Matthew 5:8

Mat_5:8

The pure in heart.

Purity of heart

I. Purity of heart demands our attention.

1. It implies a change of heart.

2. It implies that the faculties of the soul are purified.

3. It implies the purity of the affections. 4, It implies the purity of the thoughts and desires.

5. It leads to purity of worship.

6. It leads to purity of life.

II. The blessedness promised to the pure in heart.

1. What is denoted by seeing God.

2. This vision will constitute the blessedness of the pure in heart. (J. Jordan.)

The blessedness of the pure in heart

I. Inquire into The meaning of purity of heart.

1. The words carry us into the inner regions of mans being. At first sight they only suggest the absence of the impure. But, there is no purity apart from the absolute authority of God in the affections. Man is not made by negatives.

II. Purity of heart gives the vision of God. The phrase see God does not refer to any manifestation of His glory visible to the eye of sense. It is to the far deeper sight of the soul that Christ refers. Your best friend is not seen by the eye of the body; you see him spiritually, his qualities of mind and heart.

1. None but the pure in heart can see Him. It is useless to tell the selfish about the beauty of unselfishness; you might as well tell the blind about the glory of colour.

2. That to the pure in heart the full glory of the Divine nature reveals itself. God is light and love. These are seen by the pure soul.

III. The vision is its own exceeding blessedness.

1. It is blessed because to see God satisfies the longings of the heart.

2. Because it clothes life in glory.

3. Because it is the dawning of immortal hope. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)

I. Let us try to ascertain what this purity Is which is here so extolled. It was in Adam by nature-it is in us by grace, etc. In us it is as seed cast into the soil, etc. It is a living principle, ever powerful, ever resisted, yet never beaten, growing daily in aspirations and likeness, until it is made perfect by seeing Christ as He is, when we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. Constantly enjoined. Is true beauty. The qualification for heaven. The Holy Spirit its author. The heart its seat. Manifest in the outer life. Will ever be ready to disclose itself to God in prayer.

II. Such persons are blessed. In having this characteristic. Evidence of being amongst the people of God. To them all things are pure. Shall see God-in lifes trials, lifes prosperity, providential dealings, in all creation, in the sacred page, in ordinances, and, above all, in glory-transforming, satisfying, joyful. Create in me, etc. (Dr. J. Caroming.)

By the heart we are to understand the inward part of man, comprehending the mind and soul with all their faculties and affections, purposes and inclinations, the secret recesses into which mortal eye cannot penetrate.

I. The foliage and branches are of the same kind with the stock that bears them.

1. Before we can bring forth good fruit we must be renovated.

2. There may be the semblance of purity in the life when there is no real principle of holiness in the heart.

II. Purity is

(1) the mind renewed, the

(2) disordered spirit restored, and

(3) conformed to the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness.

III. From the definition of the principle there are three things which it includes.

1. Frank and genuine sincerity in opposition to dissimulation and deceit.

2. Spiritual worship in opposition to that which is formal.

3. A holy and heavenly mind, in opposition to one that is polluted and sensual. (J. E. Good.)

I. A great privilege proposed by our Saviour to His followers. They shall see God-in this life and in heaven.

II. The qualification required for this enjoyment-parity of heart. Nature and necessity of heart-purity.

1. Try your hopes of heaven by this rule.

2. Follow after purity-heart and life. (Henry Grove.)

See here what is the beauty that sets off a soul in Gods eye: purity of heart.

I. Thou who art never so beautiful, art but a spiritual leper, till thou art pure in heart,

1. Therein God sees His own picture drawn.

2. Holiness is a beam of God.

II. Thou who art pure in heart hast the angels glory in thee, and the embroidery and workmanship of the Holy Ghost upon thee.

III. The pure heart is Gods paradise, where He delights to walk; it is His lesser heaven. The dove delights in the purest air; the Holy Ghost, who descended in the likeness of a dove, delights in the purest soul. How may this raise the esteem of purity! This is a beauty that, never fades! (Thomas Watson.)

I. Purity of heart stands in direct opposition to that external affectation of purity which is the offspring of hypocrisy.

1. Actions are the outward symbols or expressions of virtue and vice, not virtue and vice themselves.

2. Actions when separated from their motives are indifferent, but it is the disposition of benevolence by which the mind is actuated in which the virtue lies.

3. Words, like actions, when separated from their motives, are indifferent; but it is the inward malignity of soul from which the words proceed, in which the vice consists.

4. The form of purity, like that o! godliness without its power, is only a delusive counterfeit.

5. All external services and sacrifices are of no value without this internal purity.

II. Purity implies the absence of moral grossness. Whatever is defiled is essentially repugnant to the spirit of purity.

(1) By the law of nature clouds darken the face of the sky, fogs and vapours stagnate and corrupt the air.

(2) By the law of conscience and religion, moral blots and corruptions stain the beauty of the soul, and cast a shade upon its brightness.

III. Purity is an active and vigorous disposition, which incessantly prompts the soul in which it resides, to

(1) admire what is amiable;

(2) To approve what is excellent;

(3) To relish what is delicate;

(4) To pursue what is refined. Purity is the only way to blessedness-purity is blessedness itself. (David Lament, D. D.)

The man of heart blessed

So came these peaceful words of Jesus: Blessed, not the man of force, but the man of heart. (E. J. Haynes.)

A pure heart uses Gods creatures without injury

We stood, the day we left home to begin life for ourselves, amid all the creatures of God, as stands the druggists clerk on the first morning of his apprenticing, not knowing which is sweet, or sour, or would kill, or would make alive; aye, and with a perverted impulse for the wrong use of all. Behold that tree which nods at the church window. Sometimes there is too much moisture in the air; sometimes too much heat; poisons are at its root, its leaf, its stock. Yet so pure is the tree, so does it follow just Gods law, that it chooses and uses, not abuses, but fructifies by all. So amid all nature will be the really pure in heart; not that pure heart is all-wise, but it is so in harmony with Gods law, so far as it is instructed, that it uses all things according to the Creators intention. How? For beauty, purity, peace, and joy. (E. J. Haynes.)

