Purity (Hastings' Dictionary)

This word, in subst. form, is not found in AV or RV of OT, and occurs only twice in NT, 1 Ti 4" 5= (a-yvda), the RV adding, however, a third instance when it accepts (with N B) icoi Tfji ayplrrrrros at 2 Co 11'. The form 'pureness' occurs once in NT, 2 Co 6" {ayv&rrii), and three times in OT, Job 22*, Is 1=», Pr -22" (Heb. being bor in the two former passages, and lahor in the last, and the LXX reproduction being nearest to exactness in the 6<rlas xf"/"" of Proverbs). In all these instances the use of 'purity' is ethical. This ethical use is one of the functions of all the Heb. and Gr. words constituting the family of purity, though it would be an error to say that any one of these words is never u.sed ceremonially; even idrar (primarily = ' separate') is ceremonial in at least one passage. Is 52". And, of course, there is the literal use also, as, for instance, to describe gold when free from alloy (Ex 25" ct al., (cllwr, naBapU; cf. Rev 21"). But the Eng. translators have preferred 'purity' and its family for the ethicaj region (though they have never so used ' purilication,'and i.„..., ...^f ...atr^..t.>.1 r^,u-ifTri nnff hn.vp nrpferrnd have not restricted ' purify '), antf have preferred ' clean ' (though ' cleanness ' is almost always ethical ) for the double oflice of ethical and ceremonial. In the Gr. usage there are similar preferences. 'Kyvbi, d-yTela, a7i'dT7;s, avuls (Pli 1" only, RV 'sincerely') are in NT exclusively ethical, though not so ex- clu.sivcly ayvl^ui, and not at all ay viaiibi (Ac 21=« only) : "in LXX avi-As is almost always ethical, though never ayvliu, ayda, or ayvurnlit (Jer 6" is doubtful; Heb. = ' rest for your souls,' LXX ren- dering ayviafibt, which may be intenilcd to mean national purification from idolatry) ; ayvbrrii and o7i'w5 do not occur ; while KaOapiis, (aliir, is in LXX mainly ceremonial, and in NT, as is natural, nearly always ethical ; indeed, in Tit 1" {iriirra xaB ipA Toii 176 PURITY rui KaOapoU) the idea of ceremonial or Levitical im- purity, already ignored in tlie spiritual Psalms (c.ij. ]'s 119), is overtly surrendered (of. Mt 15""-", Mk 7"'). 'Ayfds and its immediate correlates are doubtless connected with the more comprehensive family of dyio!, but form at the same time a distinct branch conlined to one aspect of holiness, holiness and purity remaining so far distinct throughout OT. "A710S, h'idfjsh , ' holy,' as separate, as related to God, wlio is absolutely separate from all evil, is in OT useil fundamentally, not of ethical qualities, but of position — the position of God as vncippronchnblc in majesty, power, and goodness ; the position of men as consecrated to and by God, and tlierein and thereby summoned to be separate, in God-likeness, from all the defilements of heathenism (Lv 19^ 1 1"); and, finally, the position of material things as related to the service of God or the consecrated position of men. One of the most prominent of the defilements of heathenism was sensuality, and to this the family of a7i'6s stands especially opposed, both in classical Greek (cf. a.ypi\ with Artemis in Homer, and the use of d7J'6s in Soph. Antig. 880, and Dera., ado. Nerer. 59, 78) and in sacred Greek (cf. 4 Mac 18'- 8, and 2 Co 11-, Tit 2'); yet it often takes a wider sweep and covers purity of motive (Ja 4', 1 P 1^), and of character generally (1 Co IP, Ja 3", 1 Jn 3^ and in LXX Ps 11 (12)"« 18 (19)^ Pr 20'). In NT ayi/is and xaOapdi may perhaps be dis- tinguished (see Westcott on 1 Jo 3') as predomi- nantly connoting feeling and state respectively, dvKis (cf. fii"o/toi) implying a shrinking from pollu- tion, while Kadapds expresses simply the fact of cleanness. Hence the ayvl^a eambv in 1 Jn 3' and the a.yvi(TaTe Kapoia^ in Ja 4^ penetrate more deeply towards the root of the matter than the KaBapiaare Xeipas of the latter passage, or even than the kaSa- plfei ri/xai of 1 Jn 1', the KaSapItrj; ijij.d^ of 1 Jn 1°, and the KaOaplffji Xai; of Tit 2", in proportion as the purification by the man of his external acts, or the purification by the external influence (if we may so speak) of God or Christ, has less to do with internal and personal feeling than the eflbrt of the man upon his inner life. Westcott also dis- tinguishes d7>'6s and Ka8ap6s from 47105, in that the latter is ' holy absolutely in itself or in idea,' while d7i'6s and Kadapb^ ' admit the thought or the fact of temptation or pollution.' So 'a man is dyio^ in virtue of his divine destination (He 10'°) to which he is gradually conformed (He 10"),' while he is KdOapU or d7i'js according (we m.ay add) as we regard his state or the internal discipline by which, on the human side, the state is attained. If tliese distinctions hold, we shall, with Westcott, inter- pret the j)hrase ' even as he is pure' (d7i'6s), 1 Jn 3', not of God (of whom a.yvb's could not be predicated), but of Christ in the light of the discipline of His human life. Another word, which AV translated 'pure' in 2 P 3' ('your pure minds'), and which is vei-y closely allied to 071-158, is c<XiKpinjs (-fio or -la), a word of uncertain etymology (see Lightfoot on I'll 1'°), but of no uncertain significance. It is now, in RV, in all five passages where it occurs, rendered by 'sincere' (or its subst.), that is, un- mixed, a sense which it bears in the only jilace where it is found in LXX, Wis 7", Wisdom being there spoken of as .an ' unmingled eflluence of the glory of the Almighty.' Trench (NT Synon.» p. 309) is probal)!y correct in distinguishing etXt- ttpiv-fi! from Kadapii, as denoting (the former) freedom from the falsehoods of life .and (the latter) freedom From its pollutions. 'Ouios, which is associated with words for ' purity ' at He 7, has special reference to piety, i.e. reverence for the acknowledged sanc- tities of law and religion. See Clean, Holiness, tod Unclean. J. Massie. PURPLE (]'pi< 'argamdn ; Aram. p,;iN 'arglwa (Pn 5'- '") ; Arab, urjuwiin; irop<pvpa, purpura).-— This dye was extracted from tiie shell-fisli Murex truncultcs, L., and M. hrandaris, L., and some- times from Purjiura hfcmastoma. Large heaps of the shells of these molluscs are found near Tyre, and outside the s(mtli gate of Sidon. The dje was known as Tyrian purple. It was extracted from the throat of the animal, each one yielding a single drop. The exact colour is iincertain, as the art of extracting the dye is lost. The fluid is at first white, then, by exposure, becomes green, and finally reddish purple. The purple (iropipvpoZy) robe (lixaTiov) of Jn 19- (cf. iropipvpav, Mk 15") is called scarlet (x>^afiv&a KOKKb-qv) in Mt 27*. See, further, art. Colours in vol. i. p. 457"". G. E. Post.