdom of God.

Spiritual Implications

Impurity, in its spiritual sense, represents a heart and life that are not aligned with God's will. It is a barrier to fellowship with God and can lead to spiritual death if not addressed. The call to purity is a call to holiness, reflecting God's own nature. Believers are urged to pursue purity through the transformative power of the Holy Spirit, who enables them to live lives that are pleasing to God.

1 Thessalonians 4:7 reminds believers, "For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness." This call to holiness is a recurring theme throughout the New Testament, emphasizing the need for believers to live in a manner worthy of their calling.

Practical Application

For Christians, the pursuit of purity involves both avoiding actions that lead to impurity and actively cultivating a heart that seeks after God's righteousness. This includes guarding one's thoughts, words, and deeds, and seeking forgiveness and cleansing through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

James 4:8 encourages believers, "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." This verse underscores the importance of both external actions and internal attitudes in the pursuit of purity.

In summary, impurity is a significant biblical concept that encompasses both ceremonial and moral dimensions. It highlights the need for holiness and the transformative work of God in the lives of His people.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (n.) The condition or quality of being impure in any sense; defilement; foulness; adulteration.

2. (n.) That which is, or which renders anything, impure; foul matter, action, language, etc.; a foreign ingredient.

3. (n.) Want of ceremonial purity; defilement.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

IMPURITY

im-pu'-ri-ti.

See UNCLEANNESS.

Greek

167. akatharsia -- uncleanness
... of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: akatharsia Phonetic Spelling:
(ak-ath-ar-see'-ah) Short Definition: uncleanness, impurity Definition: uncleanness ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/167.htm - 7k

168. akathartes -- filthiness.
... Word Origin variant reading for akathartos, qv. filthiness. From akathartos; impurity
(the state), morally -- filthiness. see GREEK akathartos. 167, 168. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/168.htm - 6k

1311. diaphtheiro -- to destroy utterly, to spoil, corrupt
... defile, corrupt") -- properly, corrupt, degenerate (disintegrate); waste away by
the decaying influence of moral (spiritual) impurity; " corrupt"; becoming ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1311.htm - 8k

Strong's Hebrew

5079. niddah -- impurity
... 5078, 5079. niddah. 5080 . impurity. Transliteration: niddah Phonetic
Spelling: (nid-daw') Short Definition: impurity. Word Origin ...
/hebrew/5079.htm - 6k

5206. nidah -- impurity
... 5205, 5206. nidah. 5207 . impurity. Transliteration: nidah Phonetic Spelling:
(nee-daw') Short Definition: thing. Word Origin from ...
/hebrew/5206.htm - 6k

5144. nazar -- to dedicate, consecrate
... A primitive root; to hold aloof, ie (intransitivey) abstain (from food and drink,
from impurity, and even from divine worship (ie Apostatize)); specifically ...
/hebrew/5144.htm - 5k

2932a. tumah -- uncleanness
... Word Origin from tame Definition uncleanness NASB Word Usage filthiness (4), impure
(2), impurities (3), impurity (3), unclean (1), unclean thing (3 ...
/hebrew/2932a.htm - 5k

2932. tum'ah -- uncleanness
... filthiness, uncleanness From tame'; religious impurity -- filthiness, unclean(-ness).
see HEBREW tame'. 2931, 2932. tum'ah. 2932a . Strong's Numbers.
/hebrew/2932.htm - 5k

Library

"The Grossness, Impurity, Sickness, Pain, and Corruption of Our ...
... [Way-1-66] "The grossness, impurity, sickness, pain, and corruption of
our bodies? "The grossness, impurity, sickness, pain, and ...
/.../law/the way to divine knowledge/way-1-66 the grossness impurity sickness.htm

After the Preceding Ways, There Remains an after Way, Preparatory ...
... Secondly, in order to unite two things so opposed as the purity of God and the impurity
of the creature, the simplicity of God and the multiplicity of the ...
/.../chapter xix after the preceding.htm

Whether Purification of the Heart is an Effect of Faith
... Hence faith does not cause purification of the heart. 2. Again, that which causes
purification of the heart cannot exist together with impurity. ...
/.../aquinas/nature and grace/article two whether purification of.htm

Whether Faith Has the Effect of Purifying the Heart?
... Therefore faith has not the effect of purifying the heart. Objection 2: Further,
that which purifies the heart is incompatible with impurity. ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether faith has the effect.htm

Consistency of the Apostle in his Other Epistles.
... What, in short, does he write to the Thessalonians withal? "For our consolation
[887] (originated) not of seduction, nor of impurity:" and, "This is the will ...
/.../tertullian/on modesty/chapter xvii consistency of the apostle.htm

Of the Way to Attain Divine Union
... Secondly, To unite two things so opposite, as the impurity of the creature and the
purity of God, the simplicity of God and the multiplicity of man, much more ...
/.../guyon/a short and easy method of prayer/chapter xxiv of the way.htm