A pure heart is blessed in the feeling of security

He says, I am not conscious of any desire within which shall go half-way to meet the allurements of sin; no little rivulets of half-indulgence which have eaten the sand from under my walls. Oh, how weak is guilt, how strong is purity! I have seen the hawk flap out of the top of tall hemlocks at my coming in the pasture. Why, hawk, Ill not shoot you; it is but a walking-stick I carry in my hand. All! yes, but I think it may have a ball in it. And he sails high above the village steeple. Nay, hawk, says the steeple, Ill not hurt. Im but the finger pointing to your Maker. Ah! but I think you are a trap. He even parts company with the harmless sparrow, for the sparrow may be a snare. Not so the dove. It lives in the cornice of mens dwellings, and nods good morning to the children in the chamber crib; it touches the foot of the housemaid as she shakes her cloth of crumbs; it rests up in the steeples of old churches, and the Sabbath bell, far from being a fright, is but the signal for the cooing chorus to begin. The man of pure heart is blessed with peaceful self-respect. He is not happy who cannot respect himself. And no man can respect himself who is living in more or less constant communion with bad thoughts and evil pictures of imaginatian. Suppose we grunt that we are not altogether responsible for our thoughts, but, by the complications of daily life, before we know it we have planned a sin; or, by Satans foes beleaguered, we are thrust upon by pictures of iniquity. Still my proposition is true, that no such life could be a happy one. Could the master of a strong house be at peace, even if bolts and bars and granite strength kept all his foes at bay; if, ever and anon, the mob thrust the deaths head at his windows? Aye, more, could he respect-himself if, now and then, as impure hearts do, he showed a face for parley, or cautiously, yet surely, invited one of the red-shifted horde within, to see how ha looked near by? The sunflower might say of wasps, and hornets, and bees: Why do they pester me, and so hang about? and the wasps would reply: You enter-rain us, sir; you have what we love. And so the judge within man, true to his heaven-given instinct, makes reply to him pestered by bad thoughts: Theres something, sir, about you that these buzzards love! I saw by Lake Leman the old castle of Chillon. Up above, the royal, tapestry-hung apartments of the Duke of Savoy and his gay bride; down below, the dungeon where Bonnivard was chained; where creeping things crawl forth to ogle at the visitors, and instruments of torture are; and I wondered if never, in some scene of revelry above, the groans of martyrs rose to stir the arras on gorgeous walls. There are those we meet in social life, the rooms of whose souls which are open to friends are fair as a palace. But alas! who shall tell us of the secret kept unseen? Not so pure heart. I do not pretend to say that ever on this earth we are freed from all solicitations of evil; but there is many a soul so blessed that, when winged thoughts of sin come flying to the windows, Gods angel rises up, and draws the shutters to; when disturbing thoughts of hate, revenge, avarice, and pride draw near, Gods angel meets them at the outer gate, and bids them all begone. (E. J. Haynes.)

Pure heart is blest in his relations with his fellow-man. Pure Heart is blest because he knows no envy of anothers success jealousy at anothers praise. Dear, simple old heart, it never occurs to him that there is any less of summers sun for him because a million others bask in its beams. O King Great Heart! thyself no mans enemy, thou thinkest no man thine, but dost beam upon the world like the October sunset upon the harvest fields. He shall see God. How? Thus. Mozart and his friend, the royal huntsman, went forth arm-in-arm to the fields. The wind came up heavily through the copse of trees. Look! says the hunter, it will startle a hare! Listen! says Mozart, what a diapason from Gods great organ! A ]ark rose on soaring wing, with its own sweet song. Look! says the gamester. what a shot! Ah! says Mozart, what would I give could I catch that thrill! There be dull souls who cannot see nor hear. Are they sick? Oh! what misfortune! Are they bereaved? Some enemy hath done this! Are they well and prosperous? Good luck! Not so Pure Heart. He can see Gods hand in every sorrow chastening for good; Gods face in every blessing; Gods smile in the morning light, the blossoming harvest, and the evening shade; His heart is attuned. (E. J. Haynes.)

Vision of God in heaven

I. God is a pure Spirit, and invisible. It cannot be with our bodily eyes that we shall see Him.

II. They shall see Him. This word expresses immediate intuition of what is plainly offered review. Now we see through a glass, darkly. Wilt thou see Gods wisdom, power, love, holiness, glory?

1. This is an appropriating vision.

2. It is an assimilating vision.

3. It is a satisfying vision.

III. How excellent the soul of man which is capable of such felicity!

IV. If such be the nature of the future blessedness, then a change of heart is requisite to enable us to enjoy it.

V. What gratitude do we owe to that God who has provided such a felicity for His children.

VI. What a source of consolation under the afflictions of life.

VII. This subject calls us to mourn for the folly of the children of men, who for toys barter away glory and immortality. (H. Kollock, D. D.)

They shall see God

1. In the work of creation.

2. In the ordinances of the gospel.

3. In the dispensation of Providence.

4. In the day of judgment.

5. In heaven for ever. (J. C. Edwards, M. A.)

Purity an unmixed motive

A thing is pure when there is nothing in it out of harmony with its nature. Water is pure, air is pure, when they contain only their constituent elements, and in the right proportion. Gold is pure when it has been separated by fire from all foreign matter. The diamond is pure, the crystal is pure, when there is nothing in them which binders the refraction and reflection of light. It is thus with the heart, which is the emotional part of the soul. It is pure, when it loves only that which it ought to love. (The Abbe Beutain.)

Spiritual sigh conditioned by purity

1. It may be easily understood that impurity of heart hinders the soul from seeing God. Under the power of perverse affections the mind sees nothing aright-nothing in its just relations and proportions. Least of all can the mind thus blinded in its highest faculties see God aright; it gets no inspiring and attractive perception of His glory. As earthly vapours, condensed into clouds and darkening the world with storms, hide from the outward sense the beauty and glory of the visible heaven, so sensual passions, grovelling affections, and the dominion of sin in the soul, all the habits of an impure and unbelieving mind, intervene as with impenetrable clouds, to shut off from the view and reach of the spiritual faculties the grand realities of that upper sphere, where the eternal relations of duty are and where God is.

2. This is further illustrated by remembering distinctly that the normal or right state of the mind-the state in which its faculties and susceptibilities are properly adjusted in relation to each other and in relation to their objects-is just what our Saviour means by purity in heart. As the normal condition of the eye is not when the optic nerve is paralysed or otherwise diseased, nor when the surface is covered by a film, nor when inflammation or a mote under the eyelids makes the light painful, but only when all obstruction or disease is absent, so the normal condition of the mind, as made for the knowledge of things invisible and eternal, is not when its sensibilities are perverted by selfishness, not when sin reigns within, but only when the heart is pure.

We may now inquire, What is the blessedness of thus seeing God?

