A Disciplined Faith: Purity
Fr. Alan Andraeas, Prior
Navigator 2016-4
Fr. Alan Andraeas, Prior
Navigator 2016-4
“Be thou an example of the believers, in word,
in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”
1 Timothy 4:12
“Sex sells.” Or at least that’s the old advertising adage. And by old, I mean mostly within the past 50 years as scantily clad TV women drape themselves over car hoods, or squeeze into skintight jeans, or tease their men of what might happen that night if a particular kind of upholstery cleaner is added to the shop-ping cart. And men? It began by attracting the eye of the must-have girl by using Vitalis in their hair and High Karate aftershave on their faces—by the expressions of the girls, the innuendo was obvious. Over the years this ‘hyper-sexing’ of America found its way into talk shows, highway billboards, magazine covers, check-out line paperback novels, storefront displays, and internet pop-up ads; it’s everywhere; it’s intoxicating; and it works. Oh, we Americans may pre-tend to be the heirs and successors of some obscure notion of early national Puritanism but, in reality, we willingly jump headlong into this growing morass of sexual stimuli—even those who claim a living allegiance to Christ.
The first time I personally recognized the lure of this kind of imagery was in 1973. It was through a Hanes Beautymist Pantyhose commercial on TV. The camera began this long, slow trek along a pair of legs, starting at the toes and moving up the calves, knees, thighs—all quite stunning. I’m sure it prompted teenage boys everywhere to wonder just how far the camera would go and if this mystery body was wearing any clothes at all. And then everything turned sour. As the camera continued on its journey it passed over green silk shorts, a thicker and more muscular torso, and massive arms and shoulders until it reached the face of former New York Jets Quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer, Joe Namath. What?! The pitch was that if Beautymist Pantyhose could make the legs of Joe Namath look this good, imagine what it could do for you (and for only $1.69!). “Eeeewwwww!,” intoned a prime-time chorus of frustrated male imaginations. But there it was, the real endgame of our sexual revolution: betrayal, shame, disappointment, and empty promises. It was also the perfect mirror of how insane our culture was becoming and the direction it would take for the next 40 years.
Right now, the whole world, and especially the Church, is standing in a type of ancient Roman Colosseum. I would call it the “arena of porneia“. Porneia (and all the English words we derive from this ancient Greek word) isn’t so much a what as it is a who: perhaps the most toxic and demonic principality of this insatiable age; an agent of Satan who seeks to corrupt and ex-change God’s holy attribute of love within us with an evil doppelganger of lust. In Talmudic, Deuterocanonical (i.e., Tobit), and classical Christian literature his name is Asmodeus, one of the seven Princes of Hell who is linked to the seven cardinal vices. His principal vice, lust, is designed to twist sexual desire. Are we defenseless against this kind of foe? The tool we use to stand firm against this insidious enemy is the fifth of our external disciplines, the discipline of purity.
By purity we are referring to sexual purity. This is nothing more than what our grandparents and great grandparents used to call chastity; that old-fashioned term that means being innocent of all sexual situations that run contrary to Scripture. This, of course, is dependent on your current circumstances. If you are married, it means abiding in heterosexual fidelity; if you are single, then it means remaining in celibacy. It also means being modest or decent; in other words, free from the taint of all that is lewd. This discipline not only seeks to preserve one’s own purity but even takes into consideration how our own dress, talk, habits, or body language can help or hinder the purity of those around us. Let’s look at these three—fidelity, chastity, and modesty—in a little more detail.
As you can imagine, purity is the proper mode of life for all Christians. Paul reminds us of this in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are Gods.” Because we are created in the im-age of God (Genesis 1:27) and because He dwells within us (1 Corinthians 3:16), we are to treat our bodies and the bodies of others with the greatest of respect.
For those who are married, purity calls us to abstain from all sexual activity except within the context of Christian marriage (that is, be-tween one man and one woman). This sacramental union bids both spouses to be faithful to each other in every aspect of married life (in heart, mind, spirit, body, and imagination) for they have been made “one flesh” in Christ (Matthew 19:5; cf., Genesis 2:24; Mark 10:8; 1 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 5:31).
