Cleanliness is next to Godliness is an old church saying. Is it actually in the Bible? No, but in Matthew Chapter 15 we find the Pharisees challenging Jesus and the disciples on why they break the Jewish traditions by not washing their hands. This seems reasonable. We should wash our hands before eating… right?

Wash Your Hands

Of course, but here is a question for you dear reader. Is it a sin against God if you don’t wash your hands? The reason I ask is cleanliness next to godliness is because the Pharisees were teaching that if one did not follow the customs to the letter of the law then they were sinning. I could make myself sick if I eat with unwashed hands but have a sinned against God?

¹⁷ Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? ¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. ²⁰ These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” Matthew 15:17-20 ESV

Washed Hands; Dirty Heart

Imagine Jesus telling the disciples you might get sick from eating with unwashed hands but this will be passed out of the body. He is speaking of the physical world with this statement. That sickness does not impact your spiritual nature. This is where Jesus pivots to the spiritual truth. What comes out of the mouth, the words you speak, reflects the heart of the person and their spiritual condition.

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. Matthew 15:18 ESV

Cleanliness of Heart is Next to Godliness

Jesus gets right to the heart of the matter, pun intended, where he wants everyone to understand that God judges the heart and our intent. Cleanliness of the heart is next to Godliness. What is spiritual and eternal is what is in our heart and we can understand the heart by what comes out of our mouth.

but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. James 3:8-12 ESV

Whitewashed Appearance

Do you have fits of anger? What about lustful sexual desires? Are you contemplating a few lies to get what you want? These words and thoughts are a reflection of your heart and they make you unclean. That carry you away from any semblance of godliness.

²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Matthew 23:27-28 ESV

Clean Hearts

I have taught all kinds of small groups including youth groups. One young woman, from a broken homelife, was attending my class and said something to me that highlights hypocrisy of people. She complemented me by telling me that I am a nice person. I responded by saying there is no one who does good in the eyes of God. She stopped me and said “no I mean you are genuinely nice. You are here teaching this with no motives other than you want to be here.” I caught what she was saying. She knows all kinds of “nice” people. On the surface they are nice as Jesus said “outwardly appear beautiful” but inwardly these nice people she knew had other selfish motives. They wanted something from her. She had interacted with people her entire life whose hearts did not meat the standard of cleanliness is next to Godliness. Their hearts were evil and she understood they had intent that did not match the physical appearance.

Dear reader. God judges not on what things you do like ceremonial washing of the hands. He judges us on the cleanliness of our hearts and that is what leads us to Godliness.