1. To see God is to see the central light which reveals the order and beauty of the universe. The unity of all created things is found only in their relation to Gods power, to His love and wisdom, to His plan and government.

2. To see God is to see the fountain of all blessedness. Such intuition of Gods glory is identical with the peace of God that passeth all understanding

3. Such an intuition of God as this promise assures to the pure in heart is that for which the soul was created. It is the souls chief end, and therefore it is the highest blessedness of which the soul is capable. (L. Bacon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 5:8. The pure in heart — Those whose hearts are purified by faith; who are not only sprinkled from an evil conscience by the blood of Jesus, but cleansed by the Spirit of God from vain thoughts, unprofitable reasonings, earthly and sensual desires, and corrupt passions; who are purified from pride, self-will, discontent, impatience, anger, malice, envy, covetousness, ambition; whose hearts are circumcised to love the Lord their God with all their hearts, and their neighbours as themselves, and who, therefore, are not only upright before him, but possess and maintain purity of intention and of affection in all their designs, works, and enjoyments; serving him continually with a single eye and an undivided heart. They shall see God — Namely, in the glass of his works, whether of creation, providence, or grace, here, and face to face hereafter: they shall have fellowship with him in his ordinances, and shall endure as seeing him that is invisible, while they walk by faith on earth, and shall be admitted to the most perfect vision and complete enjoyment of him in heaven.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5:8 Those whose hearts are pure (see Pss 24:3-5; 51:7; Isa 6:5) are contrasted with those who thought that they had satisfied God’s will through ceremonial conformity to tradition (Matt 23:25-26). Jesus insisted on simple, true heart-righteousness (see 6:1-24; 15:1-20; 23:23-28; Deut 6:5). • They will see God and thereby attain even more than Moses did (see Exod 33:18-23; 34:5-7; see also Ps 73:1).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 5:8. Οἱ καθαροὶ τῂ καρδίᾳ, the pure in heart) Ceremonial purity is not sufficient. Jesus requires, and teaches, the virtue of the heart. Purity of heart includes both chastity and freedom from the other defilements of sin.—τὸν Θεὸν ὄψονται, shall see God) A clear knowledge of God is promised even now, but in words which will be more literally fulfilled in life eternal: see 1Jn 3:2-3; 1Jn 3:6; cf. concerning the opposite to purity, 1Th 4:5.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_5:8. Οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ] denotes the moral blamelessness of the inner life, the centre of which is the heart, in conformity with the view that πᾶσα ἁμαρτία ῥύπον ἐντίθησι τῇ ψυχῇ, Origen, Hom, in Joh. lxxiii. 2. Comp. Psa_73:1; Psa_24:4; 1Ti_1:5; 1Ti_3:9; Plat. Crat. p. 403 E, ψυχὴ καθαρά, p. 405 B, al. How this purity is actually attained (by justification and the sanctification of believers) remains even now left over to the future.

τὸν θεὸν ὄψονται] certainly refers, according to the analogy of all the other beatitudes, to the αἰὼν μέλλων, but is not (in accordance with the Oriental idea of great good fortune in being an intimate friend of the kings, 1Ki_10:8; Est_1:14) to be taken as a typical designation of the Messianic happiness in general (Kuinoel, Fritzsche, and others), nor as an inward seeing of God (knowledge, becoming conscious of God, inmost fellowship with God), as de Wette also understood it to mean direct spiritual fellowship with God here on earth and there in heaven; but, as the words do not allow us to understand it differently: of the seeing of God who gloriously reveals Himself in the Messiahs kingdom, a seeing which will be attained in the condition of the glorified body, Rev_7:15; Rev_22:4; 1Jn_3:2; Heb_12:14. Passages like Exo_33:20, Joh_1:18; Joh_6:46, Col_1:15, Rom_1:20, 1Ti_6:16, are not opposed to it, because they refer to seeing with the earthly eye. The seeing of God, who, although Spirit (Joh_4:24), has His essential form of manifestation (Php_2:6), will one day be the consummation of the προσαγωγή obtained through Christ (Rom_5:2). Comp. Clem. Hom. xvii. 7.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 5:8 . οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ : τ . καρδ . may be an explanatory addition to indicate the region in which purity shows itself. That purity is in the heart, the seat of thought, desire, motive, not in the outward act, goes without saying from Christ’s point of view. Blessed the pure . Here there is a wide range of suggestion. The pure may be the spotless or faultless in general; the continent with special reference to sexual indulgence those whose very thoughts are clean; or the pure in motive, the single-minded, the men who seek the kingdom as the summum bonum with undivided heart. The last is the most relevant to the general connection and the most deserving to be insisted on. In the words of Augustine, the mundum cor is above all the simplex cor . Moral simplicity is the cardinal demand in Christ’s ethics. The man who has attained to it is in His view perfect (Mat 19:21 ). Without it a large numerical list of virtues and good habits goes for nothing. With it character, however faulty in temper or otherwise, is ennobled and redeemed. τὸν θεὸν ὄψονται : their reward is the beatific vision. Some think the reference is not to the faculty of clear vision but to the rare privilege of seeing the face of the Great King (so Fritzsche and Schanz). “The expression has its origin in the ways of eastern monarchs, who rarely show themselves in public, so that only the most intimate circle behold the royal countenance” (Schanz) = the pure have access to the all but inaccessible. This idea does not seem to harmonise with Christ’s general way of conceiving God. On the other hand, it was His habit to insist on the connection between clear vision and moral simplioity; to teach that it is the single eye that is full of light (Mat 6:22 ). It is true that the pure shall have access to God’s presence, but the truth to be insisted on in connection with this Beatitude is that through purity, singleness of mind, they are qualified for seeing, knowing, truly conceiving God and all that relates to the moral universe. It is the pure in heart who are able to see and say that “truly God is good” (Psa 73:1 ) and rightly to interpret the whole phenomena of life in relation to Providence. They shall see, says Jesus casting His thought into eschatological form, but He means the pure are the men who see; the double-minded, the two-souled ( δίψυχος , Jas 1:8 ) man is blind. Theophylact illustrates the connection between purity and vision thus: ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ κάτοπτρον , ἐὰν ᾖ καθαρὸγ τότε δέχεται τὰς ἐμφάσεις , οὕτω καὶ ἡ καθαρὰ ψυχὴ δέχεται ὄψιν θεοῦ .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Fitly is this word Pure, joined with the heart, for as a bright and shining resemblance or image may be seen plainly in a clear and pure looking glass, even so doth the face (as it were) of the everlasting God, shine forth, and clear appears in a pure heart.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God--Here, too, we are on Old Testament ground. There the difference between outward and inward purity, and the acceptableness of the latter only in the sight of God, are everywhere taught. Nor is the "vision of God" strange to the Old Testament; and though it was an understood thing that this was not possible in the present life (Exo 33:20; and compare Job 19:26-27; Isa 6:5), yet spiritually it was known and felt to be the privilege of the saints even here (Gen 5:24; Gen 6:9; Gen 17:1; Gen 48:15; Psa 27:4; Psa 36:9; Psa 63:2; Isa 38:3, Isa 38:11, &c.). But oh, with what grand simplicity, brevity, and power is this great fundamental truth here expressed! And in what striking contrast would such teaching appear to that which was then current, in which exclusive attention was paid to ceremonial purification and external morality! This heart purity begins in a "heart sprinkled from an evil conscience," or a "conscience purged from dead works" (Heb 10:22; Heb 9:14; and see Act 15:9); and this also is taught in the Old Testament (Psa 32:1-2; compare Rom 4:5-8; Isa 6:5-8). The conscience thus purged--the heart thus sprinkled--there is light within wherewith to see God. "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with the other"--He with us and we with Him--"and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us"--us who have this fellowship, and who, without such continual cleansing, would soon lose it again--"from all sin" (Jo1 1:6-7). "Whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him" (Jo1 3:6); "He that doeth evil hath not seen God" (Jo3 1:11). The inward vision thus clarified, and the whole inner man in sympathy with God, each looks upon the other with complacency and joy, and we are "changed into the same image from glory to glory." But the full and beatific vision of God is reserved for that time to which the Psalmist stretches his views--"As for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness" (Psa 17:15). Then shall His servants serve Him: and they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads (Rev 22:3-4). They shall see Him as He is (Jo1 3:2). But, says the apostle, expressing the converse of this beatitude--"Follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Heb 12:14).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. Pure in heart] In opposition to the Pharisees, who affected outward purity, while their hearts were full of corruption and defilement. A principal part of the Jewish religion consisted in outward washings and cleansings: on this ground they expected to see God, to enjoy eternal glory: but Christ here shows that a purification of the heart, from all vile affections and desires, is essentially requisite in order to enter into the kingdom of God. He whose soul is not delivered from all sin, through the blood of the covenant, can have no Scriptural hope of ever being with God. There is a remarkable illustration of this passage, quoted by Mr. Wakefield from Origen, Contra Cels. lib. vi. "God has no body, and therefore is invisible: but men of contemplation can discern him with the heart and understanding. But A DEFILED HEART CANNOT SEE GOD: but HE MUST BE PURE WHO WISHES TO ENJOY A PROPER VIEW OF A PURE BEING."