The Glory of the Goal, --Face to Face
... see Him there comes such a sense of His purity that, instantly, you are down on
your face in utter despair, because of your own self"your impurity; your lack ...
/.../gordon/quiet talks on following the christ/the glory of the goalface.htm

Sanctification and Justification.
... evil," impresses us with the deep sense of God's unspeakable sensitiveness, which
is so keen that even the faintest suggestion of sin or impurity arouses in ...
/.../kuyper/the work of the holy spirit/iii sanctification and justification.htm

Whether the Cleansing of the World Will be Effected by Fire?
... I answer that, As stated above [5050](A[1]) this cleansing of the world will remove
from it the stain contracted from sin, and the impurity resulting from ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether the cleansing of the.htm

Of the Feast of the Holy virgin St Agnes
... he may be, can ever be sure, while he is still here in the body, that his frail
nature has been completely killed, so that he can never be tempted to impurity. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/tauler/the inner way/sermon vi of the feast.htm

Thesaurus

Impurity (42 Occurrences)
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. IMPURITY. im-pu'-ri-ti. See UNCLEANNESS.
Multi-Version Concordance Impurity (42 Occurrences). ...
/i/impurity.htm - 21k

Filthiness (16 Occurrences)
... 1. (n.) The state of being filthy. 2. (n.) That which is filthy, or makes filthy;
foulness; nastiness; corruption; pollution; impurity. Int. ...
/f/filthiness.htm - 16k

Menstrual (9 Occurrences)
... Leviticus 15:19 "'If a woman has a discharge, and her discharge in her flesh is
blood, she shall be in her impurity seven days: and whoever touches her shall ...
/m/menstrual.htm - 9k

Red (124 Occurrences)
... is described in which the ashes of a "red heifer" and of certain objects are mixed
with running water to obtain the so-called "water for impurity." (Such is ...
/r/red.htm - 77k

Impure (28 Occurrences)
... Leviticus 15:25 And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days not in the time
of her impurity, or if she have an issue beyond the time of her impurity...
/i/impure.htm - 14k

Filth (21 Occurrences)
... is the translation of tum'ah, "uncleanness" (ritual, Leviticus 5:3; Leviticus
7:20, etc.), used figuratively of moral impurity, translated "filthiness" (Ezra ...
/f/filth.htm - 17k

Filthy (22 Occurrences)
... is the translation of tum'ah, "uncleanness" (ritual, Leviticus 5:3; Leviticus
7:20, etc.), used figuratively of moral impurity, translated "filthiness" (Ezra ...
/f/filthy.htm - 16k

Touches (55 Occurrences)
... Leviticus 15:19 "'If a woman has a discharge, and her discharge in her flesh is
blood, she shall be in her impurity seven days: and whoever touches her shall ...
/t/touches.htm - 22k

Sprinkling (48 Occurrences)
... heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place; and it shall be kept
for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water for impurity: it is ...
/s/sprinkling.htm - 29k

Impurities (7 Occurrences)
... Ezekiel 24:11 then will I set it empty upon the coals thereof, that it may be hot,
and the bottom thereof may burn, and that the impurity of it may be molten ...
/i/impurities.htm - 8k

Resources

What is the meaning of impurity in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

What is the meaning of dross in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

What is sexual immorality? | GotQuestions.org

Impurity: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

Bible Concordance • Bible Dictionary • Bible Encyclopedia • Topical Bible • Bible Thesuarus

Concordance

Impurity (42 Occurrences)

Romans 1:24
For this reason, in accordance with their own depraved cravings, God gave them up to uncleanness, allowing them to dishonour their bodies among themselves with impurity.
(WEY NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 6:19
your human infirmity leads me to employ these familiar figures--and just as you once surrendered your faculties into bondage to Impurity and ever-increasing disregard of Law, so you must now surrender them into bondage to Righteousness ever advancing towards perfect holiness.
(WEY NAS RSV NIV)

2 Corinthians 12:21
and that upon re-visiting you I may be humbled by my God in your presence, and may have to mourn over many whose hearts still cling to their old sins, and who have not repented of the impurity, fornication, and gross sensuality, of which they have been guilty.
(WEY NAS RSV NIV)

Galatians 5:19
Now you know full well the doings of our lower natures. Fornication, impurity, indecency, idol-worship, sorcery;
(WEY NAS RSV NIV)

Ephesians 4:19
Such men being past feeling have abandoned themselves to impurity, greedily indulging in every kind of profligacy.
(WEY NAS NIV)

Ephesians 5:3
But fornication and every kind of impurity, or covetousness, let them not even be mentioned among you, for they ought not to be named among God's people.
(WEY NAS RSV NIV)

Colossians 3:5
Therefore put to death your earthward inclinations--fornication, impurity, sensual passion, unholy desire, and all greed, for that is a form of idolatry.
(WEY NAS RSV NIV)

1 Thessalonians 2:3
For our exhortation was not from deceit, nor from impurity, nor in guile;
(WBS NAS)

1 Thessalonians 4:7
For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification.
(See NAS)

Jude 1:7
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to impurity, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
(WBS)

