2 Corinthians 7:1, commentary and pictures

Having these promises that God will dwell with His people and be their Father when they come out and are separate means cleansing self from every defilement of body and spirit and completing holiness in reverence for God.
This cleansing is each person's own thorough heart work of putting away sin, selfishness, pride, and impurity of thought and life, not mere outward show.
It is done by receiving truth in the heart and living it daily, through faith in Christ's righteousness, surrender, prayer, and beholding Christ until His image is reproduced.
It requires refusing fellowship with unrighteousness and worldliness, and denying appetite and harmful indulgence to keep the body temple pure and sound for service.
Only those thus cleansed and made without spot are fitted for pure heaven and ready for Christ's coming and immortality.

Promises Calling to Cleansing

The therefore reaches back to the promises that God will dwell in His people and walk in them, will be their God, will receive them, and will be a Father to them as His sons and daughters. Those promises are given to those who come out from among unbelievers and are separate and touch not the unclean thing. In their light there is to be no unequal yoking with unbelievers, no fellowship of righteousness with unrighteousness, no communion of light with darkness, no concord of Christ with Belial, no part of believers with infidels, and no agreement of the temple of God with idols. This separation forbids alliance with unbelieving and worldly elements, requires obedience in marriage by refusing an unequal yoke, keeps the body as the temple of the living God free from defilement, and shuts out licentiousness that would destroy physical and mental powers. The charge rests with special urgency on those baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost and on the sacred work of the ministry, calling to a higher standard that gives no offense so the ministry is not blamed, to watching and praying, to purifying the heart through grace, to making worldly considerations secondary, to living no longer in pride and self-indulgence but to the Lord under solemn covenant, to using all entrusted capabilities and gifts to His glory, to bearing God's sign of obedience to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment as subjects of Christ's kingdom and partakers of the divine nature, to seeking the things above where Christ sits, and to remembering the divine signature declaring them sons and daughters.

Having these promises means becoming members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, and heirs with Christ to the immortal inheritance, the exceeding and eternal weight of glory. It is preparation for entering a pure heaven and holy city with streets of gold and the tree of life, for sharing heaven's joy whose worth is measured by the life of God, and for meeting the Lord at His soon coming. Keeping unspotted from the world belongs to that readiness, for seeking the world's honor is incompatible with receiving heaven's honor and earthly honor cannot be expected alongside heaven's honor. The cleansing therefore includes physical as well as moral purity, turning from pollution and from every defilement of body and spirit, and it has double force because of the nearness of that coming. As people put things in good order and dress suitably when they expect a visit from loved and honored friends, so those who truly wait for Christ adopt clean, pure, practical hygiene, for purity of flesh and spirit is required for heirship and hygienic reform is its practical expression.

The promises are fulfilled as God's conditions are met, and giving the whole heart to God and maintaining cleansing through daily tests of faithfulness are the conditions for claiming them, when the faithful are recognized as sons and daughters. Having them means not receiving the grace of God in vain but rising to the exalted possibility of excellence in humanity by revealing Christ's character in works as appointed chosen representatives to an apostate world. The work is now, for now is ever the eternal now and there is no tomorrow that is ours, and these conditions are principles of great importance that in no case should be neglected. They are claimed by faith through humble earnest prayer, by conversion and reconversion of fathers, mothers, and children under covenant to serve the Lord, and by impressing the promises and the law deeply on heart and mind. This calls for soul, body, and spirit to be converted, for grace and power to be claimed day by day, for refusing conformity in spirit and practice to the world's standard and maxims, and for separation from ungodly practices and intimate partnerships that draw away from truth.

The verse belongs to instruction higher than any education found in the world and is to be studied diligently, for following God's word and its instruction leads to righteousness that shows understanding of God's will. Students are to climb higher than the world's standard of knowledge by following where Jesus led, and teachers are to beware of sowing seeds of unbelief. The cleansing required is putting away unbelief and impure habits of thought and every defilement of body and mind, because the crowning glory of Christ's character is holiness, the angels bow before Him crying Holy, holy, holy, and God is glorious in holiness. It is accomplished by studying the character of God and by beholding Christ in faith and prayer, which makes the beholder become like Him in holiness. Applied to converts, it is an ongoing call to remain faithful, to become strong in faith and ardent in zeal, and to devote themselves wholeheartedly to God and the work of advancing His kingdom.