Those who are single—i.e., virgins, divorced, widowed—are also called to their own kind of purity (in heart, mind, spirit,
body, and imagination); a sexual purity in which they surrender their desires to Christ and serve Him through single-heartedness and abstinence until they enter into the holy state of marriage (cf., 1 Corinthians 7:25-35). This abstinence is a high calling from God and was originally considered as a consecrated order within the early Church—the Order of Virgins—and applied to both men and women. Because of its sacred nature, some may even be called by the Holy Spirit to live this way for the remainder of their lives, giving the sacrifice of their natural sexuality as a gift to the Lord (1 Corinthians 7:32).
Younger Christians are to be taught a healthy respect for their bodies and should be instructed in biblical morality; learning how to develop true friendships with those of the same and opposite sex and understanding that those around them are first and foremost the children of God; their own spiritual brothers and sisters. As they grow into physical maturity, they are to be mindful that members of the opposite sex are to be treated with the most respectful of intentions so as not to invoke unwanted passions (cf., 1 Timothy 4:12; 5:1b-2).
Purity is as much a Christian witness as it is a discipline, particularly when we take a visible stand against immorality, blurred gender roles, and the sexually saturated environment of our culture. How do we do this? By honoring God in our masculinity or femininity; by rejoicing in our singleness or in our marriages; by honoring our relationships with those of the opposite sex, particularly with our spouses as a mirror of Christ and His Bride (Ephesians 5:32); by reigning in and training our thoughts; by tempering our choice of literature or entertainment; and by promoting all things that draw us ever closer into the image of Christ.
Sexual purity is a state of perfection. Perhaps the only person to ever maintain this state was the incarnate Jesus of Nazareth. Enoch (“who walked with God”) and Job (“who eschewed evil”) were probably close seconds, but that means the rest of us will probably find ourselves stumbling, asking for forgiveness and strength, dusting ourselves off, and trying again. I don’t write those words so that we have permission to live in some kind of guilt-free failure but to help us realize that God fashioned us
with a keen sense of longing and passion. Our lives, however, were also designed to be a proving ground of that passion—a time of tempering—so that, in the end, they could be offered as a perfect, redeemed gift to the Lord in the same way a bride gives herself to her groom. In this case, the Bride will be the Church and the Groom will be Jesus Christ. After all, isn’t that the heavenly endgame of purity: rapturous, untainted passion between the King and the Queen of all that ever shall be?
Next time we’ll examine the last external discipline in Saint Brendan’s Rule of Life; the discipline of temperance.
Rejoice!
Fr. Alan Andraeas
in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”
1 Timothy 4:12
“Sex sells.” Or at least that’s the old advertising adage. And by old, I mean mostly within the past 50 years as scantily clad TV women drape themselves over car hoods, or squeeze into skintight jeans, or tease their men of what might happen that night if a particular kind of upholstery cleaner is added to the shop-ping cart. And men? It began by attracting the eye of the must-have girl by using Vitalis in their hair and High Karate aftershave on their faces—by the expressions of the girls, the innuendo was obvious. Over the years this ‘hyper-sexing’ of America found its way into talk shows, highway billboards, magazine covers, check-out line paperback novels, storefront displays, and internet pop-up ads; it’s everywhere; it’s intoxicating; and it works. Oh, we Americans may pre-tend to be the heirs and successors of some obscure notion of early national Puritanism but, in reality, we willingly jump headlong into this growing morass of sexual stimuli—even those who claim a living allegiance to Christ.
The first time I personally recognized the lure of this kind of imagery was in 1973. It was through a Hanes Beautymist Pantyhose commercial on TV. The camera began this long, slow trek along a pair of legs, starting at the toes and moving up the calves, knees, thighs—all quite stunning. I’m sure it prompted teenage boys everywhere to wonder just how far the camera would go and if this mystery body was wearing any clothes at all. And then everything turned sour. As the camera continued on its journey it passed over green silk shorts, a thicker and more muscular torso, and massive arms and shoulders until it reached the face of former New York Jets Quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer, Joe Namath. What?! The pitch was that if Beautymist Pantyhose could make the legs of Joe Namath look this good, imagine what it could do for you (and for only $1.69!). “Eeeewwwww!,” intoned a prime-time chorus of frustrated male imaginations. But there it was, the real endgame of our sexual revolution: betrayal, shame, disappointment, and empty promises. It was also the perfect mirror of how insane our culture was becoming and the direction it would take for the next 40 years.
