We purify our hearts through the inward renewal of the mind and spirit (Psalm 51:10). We cleanse our hands by removing them from sinful pursuits and moral compromises and then seeking God’s forgiveness.

We get our hands dirty when we play in the world’s sandbox. God had issued a similar order through the prophet Isaiah: “Wash yourselves. James’ charge to “cleanse your hands” focused more on the people’s worldly actions and outward deeds. James may have also had these words of King David in mind: “Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god” (Psalm 24:3–4). It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations” (Exodus 30:21, ESV). Whenever the priests entered the wilderness tabernacle and approached the altar to minister to the Lord, they were required to cleanse their hands and feet with water from the bronze basin: “They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. James’ use of the phrase cleanse your hands linked his command in a spiritual and moral sense to the language of the ancient Jewish ceremonial rituals of worship. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8, ESV). He beckoned his readers to repent from their sinful ways and return to the Lord: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

James observed a widespread problem of worldliness infiltrating the lives of Christians in the early church.

Bible clean hands and a pure heart