Cleansing Flesh and Spirit

Filthiness of the flesh and spirit means every kind of defilement of body and spirit, outward conduct and inner life, and both must be cleansed and kept clean in order to be holy. Bodily purity is part of sanctification, not an addition to it, so cleanliness of body belongs with cleanliness of soul. Cleansing the character from every spot is Christian duty, with the human spirit brought into harmony with the Spirit of Christ and habits conformed to Christ's will in obedience to His requirements. The cleansing entails self-control, turning from excess, and choosing self-denial and purity, growing in holiness through reverence for God as a lived transformation rather than a covering that hides sin. The work is more than surface change, pressing onward in cleansing and holiness while journeying toward home.

Cleansing is thorough heart-work that transforms from the world's corruptions rather than merely altering the outside, pursuing holiness with all possible effort while God helps and makes strong through Christ. It means casting out every idol, a hard work still required even of professing Christians and teachers, and those who do it gain moral superiority and a refined, sanctified intellect that blends compassion and mercy with justice toward the erring and manifests divine compassion toward children and youth. It applies to thoughts, speech, morals, and conduct, including refusal to treat sacred things as common. Accumulated rubbish must be removed by cultivating personal piety, putting away evil words, being imbued with the Spirit, and having the lips touched and purified, issuing in earnest, vigilant, watchful, waiting and working service. Each one must take self in hand and by faith lay hold on the all-sufficient Redeemer who pardons sin, becoming clean from every defilement of body and mind and completing holy character in reverence for God.

That individual cleansing is done by repentance, confession, and forsaking all selfishness and by striving for the deep earnest love of Jesus, producing the love of God in the heart with sincere love for one another, brotherly kindness, Christian courtesy and tenderness, and preparing to receive the Holy Spirit whose sufficiency gives grace, power and help in every time of need. Defects of character must be overcome and put away with confession and humility before God without delay so that offerings may be acceptable, for judgment will be completed and some will be found wanting, while entire surrender brings fullness of joy. Selfishness, pride, desire for pre-eminence, self-sufficiency, unbelief, evil words, unkind actions, fretfulness, fault-finding, hatred, contention, strife, envy, jealousy, overbearing conduct, and every defect are to be put away, sin called by its right name, forsaken without delay, and uncleanness emptied daily.

Cleansing includes keeping the body, God's temple, free from licentiousness and other defilement, for those who obey the word and love God will not abuse it, and it requires practical reform and deliberate shaping of a holy, blameless Christian character. It rejects knowingly sinful and sexually immoral conduct, which dishonors God and corrupts the soul. It means resisting sexual temptation, seeking purity of thought and imagination, making an entire reform with God's help, humbling the self and asking God for purity with confidence He will hear and help, without discouragement if health does not quickly improve, though prolonged violation of nature's laws may leave lasting effects. It requires turning from impurity in thought and action and relying in faith on God for strength and grace, resisting even the first impulse toward impure practices and cherishing virtue. Sinful practices can defile the whole person and corrupt character and, if continued, leave a person unfit for the holy city, yet no one is too corrupt to find strength, purity, and righteousness in Jesus by putting away sin, stopping wrongdoing, turning wholeheartedly to God, abiding in Christ to receive nourishment, growing in holiness, and overcoming as He overcame.

Bible sanctification is holiness by receiving truth in the heart and practicing it in life, cleansing from all moral impurity in outward life and inner spirit and continuing to become holy in reverence for God, not merely displaying outward show or resting in a momentary attainment. Sanctification is continual growth in grace with self to subdue and temptations to overcome, keeping receiving life and strength from Christ in order to bear fruit. Truth received into the heart purifies from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, sanctifies judgment, reforms life in sobriety, order and neatness, removes disunion, and joins inward purity with outward cleanliness and order, so that when truth does not produce this cleansing the fault is not in the truth but in failure to drink deeply enough from it. The call is not fulfilled by passively waiting for a supernatural force or for compulsion by a supernatural agency; God's word makes the duty clear, harmful associations must be rejected, evil overcome, whatever hinders discipleship given up, and each person must choose and work deliberately to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil, bringing truth into the home, praying over it, and living it daily. Claiming to believe the truth without being decidedly transformed in character by this cleansing and perfecting of holiness makes a person serve the devil with far more power and influence than if the truth had never been heard.