Shall see God.] This is a Hebraism, which signifies, possess God, enjoy his felicity: as seeing a thing, was used among the Hebrews for possessing it. See Ps 16:10. Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption, i.e. he shall not be corrupted. So Joh 3:3: Except a man be born again, he cannot SEE the kingdom of God, i.e. he cannot enjoy it. So Joh 3:16. He that believeth not the Son, shall not SEE life, i. e shall not be put in possession of eternal glory. The Hindoo idolaters vainly boast of what the genuine followers of Christ actually enjoy - having the Divine favour witnessed to their souls by the Holy Spirit. The Hindoos pretend that some of their sages have been favoured with a sight of their guardian deity. - See WARD'S Customs.

Probably our Lord alludes to the advantages those had, who were legally pure, of entering into the sanctuary, into the presence of God, while those who had contracted any legal defilement were excluded from it. This also was obviously typical.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(8) Pure in heart.—Here, as with the poor in spirit, the noun determines the region in which the purity is to be found—the “heart” as representing desires and affections, as the “spirit” represents the will and higher personality. The purity so described is not that which was the ideal of the Pharisee, outward and ceremonial, nor, again, was it limited, as the common language of Christians too often limits it, to the absence of one special form of sensual sin; but it excluded every element of baseness—the impurity of hate or greed of gain, no less than that of lust. Not without cause, however, has the evil of the latter sin so overshadowed the others that it has almost monopolised the name. No single form of evil spreads its taint more deeply than that which “lets in contagion to the inward parts.”

Shall see God.—Does the promise find its fulfilment only in the beatific vision of the saints in glory, seeing God as He is (1Jn_3:2), knowing even as also we are known (1Co_13:12)? Doubtless there, and there only, will be the full fruition which now we wait for; but “purity of heart,” so far as it exists, brings with it the power of seeing more than others see in all through which God reveals Himself—the beauty of nature, the inward light, the moral order of the world, the written word, the life and teaching of Christ. Though we see as yet “through a glass,” as in a mirror that reflects imperfectly, yet in that glass we behold “the glory of the Lord” (1Co_13:12; 2Co_3:18).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. pure in heart] Purity is a distinguishing virtue of Christianity. It finds no place even in the teaching of Socrates, or in the system of Aristotle. Pure in heart “non sufficit puritas ceremonialis.” Bengel.

shall see God] The Christian education is a gradual unveiling of God, all have glimpses of Him, to the pure He appears quite plainly. Cp. 1Jn_3:2-3. In a further sense the unveiled sight of God is reserved for the Eternal life.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Blessed are the pure in heart,.... Not in the head; for men may have pure notions and impure hearts; not in the hand, or action, or in outward conversation only; so the Pharisees were outwardly righteous before men, but inwardly full of impurity; but "in heart". The heart of man is naturally unclean; nor is it in the power of man to make it clean, or to be pure from his sin; nor is any man in this life, in such sense, so pure in heart, as to be entirely free from sin. This is only true of Christ, angels, and glorified saints: but such may be said to be so, who, though they have sin dwelling in them, are justified from all sin, by the righteousness of Christ, and are "clean through the word", or sentence of justification pronounced upon them, on the account of that righteousness; whose iniquities are all of them forgiven, and whose hearts are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, which cleanses from all sin; and who have the grace of God wrought in their hearts, which, though as yet imperfect, it is entirely pure; there is not the least spot or stain of sin in it: and such souls as they are in love with, so they most earnestly desire after more purity of heart, lip, life, and conversation. And happy they are,

for they shall see God; in this life, enjoying communion with him, both in private and public, in the several duties of religion, in the house and ordinances of God; where they often behold his beauty, see his power and his glory, and taste, and know, that he is good and gracious: and in the other world, where they shall see God in Christ, with the eyes of their understanding; and God incarnate, with the eyes of their bodies, after the resurrection; which sight of Christ, and God in Christ, will be unspeakably glorious, desirable, delightful, and satisfying; it will be free from all darkness and error, and from all interruption; it will be an appropriating and transforming one, and will last for ever.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Ver. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart] That wash their hearts from wickedness, that they may be saved, Jer 4:14. Not their hands only, with Pilate, but their inwards, as there; "How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?" בקרבף These, however the world censure them (for every fool hath a bolt to shoot at that purity, which yet they profess and pray for), are the Lord’s darlings, that purify themselves (in some truth of resemblance) as God is pure.

