Repent or Perish: Sin of Uncleanness

Paul tells us in the fifth chapter of the book of Galatians that those who are unclean will not inherit the kingdom of God. What is uncleanness though? According to the 1828 Webster's Dictionary  uncleanness means several different things. First, uncleanness is "foulness; dirtiness; filthiness." Foulness is defined as "Offensive to the senses; revolting; Having a bad odor or taste; rotten or putrid; containing dirt, impurities, or other foreign matter." Dirtiness is defined as "Covered or marked with dirt or an unwanted substance." Filthiness is defined as "Covered or smeared with filth; disgustingly dirty." All of these are essentially in the physical sense. Obviously it does not seem Paul was referring to the physical sense of uncleanness although I would recommend remaining clean in this sense in order to not be "revolting" to other people's sense of smell.

Two other definitions for uncleanness according to Webster's are "Moral impurity; defilement by sin; sinfulness" and "Lewdness; incontinence." These definitions are what Paul is really referring to. Let's consider these in more detail.


Moral impurity - Moral according to Webster's is "relating to the practice, manners or conduct of men as social beings in relation to each other, and with reference to right and wrong. The word moral is applicable to actions that are good or evil, virtuous or vicious, and has reference to the law of God as the standard by which their character is to be determined." Impure is defined as "not pure, foul, obscene, unchaste, lewd, unclean, defiled by sin, unholy." Therefore one could conclude that moral impurity is any action, conduct, and manners demonstrated toward others in evil, foul, unclean, sinful, and unholy ways.

Defilement by sin - To be defiled is to "make unlcean, render foul or dirty in the general sense" but also and more specifically to morality is to "taint, in a moral sense; to corrupt; to vitiate; to render impure with sin." Therefore if someone sins, they are defiling themselves before God and others and specifically tainting and corrupting their morality.

Sinfulness - This is defined as "the quality of being sinful or contrary to the divine will; wickedness; iniquity; criminality; corruption; depravity; as the sinfulness of an action; the sinfulness of thoughts or purposes." This is significant when it comes to a human being. Uncleanness is simply being full of sin (and only one sin in a person's life causes them to be "full" of sin). The unclean and sinful person is considered to be wicked and corrupt not only in action, but also in their thoughts and their motives (purposes).

Lewd - Webster's defines this as "Given to the unlawful indulgence of lust; addicted to fornication or adultery; dissolute; lustful; wicked; vile; licentious." This covers several different aspects of uncleanness. Yielding to the lust of the flesh and the lust of eyes would be considered sinful and cause one to be unclean. Notice also a lewd/unclean person is dissolute which means "Loose in behavior and morals; given to vice and dissipation." One who is guilty of dissipation demonstrates "irregular course of life" and wanders from one thing to another in the pursuit of pleasure. This usually reflects a careless life that often time results in poor health and misfortune.

Incontinent - This is defined as "want of restraint of the passions or appetites; free or uncontrolled indulgence of the passions or appetites, as of anger; want of restraint of sexual appetite - used of either sex, but appropriately of the male sex - incontinence in men is the same as chastity in women."

To summarize uncleanness, it is a sin that corrupts a person's morals, conduct, actions, manners and therefore causes one to defile themselves through various means such materialism, worldliness, lack of self-control and misuse of sexual relations (e.g., fornication and adultery) and even anger. This issue of uncleanness is manifesting itself in American morals at a minimum. According to this survey, "Research recently conducted by the Barna Group surveying 1,000 participants across the nation shows that the broader culture in the United States is confused between the difference of right and wrong, with many Americans showing an increasing concern over the declining moral condition witnessed in most demographic groups. Secularism and religious skepticism are on the rise as the divide between Bible-believing Christians and mainstream society continues to grow further apart." The survey notes that many people give credit to the Bible for establishing right and wrong behavior however many also believe one's culture determines the basis for one's moral code. The research indicates that a brand new form of morality is surfacing as well. For example, the new moral code consists of six tenets:

1. The best way of finding yourself is by looking within yourself
2. People should not criticize someone else's life choices
3. To be fulfilled in life, you should pursue the things you desire most
4. The highest goal of life is to enjoy it as much as possible
5. People can believe whatever they want, as long as those beliefs don't affect society
6. Any kind of sexual expression between two consenting adults is acceptable

This form of moral code is termed "morality of self-fulfillment." "The highest good, according to our society, is 'finding yourself' and then living by 'what’s right for you,'" the polling expert declares. “There is a tremendous amount of individualism in today’s society, and that’s reflected in the Church, too.” What is causing this swing in morality? The survey states that the "religion of godless secular humanism as a major influence that has diverted American from using the Bible as their spiritual and moral guide....Even though the Bible is black and white in regards to laying out the moral path for man to take, it is argued that those who proclaim themselves to be Christians in the U.S. are as lost — when it comes to morality — as those outside the Church."

None of this is good. It is at it's simplicity uncleanness spawned by the power of darkness in this world which originates from Satan himself. Too many people are falling prey to this moral code and are guilty of uncleanness. May the Holy Spirit convict people of this through Christians sharing the gospel and the truth of God's Word. May the Word of God be lovingly and compassionately preached and taught, whether in good times or bad, such that people will be reproved, rebuked, and exhorted with all longsuffering (II Timothy 4:2) in order for them to be saved from an unclean life.