Human Work With Grace

Cleansing is each person's own active, persevering work that God will not do for another and that no one can do for another, and waiting passively for divine power to remove wrongs and errors without doing what is required leaves a person unprepared. Believers must take self in hand, correct errors, deny unhealthy appetites and passions, and do what they can to preserve a healthy body and sound mind so they can understand requirements, offer acceptable service, and grow in religious experience and holiness. This includes bringing appetite and bodily habits under control and entering health reform, for gluttony and lustful appetite enslave, cloud the intellect, dull moral sense and spiritual perception, weaken powers for service, and make sacred truth unappreciated, with tea, coffee, snuff, and swine's flesh named as bodily defilement harming health and weakening discernment of sacred things, the atonement, and the need for purity. Human effort does not earn salvation, for after people do what they can they are saved by mercy and power and made strong through Christ. Ministers and people acting together in this self-cleansing, with reform of eating, working, resting, and dressing and temperance in all things, prepares for the refreshing, the power of God, the third angel's message to which health reform is joined as closely as arm and hand to the body, the loud cry, and translation.

The work requires humbling the heart, repentance, and surrender of body, soul, and spirit to God who gives abundant grace, keeping the heart closed to sin and selfishness, following Christ's example and yoke, and laying hold on the Redeemer by faith. It requires a will fully submitted, dying to self, sacrificing pride, and following divine leading wholeheartedly, putting away sins and turning wholeheartedly to God, for even those deeply stained receive strength, grace, purity, and righteousness, have sin-polluted garments removed and are clothed in righteousness. Those transformed by renewing grace and abiding as living branches of the heavenly Vine receive nourishment and the Spirit, walk as Christ walked, overcome as He overcame, show spiritual life, bear fruit to God's glory, and may be exalted with Him. Persisting in transgression, breaking even one precept of the law, leaves no place in the royal family and no welcome into God's city.

Perfecting holiness is a daily, lifelong, constant onward march requiring great and continual labor, not an instantaneous or momentary attainment at which full holiness can be claimed. As truth and the Spirit reveal defects of character, believers put away wrongdoing and every impurity of body and mind, die to self, are converted anew, keep overcoming self and resisting temptation, and bring the whole person including thoughts into subjection to Christ's will. This is done only in living connection with Christ, as every branch must draw life and strength from the parent vine to bear fruit, with Jesus working as refiner and purifier until His image is fully reproduced and reflected, when His people are perfect and holy and ready for translation. It means having Christ formed within as the hope of glory through individual experience and individual knowledge, being rooted and grounded and established in the faith by the teachings of the Word, linking up with Him, and walking by faith and prayer, for truth has power to sanctify the receiver. It means walking uprightly in the light through practical obedience and deliberate thought and effort to represent Christ, putting away gloom, beholding Jesus to become like Him, pressing toward home and continuing to advance rather than being satisfied with merely claiming sonship, with the law in the heart and steps that do not slide, lived by faith, in the Spirit, in truth, in love, and in newness of life on the path to heaven as the only path of safety.

This cleansing is the inward work corresponding to Christ's cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, entered by faith with confession when yielding to temptation and trust in His presentation of confession before the Father to make atonement. It is not achieved by law-keeping in human strength but by Christ's righteousness received through faith, which upholds the law, for holiness that tramples the law is false and holiness includes obedience to the holy law, with law-keepers still to perfect holiness and reveal God by rejoicing and praising Him for what He has done. This set-apart condition belongs with keeping the seventh-day Sabbath as the sign between God and His people, and those who would share in the Saviour's mediation must make perfect holiness their duty that must not be displaced by other pursuits. They must devote time once spent on pleasure, display, or gain-seeking to earnest, prayerful study of the Word of truth, guarding time and attention and refusing distractions, for understanding the sanctuary and the investigative judgment, including the position and work of Christ as High Priest and His atoning sacrifice and mediation, is necessary for the faith required at this time, for exercising faith, and for fulfilling the place intended as each faces judgment.