" Pura Deus mens est, pura vult mente vocari:

Et puras iussit pondus habere preces."

He will take up in a poor, but it must be a pure heart; in a homely, but it must be a cleanly house; in a low, but not in a loathsome lodging. God’s Spirit loves to lie clean. Now the heart of man is the most unclean and loathsome thing in the world, a den of dragons, a dungeon of darkness, a sty and stable of all foul lusts, a cage of unclean and ravenous birds. The ambassadors of the Council of Constance, being sent to Pope Benedict XI ( In Hist. Concil. Constant.), when he, laying his hand upon his heart, said Hic est Arca Noae, Here is Noah’s ark; they tartly and truly replied, In Noah’s ark were few men, but many beasts; intimating, that there were seven abominations in that heart, wherein, he would have them to believe, were lodged all the laws of right and religion. This is true of every mother’s child of us. The natural heart is Satan’s throne, he filleth it from corner to corner, Act 5:3, he sits abrood upon it, and hatcheth all noisome and loathsome lusts, Eph 2:2. There (as in the sea) is that Leviathan, and there are creeping things innumerable, crawling bugs and baggage vermin, Psa 104:25-26. Now as many as shall see God to their comfort, must cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of God, 2Co 7:1. This is the mighty work of the Holy Spirit, which therefore we must pray and strive for; beseeching God to break the heavens and come down, Isa 64:1, yea, to break open the prison doors of our hearts by his Spirit, and to cleanse this Augaean stable. He comes as a mighty rushing wind, and blows away those litters of lusts, as once the east wind of God did all the locusts of Egypt into the Red Sea. And this done, he blows upon God’s garden, the heart, and causeth the spices thereof so to flow forth that Christ saith, "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice," Son 4:16; Son 5:1.

For they shall see God] Here in a measure, and as they are able; hereafter in all fulness and perfection: they shall see as they are seen. Here, as in a glass obscurely, or as an old man through spectacles, 1Co 13:12, εν αινιγματι, but there face to face. Happier herein than Solomon’s servants, for a greater than Solomon is here. A good man is like a good angel, ever beholding the face of God. He looketh upon them with singular complacency, and they upon him to their infinite comfort: He seeth no iniquity in them, they no indignation in him. He looketh upon them in the face of Christ; and although no man hath seen God at any time, Joh 1:18, yet God, "who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts," saith the apostle, "to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," 2Co 4:6. Pure glass or crystal hath light coming through: not so stone, iron, or other grosser bodies. In like sort, the pure in heart see God, he shines through them: and as the pearl by the beams of the sun becomes bright and radiant as the sun itself, so "we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord," 2Co 3:18.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Blessed are the pure in heart - That is, whose minds, motives, and principles are pure; who seek not only to have the external actions correct, but who desire to be holy in heart, and who are so. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.

They shall see God - There is a sense in which all will see God, Rev 1:7. That is, they will behold him as a Judge, not as a Friend. In this place it is spoken of as a special favor. So also in Rev 22:4, “And they shall see his face.” To see the face of one, or to be in the presence of any one, were terms among the Jews expressive of great favor. It was regarded as a high honor to be in the presence of kings and princes, and to be permitted to see them, Pro 22:29, “He shall stand before kings.” See also 2Ki 25:19, “Those that stood in the king’s presence;” in the Hebrew, those that saw the face of the king; that is, who were his favorites and friends. So here, to see God, means to be his friends and favorites, and to dwell with him in his kingdom.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The clean of heart are either those who give themselves to the practice of every virtue, and are conscious to themselves of no evil, or those who are adorned with the virtue of charity. For nothing is so necessary as this purity in such as desire to see God. Keep peace with all and chastity, says St. Paul, for without this none can see God. Many are merciful to the poor and just in their dealings, but abstain not from luxury and lust. Therefore our Saviour, wishing to shew that mercy was not sufficient, adds, that if we would see God, we must also be possessed of the virtue of purity. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. xv.) By this, we shall have our heart exempt from all disordinate love of creatures, and shall be exclusively attached to God. (Haydock) --- The clean of heart, i.e. they who are clean from sin: who are pure in body and mind, says St. John Chrysostom. It seems to be a particular admonition to the Jews, who were mostly solicitous about an outward and legal cleanness. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The men of the world bless those who appear pure and holy to men, and put on a vizard and mask of purity, though they be but painted sepulchres, and their hearts be as cages of all unclean birds: but those alone are blessed, who, being washed from their filthiness by my blood, are of a sincere and upright heart; though they be not legally pure and free from all sin, yet are so pure as that God will accept them, the bent of their hearts being after holiness; who have not a heart and a heart, no doubleness of mind, who are persons in whom is no guile. For though no mortal eye can see and comprehend the essence of God, yet these men shall by an eye of faith see and enjoy God in this life, though in a glass more darkly, and in the life to come face to face, and as he is, 1Co 13:12; Heb 12:14; 1Jo 3:2.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. Blessed are the pure in heart — Here is a trait of character which God’s Spirit can alone produce. This is sanctification. It may exist in different degrees. It may be partial; it may be complete. Even when complete, it may, in this world, coexist with many an error of judgment, and many a defect of temperament. Yet it enables us to live without offending God, so as to maintain for us the permanent undiminished fulness of the divine approbation. And when the heart is clean, the eye is clear. When purity makes us like God, then can we realize and see his countenance. The eye of the pure spirit beholds the pure Spirit. Through the beams he shed down upon us, we can look up and see the face that shines. In the light of his smile we behold his smile. So the pure in heart shall see God.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The pure in heart. Our Lord naturally passes in thought from the sixth to the seventh commandment (cf. vers. 21, 27), finding the basis of his phraseology in Psa_24:3, Psa_24:4, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?... He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart (LXX aywov cersi kayaroa). (cf. also Psa_72:1) Kaytarov (besides speaking of mere physical cleanness, Mat_27:59) specially refers to freedom from pollution, judged by God"s standard of what pollution is, whether it be a matter of ceremonial enactment (meats, Rom_14:20 Mar_7:19; cf. leprosy, Mar_8:2, 3 10:8, et al. ) or of ethical relation; (cf. Joh_13:10, 11 15:3) cf. Origen."Hem. in Joh:," 73:2 (Meyer), "Every sin soils the soul (Pasa amartia rupon entiyhsi th quch)" (cf. also Bishop Westcott, "Hebrews," p. 346). In heart. The seat of the affections (Mat_6:21 Mat_22:37) and the understanding, (Mat_13:15) also the central spring of all human words and actions; (Mat_15:19) cf. kayara kardia , (1Ti_1:5 2Ti_2:22) which implies something deeper than kayara suneidhsiv . (1Ti_3:9 2Ti_1:3) Shall see God. Not in his courts (Ps 24) on Mount Moriah, but above; and in one complete vision fully grasped (oqontai). The thought of present spiritual sight of God, though, perhaps, hardly to be excluded (contrast Weiss, "Matthausev."), is at least swallowed up in the thought of the full and final revelation. Those who are pure in heart, and care not for such sights as lead men into sin, are unconsciously preparing themselves for the great spiritual sight the beatific vision. (Rev_22:4; cf. 1Jn_3:2) In Heb_12:14 holiness (agiasmov) is an indispensable quality for such a vision of "the Lord.