Leviticus 12:2
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman conceive seed, and bear a man-child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of the impurity of her sickness shall she be unclean.
(ASV JPS)

Leviticus 12:5
But if she bear a maid-child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her impurity; and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.
(ASV JPS)

Leviticus 15:19
"'If a woman has a discharge, and her discharge in her flesh is blood, she shall be in her impurity seven days: and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening.
(WEB JPS ASV NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 15:20
"'Everything that she lies on in her impurity shall be unclean. Everything also that she sits on shall be unclean.
(WEB JPS ASV NAS RSV)

Leviticus 15:24
And if any man lie with her, and her impurity be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and every bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean.
(ASV JPS NAS RSV)

Leviticus 15:25
And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days not in the time of her impurity, or if she have an issue beyond the time of her impurity; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness she shall be as in the days of her impurity: she is unclean.
(ASV JPS NAS RSV)

Leviticus 15:26
Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her impurity: and everything whereon she sitteth shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her impurity.
(ASV JPS RSV)

Leviticus 15:33
and of her that is sick with her impurity, and of him that hath an issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her that is unclean.
(ASV JPS NAS RSV)

Leviticus 18:19
And thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is impure by her uncleanness.
(See NAS)

Leviticus 20:21
"'If a man takes his brother's wife, it is an impurity: he has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.
(WEB JPS ASV YLT RSV NIV)

Numbers 5:13
and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and is kept close, and she is defiled, and there is no witness against her, and she isn't taken in the act;
(See NIV)

Numbers 5:28
If the woman isn't defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
(See NIV)

Numbers 19:9
"A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up outside of the camp in a clean place; and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water for impurity: it is a sin offering.
(WEB ASV NAS RSV)

Numbers 19:13
Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and doesn't purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of Yahweh; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet on him.
(WEB ASV NAS RSV)

Numbers 19:20
But the man who shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of Yahweh: the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.
(WEB ASV NAS RSV)

Numbers 19:21
It shall be a perpetual statute to them: and he who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until even.
(WEB ASV NAS RSV)

Numbers 31:23
everything that may abide the fire, you shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water for impurity: and all that doesn't withstand the fire you shall make to go through the water.
(WEB ASV NAS RSV)

2 Chronicles 29:5
And he saith to them, 'Hear me, O Levites, now, sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of Jehovah, God of your fathers, and bring out the impurity from the sanctuary,
(YLT)

Ezra 6:21
The children of Israel who had come again out of the captivity, and all such as had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the nations of the land, to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, ate,
(See NAS)

Ezra 9:11
that Thou hast commanded by the hands of thy servants the prophets, saying, The land into which ye are going to possess it, 'is' a land of impurity, by the impurity of the people of the lands, by their abominations with which they have filled it -- from mouth unto mouth -- by their uncleanness;
(YLT NAS NIV)

Lamentations 1:8
Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore is she removed as an impurity: all that honoured her despise her because they have seen her nakedness; and she sigheth, and turneth backward.
(DBY)

Lamentations 1:9
Her impurity was in her skirts, she remembered not her latter end; and she came down wonderfully: she hath no comforter. Jehovah, behold my affliction; for the enemy hath magnified himself.
(DBY)

Lamentations 1:17
Zion spreadeth forth her hands; there is none to comfort her; Jehovah hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him; Jerusalem is as an impurity among them.
(DBY)

Ezekiel 7:19
They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an impurity: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah's wrath; they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their belly; for it hath been the stumbling-block of their iniquity.
(DBY YLT)

Ezekiel 7:20
And he set in majesty his beautiful ornament; but they made therein the images of their abominations and of their detestable things: therefore have I made it an impurity unto them.
(DBY YLT)

Ezekiel 18:6
and has not eaten on the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither has defiled his neighbor's wife, neither has come near to a woman in her impurity,
(WEB JPS ASV RSV)

Ezekiel 22:10
In you have they uncovered their fathers' nakedness; in you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity.
(WEB JPS ASV YLT NAS RSV)

Ezekiel 24:11
Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that it may be hot, and the brass thereof may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the rust of it may be consumed.
(See JPS)

Ezekiel 24:13
In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed you and you weren't cleansed, you shall not be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest.
(See NIV)

Ezekiel 36:17
Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their way and by their doings: their way before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity.
(WEB JPS ASV NAS RSV)

Zechariah 13:1
In that day there is a fountain opened To the house of David And to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, For sin and for impurity.
(YLT NAS NIV)

Zechariah 13:2
It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will be remembered no more. I will also cause the prophets and the spirit of impurity to pass out of the land.
(WEB NIV)

Subtopics

Impurity

Related Terms

Fall (522 Occurrences)

Excuse (13 Occurrences)

Impute (7 Occurrences)

Impurity (42 Occurrences)

Denial (1 Occurrence)

Blame (14 Occurrences)

Clear (641 Occurrences)

Forgiveness (124 Occurrences)

Sin (782 Occurrences)