Right now, the whole world, and especially the Church, is standing in a type of ancient Roman Colosseum. I would call it the “arena of porneia“. Porneia (and all the English words we derive from this ancient Greek word) isn’t so much a what as it is a who: perhaps the most toxic and demonic principality of this insatiable age; an agent of Satan who seeks to corrupt and ex-change God’s holy attribute of love within us with an evil doppelganger of lust. In Talmudic, Deuterocanonical (i.e., Tobit), and classical Christian literature his name is Asmodeus, one of the seven Princes of Hell who is linked to the seven cardinal vices. His principal vice, lust, is designed to twist sexual desire. Are we defenseless against this kind of foe? The tool we use to stand firm against this insidious enemy is the fifth of our external disciplines, the discipline of purity.
By purity we are referring to sexual purity. This is nothing more than what our grandparents and great grandparents used to call chastity; that old-fashioned term that means being innocent of all sexual situations that run contrary to Scripture. This, of course, is dependent on your current circumstances. If you are married, it means abiding in heterosexual fidelity; if you are single, then it means remaining in celibacy. It also means being modest or decent; in other words, free from the taint of all that is lewd. This discipline not only seeks to preserve one’s own purity but even takes into consideration how our own dress, talk, habits, or body language can help or hinder the purity of those around us. Let’s look at these three—fidelity, chastity, and modesty—in a little more detail.
As you can imagine, purity is the proper mode of life for all Christians. Paul reminds us of this in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are Gods.” Because we are created in the im-age of God (Genesis 1:27) and because He dwells within us (1 Corinthians 3:16), we are to treat our bodies and the bodies of others with the greatest of respect.
For those who are married, purity calls us to abstain from all sexual activity except within the context of Christian marriage (that is, be-tween one man and one woman). This sacramental union bids both spouses to be faithful to each other in every aspect of married life (in heart, mind, spirit, body, and imagination) for they have been made “one flesh” in Christ (Matthew 19:5; cf., Genesis 2:24; Mark 10:8; 1 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 5:31).
Those who are single—i.e., virgins, divorced, widowed—are also called to their own kind of purity (in heart, mind, spirit,
body, and imagination); a sexual purity in which they surrender their desires to Christ and serve Him through single-heartedness and abstinence until they enter into the holy state of marriage (cf., 1 Corinthians 7:25-35). This abstinence is a high calling from God and was originally considered as a consecrated order within the early Church—the Order of Virgins—and applied to both men and women. Because of its sacred nature, some may even be called by the Holy Spirit to live this way for the remainder of their lives, giving the sacrifice of their natural sexuality as a gift to the Lord (1 Corinthians 7:32).
Younger Christians are to be taught a healthy respect for their bodies and should be instructed in biblical morality; learning how to develop true friendships with those of the same and opposite sex and understanding that those around them are first and foremost the children of God; their own spiritual brothers and sisters. As they grow into physical maturity, they are to be mindful that members of the opposite sex are to be treated with the most respectful of intentions so as not to invoke unwanted passions (cf., 1 Timothy 4:12; 5:1b-2).
Purity is as much a Christian witness as it is a discipline, particularly when we take a visible stand against immorality, blurred gender roles, and the sexually saturated environment of our culture. How do we do this? By honoring God in our masculinity or femininity; by rejoicing in our singleness or in our marriages; by honoring our relationships with those of the opposite sex, particularly with our spouses as a mirror of Christ and His Bride (Ephesians 5:32); by reigning in and training our thoughts; by tempering our choice of literature or entertainment; and by promoting all things that draw us ever closer into the image of Christ.
Sexual purity is a state of perfection. Perhaps the only person to ever maintain this state was the incarnate Jesus of Nazareth. Enoch (“who walked with God”) and Job (“who eschewed evil”) were probably close seconds, but that means the rest of us will probably find ourselves stumbling, asking for forgiveness and strength, dusting ourselves off, and trying again. I don’t write those words so that we have permission to live in some kind of guilt-free failure but to help us realize that God fashioned us
with a keen sense of longing and passion. Our lives, however, were also designed to be a proving ground of that passion—a time of tempering—so that, in the end, they could be offered as a perfect, redeemed gift to the Lord in the same way a bride gives herself to her groom. In this case, the Bride will be the Church and the Groom will be Jesus Christ. After all, isn’t that the heavenly endgame of purity: rapturous, untainted passion between the King and the Queen of all that ever shall be?
Next time we’ll examine the last external discipline in Saint Brendan’s Rule of Life; the discipline of temperance.
Rejoice!
Fr. Alan Andraeas