The Beatitude of the pure in heart.

"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." If the foregoing Beatitude were one that turned its face principally to man, and looked as it were fixedly on him, yet with most undoubted aspect Godward, this, on the other hand, the eighth in order, must certainly be held (and all the more so by force of the latter clause of it)to place us face to face with God how certainly, also, to the subsequent advantage of our fellow-man none can doubt. Simple as are the words of this Beatitude, the central word, that one on which the meaning of all hinges, may be rendered yet a little more expressively and unmistakably by the word "clean," which is the Authorized Version rendering ten times out of the twenty-eight times of its occurrence in the New Testament. Three other times is this "clean heart" spoken of, viz.: "The end of the commandment is charity out of a clean heart"; (1Ti_1:5) "With them that call on the Lord out of a clean heart"; (2Ti_2:22) "Love one another with a clean heart fervently". (1Pe_1:22) And in addition twice is a "clean conscience" spoken of, viz.: "Holding the mystery of the faith in a clean conscience"; (1Ti_3:9) "God, whom I serve from my forefathers with a clean conscience". (2Ti_1:3) It is a." clean linen cloth" in which the sacred body is wrapped; (Mat_27:59) the "seven angels" are "clothed in clean and white linen"; (Rev_15:6) the "Lamb"s wife" is "arrayed in fine linen, clean and white"; (Rev_19:8) and "the armies, which followed the Word of God," were clothed in fine linen, white and clean". (Rev_19:14) If it were possible to hesitate as to what "the pure heart" of this Beatitude might mean, few could hesitate as to the chief meaning of a "clean" heart.

I THE CLEAN IN HEART ARE THOSE WHOSE AFFECTIONS, THOUGHTS, WISHES, ARE CLEAN. David"s prayer, "Create in me a clean heart, O God," is ever a most practical commentary on the too solemn, too dangerous subject. And St. Peter"s earnest entreaty to those whom he counts even as "dearly beloved," that they "abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul," is another. This unclean heart is described by the lips of Jesus Christ himself: "Out of it proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies". (Mat_15:19) And the description is followed on by St. Paul, when he speaks of the "works of the flesh". (Gal_5:19) Human affections, pure, clean, innocent (partial and imperfect and temporary though they be), lead on to the Divine and eternal; but human passions and the desires of the flesh are the worst foes to the spirit. Into the heart contaminated by entertaining such guests, higher and purer cannot, will not, come. It cannot be pronounced "blessed;" it cannot be "blessed." It has its own eyes indeed, but they are not eyes with which God can be seen. Purity of heart must mean first of all pure thoughts, pure desires, pure affections. Love of the visible, the near, the present, always takes advantage to hinder the love of God, but impure affections fail not to destroy it absolutely.

II THE PURE IN HEART ARE THOSE WHOSE HIGHER JUDGMENT, BETTER FEELING, TRUER VISION, ARE NOT DISTURBED BY THAT ILLUSION OF SELF-INTEREST WHICH HAS SO BRITTLE, AND AT THE BEST SO BRIEF, A TENURE OF LIFE. The larger examples of the disastrous interferences of what for a while wears all the semblance of expedience, policy, self-interest, and even justifiable self-regard, speak distinctly for themselves when they occur. But the amazing, the incredible work of mischief, invisibly, sometimes unconsciously, rarely enough confessedly, piled up with the effect of crushing unsuspectedly all that is best in the individual heart, it would seem only the plunge into the eternal world can reveal, whether to others or to the victims themselves, whose name is legion. Souls could not have been gambled away more mercilessly or in more ruinous number than they have by these ways committed suicide. They have melted down like the snow, and vanished like phantom troops. The pure in heart know and abide by the right, though it be dressed in rags, and they have no fellowship with the plausible, though arrayed in purple. The pure in heart have an instinct, which holds them faithful adherents to that higher judgment, that better feeling, that truer vision of which the world thinks so little, and which it sells for a delusive nothing. A pure heart believes in it all, without a sidelong glance and without" looking back;" guides itself by what it knows to be the right, and brushes off sophistry as it would a detected traitor-friend. That heart is training to "see God.