Separation From Worldliness

Because of the promises that God will dwell and walk in his people as their God and receive them as a Father to sons and daughters when they come out, are separate, and touch not the unclean, his beloved are to cleanse themselves from every moral impurity of body and spirit and grow in holiness out of reverence for him. That cleansing means refusing the unequal yoke in every form, for there is no fellowship of righteousness with unrighteousness, no communion of light with darkness, no concord of Christ with Belial, no part of believers with infidels, and no agreement of the temple of God with idols. In practice this forbids alliance in marriage with unbelievers and keeping life as God's holy temple, and it forbids linking with wicked men to gain strength and influence, especially in business relations, since such confederacy dishonors God and he will give no prosperity to it, leaving no one excusable who does it. Those baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are therefore to make worldly considerations secondary, no longer living in pride and self-indulgence but living to the Lord under solemn covenant, using all entrusted capabilities and gifts to his glory, bearing his sign in obedience to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment as subjects of Christ's kingdom and partakers of the divine nature, seeking things above where Christ sits, and remembering his signature upon them declaring them his sons and daughters.

Separation is from the world in spirit and practice while being kept from evil and sanctified through truth, not a physical removal from the world, and it requires coming out from among them and refusing to remain in the camp of the world to gain standing and influence. It forbids living for selfish interests and worldly cares, and forbids joining worldly amusements, festivities, fashions, habits and pleasures, as well as alliances, secret societies and oath-bound associations that draw away from truth. The redeemed are to be in the world but not of the world, showing sonship with the heavenly King by modesty in apparel, words and actions, and by wearing the pilgrim's dress and manifesting the pilgrim's spirit as true witnesses to present truth. This wholehearted conversion is necessary for present and future good, is to be contemplated, prayed over, carried into the home and lived each day, and is shown by practical effort in which profession becomes upright walking in the light, with God's law in the heart, steps firm in Christ, constant growth in spirituality, righteousness and sanctification, every faculty more useful, and the mind closely joined to Christ through self-denial and persevering separation from sin and iniquity.

The call presses with special force on those entrusted with God's work and on all in sacred trust and positions of responsibility, including ministers, teachers, physicians and directors. Their work is to be marked by spiritual grace rather than mixed with common things, sustained by daily conversion and fervent prayer and growth in purity and holiness through God's Spirit. Perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord requires them to examine themselves, know and control their conduct, practice daily self-examination, watch and pray against temptation, identify weak points and guard them so that weak points become strengths, lest those who preach to others fail to develop Christian character and be cast away. They are to put away unbelief, impure thought, temper and unsanctified words, and to let no business keep them from advancing in the divine life or from having Jesus with them, changing any business that does so, with physicians who profess faith giving up tobacco as a defilement of the body that corrupts the blood and undermines the nervous system.

Families are to claim the promises by covenant and follow the conditions of Christian experience, with fathers, mothers and children needing conversion and reconversion as they respond. That cleansing keeps the soul clean before God by putting away every particle of selfishness and all impurity of body and mind and living for God every day in reverence, spending no money or time on self-serving bodily decoration such as flowers or feathers, since that waste can cost a soul, and using the time instead to open the Bible and awaken perishing souls ready to die. Christ died so every soul would become a missionary, so lay members must not leave the burden on ministers but cleanse themselves and share it, that ministers may go forth freely and the prayers of the church follow them like sharp sickles into the harvest field, rising above a world that has crazed, benumbed and paralyzed the mind with the eye fixed on Christ as the only hope. In the home this means thorough work to cultivate righteousness, teaching children respect for one another and for the Lord's teachings, training them to develop physical and mental powers for good purpose, to bless society by influence, to adorn the Christian life, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God, while church members stand pledged to work together with God.

