– In the AT, among the various prescriptions determined by the Lord to the Israelites, there was that of legal purity. This had an external character and demanded from the people a daily care not to become impure.
– The law determined the animals that could be consumed and sentenced anyone who touched corpses to be unclean:
Lev 11,1-47 : Of all the animals […] you may eat: any animal that has cloven hoofs […] and that chews the cud.
– It dealt with the impurity of the woman who had given birth:
Lev 12,1-6 : When a woman gives birth to a male child, she will be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her menstruation.
– Declared lepers and similar sick people unclean:
Lev 13,1-46 : When a man has a tumor, an inflammation or a white spot on the skin of his body.
– Extended impurity to the clothes and to the house of the sick:
Leviticus 13,47-59 : When leprosy appears in a woolen garment […] he will isolate the object affected by the disease for seven days.
Leviticus 14:33 : The owner of the house will go and inform the priest, saying: “It seems to me that there is something like a leprosy stain in my house”.
– Legislation on the sexual impurities of men:
Lev 15,1-18 : Every man who has gonorrhea will be unclean for that very reason. The impurity is in the flux.
– And the woman:
Lev 15,19-33 : When a woman has her flow of blood, she will be unclean for seven days.
– To regain legal purity, sacrifices were offered, such as, for example, what is foreseen for a woman 66 days after giving birth:
Leviticus 12,6-8 : The priest will offer them to the Lord, and make atonement for her, who will be cleansed from the flow of her blood.
– Once a year, there was the Day of Atonement. Initially the priest offered sacrifice for his own sins:
Leviticus 16:1-19 : Aaron will enter the sanctuary: he will take a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
– And then passed the sins of the Israelites onto a goat that was sent into the desert:
Leviticus 16:20-34 : After completing the atonement of the sanctuary, the tent of meeting and the altar, Aaron will bring the live goat.
– In the NT Jesus reveals that impurity does not come from the outside, but from the heart:
Mt 15,15-20 : Because it is from the heart that evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, impurities come.
– And proclaims blessed by God the pure in heart:
Mt 5,8 : Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God!
Mt 7,21-23 : Not everyone who says to me: Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
– A pure heart is obtained by the Word of God and by new life in Christ:
Jn 15 :3 : You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
Col 3,1-17 : For you are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
1Pt 1,22-24 : In obedience to the truth, you have purified your souls to practice sincere brotherly love.
– Paul declares that the prohibitions of the Law of Moses are no longer valid: the important thing is pure conscience:
Col 2,20-21 : If in Christ you are dead to the principles of this world, why do you still let yourself be imposed prohibitions?
1Tm 1,3-11 : You should remain in Ephesus to prevent certain people from teaching extravagant doctrines.
2Tm 2,14-26 : Conjure them, by God, to avoid discussions of words, which only serve to perdition.
