What is the meaning and importance of purification in the Bible?

Purification, the act of ceremonial or spiritual cleansing, is an important biblical theme. In the Old Testament, God required purification rituals, such as washing with water, to make sinful people and defiled objects acceptable to Him. These rituals pointed to a more profound spiritual reality. The significance of purification is that it symbolized the holiness of God, the sinfulness of people, and the necessity of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross for sin.

Purification rituals weren’t merely functional, like scrubbing dirt off one’s hands or cleaning food residue from a utensil. Its deeper meaning was relational, symbolizing God’s holiness and the need to remove the stain of sin. This is why God told His people, “Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong” (Isaiah 1:16). Washing with water symbolized the removal of evil from within a person.

In the Old Testament, under the Law of Moses, purification rituals consisted of acts of outward cleansing. These included a priest washing his body with water (Exodus 29:4), an “unclean” person offering an animal as a sacrifice (Leviticus 4:32–35), and the high priest sprinkling blood on the mercy seat in the tabernacle (Leviticus 16:14–15). These purification rituals and others pointed to the inward cleansing and spiritual renewal that God required of people.

Purification rituals in the Old Testament were meant to help illustrate our need for forgiveness from sin. Inner purity is required to enter God’s presence. “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). This set of questions and answers shows that God cares about a person’s heart, not just the outward ritual of cleansing.

Also, purification rituals were meant to deepen people’s worship of God. As David writes in Psalm 51:7, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” David understands that hyssop and water alone cannot restore him to good standing with God, because only God can cleanse him from spiritual impurity. Still, he uses imagery taken from legalistic rituals as a visible expression of inner renewal (cp. Leviticus 14:4 –7; Numbers 19:18 –19).

Further, purification rituals symbolized the way God prepares and empowers people to serve Him. One example is Isaiah’s call to ministry. As the prophet tells the story, “Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for’” (Isaiah 6:6–7). By purifying Isaiah’s lips, God equipped the prophet to speak for Him.

Purification rituals were required to allow an unclean person to rejoin the community after being excluded because of defilement, disease, or impurity. An example of a rule related to purity is Leviticus 14:8, which says, “The person to be cleansed [of a skin disease] must wash their clothes, shave off all their hair and bathe with water; then they will be ceremonially clean. After this they may come into the camp, but they must stay outside their tent for seven days.”

Ultimately, all the purification rituals in the law pointed to Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews explains: “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason, it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship” (Hebrews 10:1). God never intended the law, including the purification rituals it prescribed, to take away sin. Forgiveness comes only through Jesus. He is the reality behind the law’s shadows: “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).

Acts of purification were only a foreshadowing of what was to come. Only Jesus can cleanse a sinner’s heart, and He did so when He shed His blood on the cross for sin (cf. 1 John 1:9). Jesus’ death and resurrection “provided purification for sins,” and after that Jesus “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven” (Hebrews 1:3b). Jesus’ being seated signifies that the work of providing purification for people’s sin is complete. Symbolic rituals are no longer necessary.