Temperance and Bodily Purity

Cleansing from defilement of flesh and spirit includes denying gratification of appetite and practicing temperance, for intemperate eating, gluttony and excess harm body and brain, impair judgment, hinder clear rational thought and action, cloud intellect, dull moral sense and spiritual perception, weaken powers for service, and make the heart less responsive to the word and Spirit. Bodily and spiritual purity belong together in a life wholly consecrated to God, and holiness is perfected through reverence for God by refusing sinful indulgences that damage health and keeping every power fit for service. Health of mind and body is essential to healthy religious experience and progress in holiness, requiring persevering personal effort to attain good bodily health, with drawing near to God and humbling self before Him enabling holiness of character to be perfected in His fear. Putting away everything that corrupts body and spirit therefore includes intemperance in eating and drinking, lustful passion, fleshly desires and other wickedness, living under the Spirit's influence rather than bodily impurity.

Hurtful indulgences that defile the temple must be given up entirely by faith, not merely reduced, including tobacco in smoking, chewing and snuff, tea, coffee, swine's flesh, port, liquor, fermented wine, strong drink and alcohol. They are treated as harmful idols and fleshly lusts warring against the soul that taint system and soul, pollute the body that should be temple for the Holy Spirit, corrupt blood, undermine nerves, enslave, damage health, weaken ability to discern sacred things, value the atonement and understand truth, and separate users from those seeking holiness and advancing in the divine life. Giving them up even at cost of sacrifice or suffering completes purification, brings heavenly light and true patience, keeps the body under and in subjection in union with Christ and ministering angels against Satan's effort to control body and spirit, and turns eating and drinking to God's glory instead of a curse seen in family, church, prayer meeting and children. Christ overcame appetite in the wilderness temptation as example of self-denial and self-control giving power for this victory, and obedience in controlling appetite and rejecting dissipation, gluttony and fleshly lusts rebukes wasteful gratification, frees means sacrificed to hurtful lust for the Lord's treasury, and makes worship acceptable.

Health reform is the practical expression of this cleansing, as closely joined to the third angel's message as hand to body. It means knowing the physical frame as fearfully and wonderfully made, denying unhealthy and depraved appetites and passions, keeping appetite in subjection with body servant to mind and not mind to body, living on plain simple food, obeying health laws, and doing what one can to preserve healthy body and sound mind in order to understand God's requirements and offer acceptable service. Human effort does not earn salvation, for after people do what they can they are saved by mercy and power, cooperating with natural agencies, prayer and Christ the Restorer who imparts His life bringing strength for body and soul, with intelligent care of brain, bone and muscle and cleansing of soul from impurity leading to reform in many other respects toward virtue and holiness. Sound bodies and clear minds help receive last-day truths and prepare for Christ's coming and immortality, fitting a peculiar people purified unto Christ and zealous of good works for translation without seeing death at the blessed hope, standing without fault before God and as far ahead of others as their exalted profession requires.

Cleanliness Order and Daily Growth

Real purity of spirit leads outward into cleanliness and order, for cleansing from all defilement of flesh and spirit joins physical habits with moral purity as coming from the same source. Keeping the body clean, with clothing, house, premises, cooking utensils and surroundings kept clean, belongs to being pure before God who desires to dwell with His people. Unsanitary conditions, disorder, untidiness and offensive smells are to be removed, with personal faults corrected and dress made modest, healthful, orderly, neat and tidy. Carelessness in dress and home repels others and makes profession vain and undermines witness, while neatness, tidiness, diligence and order adorn Christian life and fit followers of Christ. Cleanliness, health and purity of spirit are Christian adornments, welcoming angels, and this urgent discipline of purity prepares people for heaven where all is clean and in harmony.

