We define purity as an absense of impurities; something free from that which defiles. If someone is said to be sexually pure, it is because of something they have not done. If a person is said to have a pure heart than they have an absense of alterior motives.

But the Bible doesn’t define purity as just an absense of something, but the presense of something, namely love — the love that God has. That is why the apostle Paul gives us the statement, “To the pure all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure.”

What does that mean? When people love like God loves they do good even to those who are not like them, especially the unrighteous. Jesus says that God loving His enemies and doing good to them is the essence of God’s perfection. God’s perfection is not his absense of sin, it is his goodness and love to the righteous and the unrighteous:

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust…therefore you must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:44-45, 48).

When we love like God loves we do not marginalize others based on anything about them that could “defile”us. Certainly we must be wise in our dealing with those who don’t trust Jesus, but we do not withold good because they are “unclean.” No unbeliever, no “sinner,” is outside of our love, concern, and generosity.

But if purity is all about staying away then we will find that nothing is pure, because love of God can not penetrate that heart.