III THE PURE IN HEART ARE THOSE WHOSE HEART ANSWERS AS FAR AS POSSIBLE TO PURE MOTIVE ONLY. Motives are those hidden impulses and inducements of individual actions which so soon usurp the authority of habitual guides of our conduct. Perhaps, to aid our feeble conception of a subject little within our grasp, we might imagine that our heart in its first form was just the scene and domain of feeling feeling blessedly gentle like infants" breathing; blessedly innocent, that knew no evil; exquisitely sensitive, and grateful, it knew not why nor to whom. In the midst of that calm scene the plant of thought grew up, inevitably coloured with colour"s every tint by feeling. It was no clear thought of reason or of the intellect alone. It was warm with the warmth of human life, and with all its mystery of individual hope, wish, and inclinings. This peculiar domain of feeling and thought, the human soul, became the main place of the originating of action the fruitful, too prolific seed-bed of all those deeds of the body for which, when we "all appear at the judgment-seat of Christ, we must receive... according to that done, whether good or bad." Now, that is a motive which determines feeling and thought to shape itself into action, and which decides its form. Whence those motives come (so multitudinous, so various, so mixed in their character), often enough the heart itself has lost the stern simplicity to know, and no earthly judge can safely pronounce. The complication has become what human skill cannot disentangle. Even the uncharitable and censorious world has, to a proverb, professed at any rate to renounce the judging of men"s motives. None the less realities, yet are they fearful ghostly realities to summon before our bar, indeed I Grant all this, yet every one of us knows, if he will say it, whether those inducements of his actions within him are or are not honest, kind, useful, right, unpoisoned by absolute selfishness, fit to be brought to the light, good, holy in a word, whether they are pure," or prejudiced by every degree of the taintedness of impurity, from the least to the greatest. To set this house in order is indeed a task. To suffer, to harbour in it no ill motive, to encourage each better and higher motive, to keep a "clean conscience," the fairest flower and fruit of which is "charity" toward the motives of others, stern strictness toward our own, or humbly, earnestly to try and pray to do this, as far as it is not" impossible with man," is to have, or to approach toward having, the "pure heart," which begins even now to "see God.

CONCLUSION. Dwell upon the very encouraging light thrown on human nature, and on its future that the vision of God is suggested as granted even here to a growing moral likeness to him, and a nearing moral sympathy with him; while every present and necessarily partial vision of him here is an earnest of the vision of full fruition to came. Partial though the clearest, brightest, best vision here confessedly is, yet is it not the deepest and purest bliss to be had? To this said the reputed Chrysosom of old, "So far as any one has rescued himself from evil, and works things that are good, so far does he see God, either hardly, or fully, or sometimes, or always, according to the capabilities of human nature. B.

The vision of the pure.

Properly to understand this great subject it is necessary to consider

I THAT MAN IS ENDOWED WITH SPIRITUAL SENSES.

1. The body is the material image of the soul.

(1) The Scriptures suggest this truth when they speak of the "natural man" and the "spiritual man;" of the "outward man" and the "inward man;" of the "hidden man of the heart" as opposed to the ostensible man of the body. (1Co_2:14, 15 2Co_4:16 1Pe_3:4)

(2) It is involved in the doctrine of the image of God in man. Man is not an incorporeal but an incarnate spirit. After this definition, he is "in the image and after the similitudes of God." In these "similitudes" God revealed himself to man in corporeal human form.

(3) If the spirit be the counterpart of the body, there must be spiritual to correspond to corporeal senses.

2. We experience spiritual sensation.

(1) This is acknowledged in current language. We talk of ideas, or things seen, viz. in the mind. Of soul-perceptions we say, "I see," "I feel;" "He is a man of taste;" "His scent is keen.

(2) These senses are generally recognized in Scripture. (see Php_1:9, margin; also Heb_5:14) They are spiritual senses whose function is to discriminate in moral subjects.

(3) They are mentioned in detail. Thus: Feeling. (Act_17:27 Eph_4:19) Tasting. (Psa_34:8 Heb_6:4, 5 1Pe_2:3) Smelling. (Psa_45:8 Son_1:3 Mat_16:23 2Co_2:14) Hearing. (Isa_50:4, 5 Joh_10:3, 4 18:37) Seeing. (Act_26:18 Eph_1:18)

(4) We experience them in dreaming when the mind imposes upon itself the spiritual for the corporeal sensations. This is imagination? Just so. The faculty of imagination is the sensorium, or seat of the senses of the spirit.

II THAT MORAL PURITY IS THE CONDITION OF THEIR HIGHEST EXERCISE.

1. To the pure especially God reveals himself in his works.

(1) In his works his power, wisdom, and goodness may be "seen" even by the heathen. (Rom_1:20)

(2) By the pure all this is invested with superior lustre. Things take complexion from the mental moods of the observer. The best mental mood in which to see God in nature is when the soul is lifted into the sunshine of his grace.

(3) The child of God sees the hand of a Father in the works of God. "My Father made them all.

2. To the pure exclusively God reveals himself by his Spirit.

(1) This revelation of God is that more especially intended here.

(2) There is the personal manifestation of the Son of God. (see Joh_14:15-23) This vision is peculiar to the spiritual. Philip did not truly see Jesus, though corporeally before him, until the eyes of his spirit were opened to see the Father in the Son the Godhead in the manhood.

(3) The world have no such vision of God. If they regard this doctrine as fanatical, this is just what Scripture leads us to expect from them. (see 1Co_2:14, 1Co_2:15) "Eyes have they, but they see not; ears, but they hear not.

3. Spiritual revelation is often vivid.

(1) The visions of the prophets were so. Whether they came in "dreams" or in "open vision." These were impressions made upon the senses of the soul. The "visions of God" were sometimes overwhelming. (cf. Eze_1:28 Dan_10:7, 8 Rev_1:17)

(2) They were so vivid as to be mistaken for corporeal impressions. Samuel thought that a sound came to his outward ear when God spoke into the ear of his soul. Eli was within the range of natural hearing, but heard not this voice. (1Sa_3:8) Peter, when his corporeal senses were addressed, familiar with the vividness of spiritual impressions, "thought he saw a vision". (Act_12:9) Paul, in his famous rapture, could not determine whether he was "in the body or out of the body whether his bodily or spiritual senses were addressed. (1Co_12:1-4)

4. We have now the philosophy of religious experience.

(1) What is the "witness of the Spirit" to a man"s adoption into the family of God but an address made by the Spirit of God to the spirit of the believer? In such spiritual revelations" we enjoy communion with God.

(2) They are sometimes as vivid as were the visions of prophecy. Who has not heard narratives of such experiences from the children of God?

(3) Let us seek earnestly that purity which qualifies us for this nobler spiritual vision. By complete self-consecration. By habits of faith. By habits of holy living.

III THAT THE FUTURE OPENS PROSPECTS OF SUPERIOR SENSATION.

1. In the experiences of the disembodied state.

(1) We are in this earth principally conversant with the material. It is so by our constitution. Angels are about us, but we see them not. The body acts as a veil to obstruct our spiritual vision.

(2) But the veil is torn in death. When the veil of Christ"s flesh was torn, the veil of the temple was torn. The most holy place then discovered was the type of heaven.