Perfecting holiness in reverence for God comes by learning of Christ and looking earnestly to Him to catch His Spirit. It begins with hungering and thirsting after righteousness, longing for purity of heart and fellowship with the Spirit, praying and watching unto prayer, keeping the heart with all diligence, and being lowly in self-estimation so that God is distinctly discerned. Beholding Christ as the pattern in faith and prayer transforms believers to become like Him, walking in the light by deliberate use of thought and will to represent Him in sweetness of character. That walk puts away gloom, abandons wrong inclinations and habits carried over from the former life, cleanses outward conduct and inward character, and keeps advancing in spiritual life rather than resting satisfied with merely claiming sonship. The path of obedience is the path to heaven and the only path of safety, requiring wholehearted devotion, giving Christ the best affections, obeying His will fully and remaining steadfast despite ridicule, growing toward the fullness of Christ in pure feelings, pure and tender words, kindness, courtesy, neatness of dress and walking in love.

Growth comes through appointed means, with daily conversion and fervent prayer accompanying increase in purity and holiness through the Spirit, keeping ministerial and teaching work marked by spiritual grace rather than mixed with common things. Humbling the heart before God and cleansing the soul temple from all impurity and defilement in heart and home prepares the way for the Holy Spirit to dwell and for God to hear prayer and bless remedies. Cleansing of heart, mind and body belongs to the life of conversion, bringing the soul into conformity with God's will, with self put out of sight and self and will dying so that Jesus may appear and workers may be filled with power and receive a powerful influence for truth. Earnest study of the Word and of God's character, obeying truth, taking heed to rebuke and warning, and cooperating with Christ are the way this preparation is made and acceptable service is rendered. This cleansing is not produced by emotional excitement, but by the quiet, rational work of the Spirit upon mind and emotions unto right feelings and a faultless life.

Ready for Heavenly Kingdom

Cleansing must be done now without delay, for opportunity is limited and half-way work is not accepted. Heaven is eternal life, and reaching it requires each person's own work of cleansing from every defilement of body and mind and completing holiness in reverence for God, no matter what others say or do. This includes honest dealing, refusing to scheme, trick, or steal even when robbed or made to lose by the trickery of others, and living out the faultless character Christ displayed in humanity when tempted in every point yet standing unsullied without yielding. Perfection of holiness is required to be ready for Christ's soon return and to see the King in His beauty, and nothing short of it is enough, whether to die in the Lord or to be translated to heaven. It means not treating any evil course as a light matter, remembering past sins, warning others of danger, walking humbly and carefully with eyes fixed on the Leader so feet make straight paths and others led into false paths are helped back. Those who are ready have put away every sin and iniquity by overcoming now rather than waiting for an easier time that may never come, for when probation closes and the final sentence is pronounced condition is fixed, and remaining filthy means eternal loss. Becoming clean comes by coming to the Lord with confession and genuine repentance and humbling the soul under His mighty hand, making thorough work without stopping short, while He may be found and is nigh as the end of earth's history approaches, and He will abundantly pardon; only the pure in heart shall see God, endure His purity and glory in the courts of bliss, and stand with the righteous on the right hand in the great day.

Heaven is pure and holy and nothing that defiles can enter there, so those who will pass through the gates of the city of God must here be clothed with inward and outward purity without spot or wrinkle. In the last days, with Christ soon coming to take His people to the mansions He is preparing, cleansing from all defilement of flesh and spirit and completing holiness in the fear of God answers the promises of being received as sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty upon coming out, being separate, and not touching the unclean thing. Those professing this high calling, including those preparing to be translated without seeing death, should excel in good works rather than lag behind others, growing in holiness out of reverence for God. Purity is both outward and inward, every kind of bodily and inward impurity removed and holiness formed in life and character in reverence for God. Genuine faith cleanses the soul and works by love, while mere belief in facts about Christ does not cleanse or save; those who would enter the city must put away everything that defiles and obey His commandments. God is pure and cannot bear impurity, so cleansing the soul from all filthiness of spirit and purity of character fit people to enter the heavenly gates and receive the crown of life.

