LIFE TOGETHER: AN INTERACTIVE STUDY OF 1 CORINTHIANS

UNCLEANNESS

Uncleaness (or impurity), in ancient writings, refers to the spiritual state of an individual who is unable to approach his or her god. While adultery and fornication list specific actions, uncleanness can go so far as to indicate the mental attitude that an individual has toward other sins. St. John Chrysostom asks, “Dost thou not see that uncleanness does not arise from the nature of the thing, but from the weakness of the reasoning about it?” Fortunately, he replies, God makes available to us His grace, which “wipes off bodily uncleanness, but not simply uncleanness of body, since it even reaches to the weak conscience.”