We all want to inherit the kingdom of God and receive God’s blessings.  We are given a list of those individuals who will not inherit the kingdom of God.  Ephesians 5:3-6 “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.  For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”  We are told that a fornicator, an unclean person, or a covetous man will not inherit the Kingdom of God but instead will receive the wrath of God.  A fornicator is a sexually immoral person.  A covetous person is one who has a strong desire to possess things.  But what is an unclean person?

In the Old Testament, there were animals that were considered unclean and the Israelites were forbidden to eat them.  Leviticus 11 details many of the eating restrictions.  For example, unclean animals were those that did not have a cloven hoof or that did not chew the cud. Having certain body emissions caused one to be unclean (Leviticus 15).  Touching a dead person’s body (Numbers 19:22) or a dead animal (Leviticus 11:24) could make a person unclean.  Having the disease of leprosy caused that person to be unclean; they had to keep to themselves and cry “Unclean! Unclean!” when another person came near (Leviticus 13:45).  Uncleanness in the Old Testament was anything that could defile or pollute a person physically. God was giving rules to the young nation of Israel which would bring them health and shield them from disease.  These laws also taught Israel to respect God’s holiness and maintain a distinct identity. Leviticus 11:43-45 “You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps; nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, lest you be defiled by them. For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”  The Israelites were to be holy because God is holy.  Holiness required them to be set apart from things that made them unclean, different than the other nations, and set apart for God.

The Pharisees and scribes were concerned about physical cleanness based upon their traditions.  Mark 7:5-9 “Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, ‘Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?’ He answered and said to them, ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men — the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.’ He said to them, ‘All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.’” Verses 14-22 “When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, ‘Hear Me, everyone, and understand:  There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.  If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!’ When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. So He said to them, ‘Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?’  And He said, ‘What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.’” Jesus was concerned about spiritual uncleanness that comes from our heart instead of trying to be just physically clean and look good to others.

We should be concerned with spiritual uncleanness.  In Romans 1:24-25 “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” Thus, uncleanness can be dishonoring our bodies among ourselves – some form of sexual immorality such as homosexuality.  Jesus described the scribes and Pharisees of his day in Matthew 23:27-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”  From this we learn that spiritual uncleanness could include hypocrisy and lawlessness. 

The Biblical prophets used “uncleanness” to describe idolatry, injustice, and sin. For example, we have Isaiah 64:6a “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags.” This reflects the idea that sin defiles the soul and separates us from God. I think we understand the concept of “clean”.  When an item of clothing is clean, it is free from dirt, blood, bodily discharge or other foreign substance.  We desire to wash our clothes with the intent of removing any pollutant and restoring the clothes to a clean condition that we would desire to wear them.  Our clothes might have been filthy, but we clean them to remove the filth. Just as physical clothes can be filthy or dirty, anything that would cause our spiritual clothes to be filthy or unclean would be uncleanness. 

I understand uncleanness to be a general term covering anything that might be undesirable before God or anything that would keep us from being holy as He is holy. The apostle Paul lists uncleanness as a work of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21. Uncleanness is anything that defiles or pollutes us spiritually.  We have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus.  1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  Is there hypocrisy or lawlessness in your life that makes you unclean?  Walk in the light and be clean before God by the blood of Jesus Christ.