This preparation readies for Christ's soon coming, the refreshing, the latter rain, and the loud cry, by departing from all iniquity, confessing and forsaking every known and hidden sin, overcoming self and temptation, and standing in Christ's righteousness with fullness of joy. All who name the name of Christ are to purify the soul by obeying the truth, while those who profess godliness yet rush recklessly, insensible of danger, controlled by impulse and gross passion, build on sand while flattering themselves they are riveted to the eternal Rock and fill out a dark life-record meeting fearful retribution in the Judgment. Even those who have corrupted their ways, partaken of abounding iniquity, and blackened the soul with sin can still turn, take hold of Christ's strength, and find in Him peace, power, and grace to become more than conquerors in His name. No longer playing with temptation, believers urgently put away every bodily and inner impurity, including appetite indulgence that ruins health and pollutes the soul, and quickly remove defects of character by submitting to God as a workman who hews, squares, and planes away rough edges, knots, and uneven surfaces to fit a person by grace for the heavenly building put together without ax or hammer. This refining, elevating, and transforming of the nature by sanctifying truth for the last days is required to be counted worthy to live with pure and holy angels, for clinging to self and refusing the trying fitting process leaves no place in the structure. Cleansing requires confessing and forsaking sin now, for delay is dangerous because sin brings weakness and darkness and leaves people open to temptation, and such cleansing prepares the heart to receive the latter rain. Salvation calls for persevering lifelong effort with self-denial, sacrifice, close study, and purification by the saving influence of God's Spirit, not naming Christ while copying the conduct and dress of worldly associates. Those desiring to put sin away have sufficient light to recognize sins and errors and are to earnestly remove them, for cherishing sin is hateful to God and separates from Him, no one is excused for lack of a personal warning by name, and refusing to put sin away leads to increasing darkness and loss of Heaven's light and of heaven itself.

God reproves, rebukes, corrects, and refines His commandment-keeping people to separate wickedness from them, pointing out sins and laying open iniquity so they are refined, sanctified, elevated, and finally exalted to His throne. He exposes and corrects sins so wickedness may be separated, and through this correction His people remove sin and perfect holiness in reverence for God. This is the way back near the close of time for those in responsible positions who have become lifted up by testimony of favor, lost sight of frailties, trusted own wisdom and judgment, and flattered themselves that God needs their aid; by accepting humiliation and by confession and sincere repentance turning to the Lord they perfect holiness and He renews His love to them. Those who accept their true condition, confess, sincerely repent, and turn from their own ways receive renewed love, but those who shut their eyes to their own sins and choose their own ways do not perfect holiness and are given up to blindness of mind and hardness of heart, walking in darkness toward fearful retribution in judgment.

Perfecting holiness cures feeble Christianity by making earthly things subordinate to the heavenly, living by the Word daily rather than conjecturing the future, doing thorough faithful work that upholds the law, showing love, brotherly kindness, courtesy, and tender words as living witnesses, and keeping fidelity under heavenly protection against Satan's arts. God's promises call believers to cleanse from every kind of impurity bodily and spiritual and to grow in holiness out of reverence for God, keeping the spirit pure as a temple for the Holy Ghost by devoting heart and mind to God, obeying all His commandments, and loving God wholly and neighbor as self, which is the loyalty required by Heaven. True Bible religion is conversion of the entire person, soul, body, and spirit, to become pure without and within, not merely covering moral and physical impurities like a garment. It forbids consecrated gluttony, devoted lust, and sanctified filthiness as false piety, and teaches how to live so as to promote the health and happiness favoring eternal life without neglecting the laws of present existence, since godliness carries promise for the present life and the life to come, lifting fallen beings to become real men and women pure here and glorified saints in the world to come. This purity is part of the conditions of salvation, meaning conformity to God's will in heart and life, for the natural heart resists God's law so feelings and thoughts must be restrained and brought under the sanctifying influence of grace received through faith, with self and its desires put to death. The life of faith denies ungodliness and worldly desires and follows Christ with self-denial and active effort, while Christ gives strength to those who strive to overcome. No one can be omnipotent, but all can cleanse from defilement of flesh and spirit, for hereditary tendencies to wrong need not be carried about, yet unless all selfishness is put away and self crucified no one can be holy as God is holy, and suspicious imagining quickened by circumstances must not be indulged lest it spoil character and ruin the soul; this cleansing is being born again of water and of the Spirit, without which no one can see or enter the kingdom of God.