It may be less popular today, but you have probably heard the sentiment of this title. Perhaps your mother said it to you growing up, encouraging you to take a shower or clean up your room. Indeed, the analogy of cleanliness with Godliness runs deep in the Bible, and in many other faith traditions because it relates to the ancient and enduring truth of our Holy Creator!
When the prophet Isaiah had his vision of the Lord and received the call to be His witness, here is some of what he recounted. “And one cried to another (angelic being, “seraphim”) and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory’… Then I said, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:3-5). A seraphim then touched his lips with a live coal from the altar of the Lord.
The Bible talks about sin as being “unclean”, and makes a powerful analogy between burning or washing away germs, pathogens, and pollution and cleansing ourselves free of sin. The analogy is so effective because the spread and effects of infection, pollution, and sin are so similar. To be holy is, by definition, to be free from sin, just as to be clean is, by definition, to be free from dirt and germs.
The Levitical Laws of the Jewish people specifically prohibited contact with dead things, body fluids, and blood products, classifying them as “unclean”. Fluids issuing from the body spread disease. The wisdom of these laws is especially relevant today in the face of communicable diseases. The Jewish priests had to wash themselves and their clothes before they made atonement for sin (Lev 8:6, Num 8:6,7). They had to be clean. As the Jewish priests approached the altar in the Tabernacle of God, they had to wash their hands and feet in the special basin for washing (the laver) (Ex 40:30-32).
Per the law of increasing entropy (disorder, decay) sugar, salt, tea, and coffee spread out in a cup of water to their greatest degree of “disorder”. So does infection. Infection spreads through dispersion of microscopic pathogens, bacteria, and viruses. And pollution spreads as well. Traces of the early and now banned pesticide DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) for instance, can be found in Antarctica and other places where it has never been used. The Bible tells us that sin spreads to affect its surroundings. “A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough,” (1 Cor 5:6, Gal 5:9, Hos 7:4). Or, “…uncleanness and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness” (Romans 6:19). Sin spreads from person to person, increasing “disorder” and chaos as people strive selfishly and arrogantly with one another (James 3:14-16).
It is not surprising, therefore, that sin, infection, and pollution are related in Scripture. Infection, pollution, and sin are all a contamination of the order, elegance, and beauty of God’s creation. Sin has brought forth decay and death (Romans 5:12, Romans 8:20-23). And the spread of infection is a death process, while pollutants spread infection or themselves spread death (e.g., cancer).
Christian baptism in water is a “cleansing” operation. What is communicated through baptism is the washing away of our sin. This spiritual “washing away” is necessary to exit the kingdom of this world and enter the kingdom of God. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5).
The Bible is amazingly accurate and complete in dealing with both 1) the physical relationship between cleanliness, body fluids, and the risk of infection, and 2) the ceremonial analogy between contamination and spread of sin, and contamination and spread of disease and "uncleanness".
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