(3) Then shall we see God as the angels do continually behold his face. The most holy place of the temple was the place of the Shechinah.

(4) Then also shall we recover our friends. In the spiritual world spirits will take palpable shape. They will appear as embodied, and be identified through the correspondence which there is between the body and the mind.

2. In the experiences of the resurrection-state.

(1) As these bodies are psychical or soulish, i.e. adapted to the companionship of the appetitive soul, so will the body of the resurrection be "spiritual," i.e. adapted to the companionship of the rational, contemplative spirit. (See the noble sermons of Bishop Ellicott, in his volume entitled, "The Destiny of the Creature.") Being "spiritual," the body will.no longer act as a veil to obstruct the freedom of spiritual sensation.

(2) Corporeal sensation will be improved. Defects, effects of sin, will have no place. The powers of sensation will be enlarged. Vision may be telescopic and microscopic. Hearing may be telephonic and microphonic. We may experience compound sensation. We may at once see as well as hear sound. We may at once hear as well as see colour.

(3) Corporeal and spiritual sensations will articulate. They do so now, in part; but then perfectly. What worlds of fresh experience, comparison, and reflection will be opened when we see together the material and spiritual complements of the great universe of God!

(4) Divine revelations will then be grander. The new heavens and earth will open to us a materialism of richer harmonies. Added also to the discovery of spiritual natures, there will be the royal vision of God in a glorified Christ. Let us wash in the fountain opened in the house of David, that we may be qualified for a blessedness that eye hath not seen. J.A.M.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The pure in heart - The sanctified: they who love God with all their hearts. They shall see God - In all things here; hereafter in glory.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

But hypocritical behavior will not stand the test of His scrutiny:

v. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.

A mere outward purity in keeping the ceremonial injunctions of the Law is not sufficient in the economy of God. He desires such hearts as keep themselves pure, unsullied with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Isa 1:16; Jas 4:8; 2Co 6:17 But this purity finds its expression also in single-mindedness of purpose which throws off every restraining, distracting thought and seeks the Lord and His kingdom with undivided heart, Php 2:12. Happy, blessed are they that are found practicing such purity, for their reward again outstrips their fondest hopes. Even in this life they shall see God with the eyes of the spirit, lifting them up, in joyful confidence, to the God of their salvation, Isa 17:7; Mic 7:7; Psa 25:15. But the very essence of heavenly bliss will be the seeing of God face to face in the life to come, Psa 17:15; Psa 42:3; Job 19:27.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Note here, 1. The duty required and called for, Purity of heart and life: the first expressed, the other included: for a clean heart will be accompanied with a clean life. Where there is a principle of grace within, there will be the acting of grace without.

Note, 2. The incentive to this duty; the pure in heart, and holy in life shall see and enjoy God; the infinitely pure and perfectly holy God. They shall see him and spiritually mediately in this life, gloriously and immediately in the life to come.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. Blessed are the pure in heart. The Jew, under the tuition of the Pharisees, cared little for the state of the heart, so that outward forms were duly kept. Jesus, however, demands that the heart, the affections, the mind, shall be purified, as the fountain from whence flows the moral and religious life. A pure heart begets a pure life; an impure heart, a corrupt life. They shall see God. Not with the natural eye, but the spiritual vision; by faith. In the pure heart the Lord will dwell and his presence will be recognized. See John 14:23.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

8. καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ. Purity is a distinguishing virtue of Christianity. It finds no place even in the teaching of Socrates, or in the system of Aristotle. Pure in heart ‘non sufficit puritas ceremonialis,’ Bengel.

τὸν θεὸν ὄψονται. The Christian education is a gradual unveiling of God (ἀποκάλυψις), all have glimpses of Him, to the pure He appears quite plainly; cp. Heb 12:14, τὸν ἁγιασμὸν οὖ χωρὶς οὐδεὶς ὄψεται τὸν κύριον, and see 1Jn 3:2-3. In a further sense the unveiled sight of God is reserved for the Eternal life.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. καθ. τῇ καρδίᾳ] See Psa 24:4, Psa 24:6. It is no Levitical cleanness, nor mere moral purity, that is here meant: but that inner purity, which (Act 15:9) is brought about τῇ πίστει, has its fruit (1Ti 1:5) in love; which is, as in καθαρὸν φῶς, καθαρὰ χαρά, &c., opposed to all διψυχία (Jas 1:8), and all hypocrisy and outward colouring; so that the καθ. τῇ κ. are οἱ ῥεραντισμένοι τὰς καρδίας ἀπὸ συνειδήσεως πονηρᾶς (Heb 10:22). ‘Hoc est mundum cor, quod est simplex cor: et quemadmodum lumen hoc videri non potest nisi oculis mundis, ita nec Deus videtur nisi mundum sit illud quo videri potest.’ (Aug. in loc.) But there is also allusion to the nearer vision of God attained by progressive sanctification, of which St. Paul speaks, 2Co 3:18,—begun indeed in this life, but not perfected till the next, 1Co 13:12. Read the magnificent conclusion of Augustine De Civit. Dei, xxii. 29 (vol. vii. Migne), in which he enters more deeply into the meaning of this verse.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(L) 8. Blessed are the pure in heart: because they shall see God.]

καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ] Cf. Psa 23:4.—ὄψονται] Cf. Psa 10:7. For the vision of God as the aim of the religious life, cf. Philo, De Vit. Contempl. ii. 473: The Therapeutæ aim at vision τοῦ Ὄντος. They persevere μέχρις ἂν τὸ ποθούμενον ἴδωσιν. Leg. Alleg. i. 115: the wise man is θεωρίᾳ τῶν θείων τρεφόμενος. De Vit. Mos. ii. 106: Moses by his ascetic life entered into the darkness where God was, τὰ ἀθέατα φύσει θνητῇ κατανοῶν. Cf. Friedländer, Die Relig. Beweg. pp. 258 ff., from whom these references are taken. Cf. also Rev 22:4, 1Jn 3:2 ὀφόμεθα αὐτὸν καθώς ἐστιν, and Philo, de Abr. ii. 10: ὅτῳ δὲ ἐξεγένετο μὴ μόνον τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα ἐν τῇ φύσει διʼ ἐπιστήμης καταλαμβάνειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν πατέρα καὶ ποιητὴν τῶν συμπάντων ὁρᾶν, ἐπʼ ἄκρον εὐδαιμονίας ἴστω προεληλυθώς.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.