Is cleanliness next to godliness?

In 1 Cor. 12:28, two of the departments of gift are apt to be overlooked as insignificant, viz., "helps" and "governments," yet they are very necessary to enable the Christians in any place to make progress or growth by the process of "self-edification in love." In the nature of things in the various little companies there cannot be much gift which appeals to the senses, but if that which is born of God gets free course it will make increase of itself in love. "Helps" may not rise higher as men say than cleaning the room where the Christians meet. For example, if a cobweb hang from lamp to lamp, it may serve to stimulate the study of the mathematical law of the catenary, even as Galileo was led to solve the pendulum "inverse square" problem by observing how the lamp supports of different lengths vibrated in church, but such phenomena are not conducive to happy fellowship. That cleanliness is next to godliness is a common idea, but "cleanliness" isgodliness when associated with the Lord's name. The term "governments" does not necessarily refer to anything in the nature of the Prime Minister's duties, but simply taking an oversight over the small affairs as well as the large affairs in the Lord's interests.

When at last the millennial day is reached the earth will be very manifestly the Lord's and the whole world be in subjection to Him. The hill of the Lord and His holy place will be elevated amongst men, and the question is raised as to who will be fit to ascend the one or to stand in the other. The answer is given in verses 4 and 5. The fitness required is moral fitness. Those holy places are reserved for the holy; those whose hands are clean, whose hearts are pure, who have eschewed all vanity and deceit. The godly, who will enter the millennial age, will be such in a general way. They will be the generation who seek the Lord, the seed who serve Him and are accounted a generation, as we saw in Psalm 22. But there is One who was all this, not merely in a general way but in an absolute way — intrinsically and perfectly and without any qualification whatever.

In Psalm 24 we read, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in His holy place?" The stipulation is that he must have "clean hands" — that infers righteousness; and "a pure heart" — which indicates holiness. The pure heart governs the movements of the clean hands.

The answer is given in verse 4. It can only be one who, in his walk and ways, is right with God and his neighbour. The one who, in God's sight, has clean hands and a pure heart, and who has not deceived his neighbour. Who but Christ ever loved God with all His heart, with all His soul, and with all His mind? And who but Christ ever loved His neighbour as Himself?

The question is posed in verse 3, "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?' This is not a question of entering into heaven, but of entering into the earthly blessing of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus. The answer is certainly most discriminative. "He who has clean hands and a pure heart" indicates that the hands must be free from works that are evil and the heart must be uncontaminated by evil thoughts. Of course, only God can discern the actual state of the heart, though it will always manifest itself in some way. Similarly, idol worship may be outwardly covered for a time, but cannot remain so. Swearing deceitfully may sound convincing to people, but God knows immediately the falsehood of it, and the deceit will eventually be manifested.

(Vv. 14-16). Having exposed the hypocrisy of the outward religion of the flesh, the Lord, in the hearing of "all the people," shows that the source of defilement is not from without, but from within. The washing of hands and cups and pots, simply deals with defilement from without, but the source of moral defilement springs from the inward evil of the heart. This cuts at the root of all worldly religion of the flesh which simply deals with externals and leaves the heart untouched. God works from within and deals with the conscience and heart. The real source of defilement is not a man's environment but himself. It is true that man being such as he is — a fallen creature — if he goes into scenes of evil and temptation, his surroundings will stir up his lusts within. But even so the source of the evil is from within. An Angel can pass through Sodom and not be defiled, but not so Lot. There was no evil heart in the Angel to answer to sin; there was in Lot.

The Lord's subject in this saying is not the means of cleansing, but the cause of defilement. He does not here speak of the futility of ceremonial purification, and of the use of water to remove immoral stains (Job 9:30-31). Of this He had already spoken to the Pharisees, but He now instructs those uninstructed in the law with regard to the true source of defilement. Cleansing pre-supposes defilement. How then does man become unclean? Is it by the polluting influences of external things entering his physical organization? The Lord declared that the inner motives from which man's words and actions spring are the cause of his uncleanness, none being able to bring a clean thing out of an unclean.

The fifth woe reproves the mere exterior purity the Pharisees assumed, with correct formal observance of religion, while they were inwardly full of extortion and excess, given to dishonest dealings with others and to lustful self indulgence. They are told therefore to cleanse first the inside of the cup and platter, which is by all means the most important; but He adds, "that the outside of them may be clean also." Clearly He does not mean that the mere literal cleansing of the inside of a cup will result in the outside being clean, but rather that this will be the result of one's cleansing of his inner motives. True spiritual cleansing inwardly will have a proper outward result.

Fourthly, the Apostle says, “Cleanse your hands.” If we are to draw nigh to God, we must judge every act unsuited to His holy presence, not putting our hands to anything that defiles.

Fifthly, the exhortation is, “Purify your hearts, ye double-minded.” It is not enough to cleanse the hands; we must also judge the evil of our hearts. The Pharisees could make much show of outward purification by washing the hands, but the Lord has to say, “Their heart is far from Me” (Mark 7:3, 6). The one who ascends the hill of the Lord and stands in His holy place must have “clean hands, and a pure heart” (Ps. 24:4). The heart is the seat of the Christian's affections. These need to be purged of every object not compatible with God's will.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for ye make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess" (ver. 25). Is this going to satisfy God? He is not deceived. To indulge that which is evil in the heart, and have a fair exterior is extremely offensive to God. There is no real happiness apart from holiness. Because God was dwelling in their midst He required holiness. But we need to be holy inwardly, and we have the word of God as our standard to judge everything by "The word of God is quick and powerful," and if we have the word of Christ dwelling in us richly, we should be quick to judge an evil thought. It is because these things are unjudged that saints know so little of spiritual joy. A person may be very intelligent in the things of God and yet know very little of spiritual joy. If it is a question of truth, God has two tests of truth the person of Christ and the word of God, as we have remarked.