WHEN PURITY LEADS YOU TO SIN

By Shantal Palacios

“For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.” 1 Thessalonians 4:7, ESV.

Purity is a state to which God arranged in His will to lead us through Christ through faith, it is the very consequence of having made us free from sin. It is for this reason that we can find throughout the Scriptures a clear and reiterated call to live pure lives which pleases and gives glory to our Father. However, we often have a misconception of what living in purity is about, so our quest to obey and make progress is also wrong and can lead to sin. Ironically contrary to what we intend to find. 

This misguided purity which we will give by name in this text as “my purity”, understanding that it comes from my own strength and from a legalistic approach, not from the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the knowledge of the Scriptures, leads us to immerse ourselves in different and very subtle sinful reasonings, thoughts and practices, which if not confronted with the Word of God, can lead us very far from the true purity to which God has called us. 

But… What are the sinful practices that “my purity” leads me to? 

In the first article of this series “An Introduction to the Purity Culture”, we found something peculiar, the emphasis that has been given to the concept of purity has had a primary focus on the sexual realm. Most of the teachings on purity within the church are frequently given from a sexual perspective, and this is one of the reasons that when hearing the word purity, most people see it linked to sexuality specifically. As we saw in the last article, the emphasis placed on sexual purity is not always biblical, but legalistic. Naturally, a wrong understanding leads to a wrong application, and an unbiblical perspective on purity, sexuality, and marriage. These are some examples:  

My purity leads me to pride

On many occasions, keeping ourselves sexually pure in dedication to that person with whom we hope to build a home, leads us to think that we are “special beings”. Why? Because society is used to sexual promiscuity and even celebrates it, so sexuality according to how God defines it in His Word is less and less practiced. It is because of these factors that when seeing the contrast between someone who seeks sexual purity and someone who is sexually promiscuous, one who remains pure is sometimes surrounded by praise, admiration and interest by people of the opposite sex, both outside the church and within it. In the latter because sexual purity is seen as an exemplary practice and a sign of obedience to God.  

The response to these thoughts and attitudes coming from others can take a wrong turn for us, which is to believe that we deserve exactly what we have achieved in terms of sexual purity. We think that having remained virgins up to this point is nothing less than an achievement that undoubtedly deserves its award. This reasoning reveals that our approach to keep ourselves pure is not because of our love for God but because we love ourselves. This attitude is a sign of a prideful character.

 God shows us in His Word how he will react to the people who have this behavior …“But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”” James. 4: 6, ESV.

 Let us consider that all that is good in us or anything we have achieved comes from the mercies of God himself and not from our own effort. If we correct our focus here we will be able to understand that we really do not deserve anything and that in Christ we have received everything we need and deserve and even much more. 

My purity leads me to arrogance

Another of the attitudes or thoughts in which we can fall is to believe that we are superior to people who did not keep themselves sexually pure even if they have repented of their past life and now have a different life. If they have already been forgiven and their old sins are paid for and forgotten by God, how can we still take their sin into account? 

This attitude is a sign of not having a correct understanding of the condition in which we are in as human beings, since sin dwells in our body and we must remember that we are sinners not because we practice sin, but because we have an inherited sinful condition In other words, sin is there in each of our members, ready to come out just at the moment we give it space. In fact, sin begins in our hearts. Sin is not that which we simply observe. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:27-28, ESV.  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

It is for this reason that we should not feel superior to anyone, we all need the sanctification Christ provides through the Holy Spirit each passing day. So let’s see the reality, let’s not be arrogant because this attitude is detested by God. Rather, let us look at others with humility, aware that any quality or virtue in us is given to us solely by the grace of God. 

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3, ESV. 

My purity leads me to self-sufficiency.

It is something common and “automatic”, to put it in some way, to think that guarding oneself sexually is due to our efforts, since everything advanced and achieved is visibly executed by our strength, that is what we see in our fallen nature, we take away our trust from God and put it in ourselves. This attitude is very much a setback in our spiritual life, by adopting this position we are denying the grace and providence of God, we are not recognizing him as we should.

 So let’s go back to our initial encounter with Christ where we were aware of our utter inability to do good, even to distinguish between works of sin and works of righteousness. Let us re-understand that lack of control over ourselves that prevented us from pleasing God and that led us to remove all confidence in our strength and place it in our Lord and Savior completely. Then we will understand that everything we can do and achieve is possible and enjoyable thanks to our being united to Christ. 

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5, ESV. 

My purity leads me to the delight in my own works 

If in any way we think that guarding ourselves sexually is merely the result of our efforts, the next thing we will do is delight in these works, but this delight is sinful if it goes above the delight we must have in God and his grace demonstrated in our works. Having a wrong understanding of sanctification leads us to be satisfied in our own works, which is wrong and leads to idolatry. 

Let us observe that our works without Christ are not pleasing to God, it is because of our fallen condition that we cannot perform works that reach the standards of God, who is perfect and holy. No matter how many good works we do, they will never be enough. 

Thus, only through our trust in the perfect sacrifice of Christ, our works can be accepted by a God who is absolutely holy and in whom there is not a thousandth part of darkness, these works are the fruit of the new life that we have in Christ. 

“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” Isaiah 64:6a, ESV.

My purity leads me to brag 

So, if we are proud and satisfied in our achievement of committing to save ourselves sexually for our future spouse, it is a great option to tell others so they will find out how well we have done. We want to be admired by others and take the glory ourselves. But this attitude is hated and despised by God. 

We boast of these achievements without being aware that they have been the product of the grace of our powerful God, and we ignore that if He wants to, He could strip us of them tomorrow, because these achievements belong to Him. He is the one who has provided us with his Holy Spirit to achieve it, He has given us his Word to be light on our path and He gives us of His mercy every day so we can move forward despite our mistakes. Our attitude, therefore, should be very different and full of humility; be silent about our achievements and if they come to light seek that the glory be surrendered to the only One to whom it belongs and who is worthy, Christ.

“Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”” Jeremiah 9:23-24, ESV.

True purity is not only stored in the sexual realm, is not a set of actions that protect us from falling into visible sins, regardless of the attitude, thoughts and approach behind it. True purity begins on the inside, and its reflected on the outside, undoubtedly… It starts in a heart surrendered to Christ, a heart kept only for Him, our  Savior, and that seeks to please Him; without belittling other people because you can recognize that if it were not for the grace of God you would still be dominated by sin; true purity is placing our confidence and delight not in one’s own works but in that work that has true value, the work of Christ; and renouncing any word or attitude that seeks our own glory and otherwise announces that the glory for all achievements belongs to the provider of all this. That is purity! 

God in His infinite wisdom wanted to reveal true purity to us through His Word, in it we can find not only what purity is but also how sexuality and marriage have been designed by our Creator for the enjoyment of human beings. Likewise, we can discover in the Word of God everything related to previous sins to keep us from falling into them. Let us search in the Word of God and begin today to live in true purity. 

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Matthew 5:8, ESV.