A Ritualistic Heart is an Impure Heart

Merely going through the motions is unacceptable in the Christian life. This truth is a key part of what Paul tells Titus when he says, “To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure (Titus 1:15).” This statement presents such a severe dichotomy that it should leave our cold hearts speechless because a ritualistic heart is an impure heart.

We are performative by nature. We like formulas and tend to think that if we do the right things, no matter how insincerely, all is well. For many of us, going to church has become a ritual. We stay in step with the liturgy, but our hearts are elsewhere as we “worship.” What Paul is saying here is that, even if we do all the right actions, if our hearts are far from God, it is all defiled.

In Crete, the church had a problem with false teachers teaching Jewish myths (Titus 1:14). These false teachers were from the circumcision party; they taught all kinds of rituals, saying, “Do not handle. Do not taste. Do not touch.” They were Judaizers at heart, believing these rituals made someone right with God.

Because of cleanliness rituals, they were willing to destroy the work of God for the sake of food (Romans 14:20). This means that the kinds of food you ate or did not eat were more significant to them than Christ’s work on the cross.

Paul tells Titus that no matter how well they follow the rituals, even if some are beneficial, they are all impure if they are done with impure hearts. Paul is restating the teaching given by Jesus when he said, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you (Luke 11:39-41).

Empty ritual never pleases God. Even in the Old Testament, he often rebuked his people who followed the ceremonial law but did it with impure hearts. Their unclean hearts defiled every ceremony they performed, even if they were holy ceremonies (Haggai 2:11-14). To the unbelieving, nothing is pure.

What are we to do with this information? First, we must reject any teaching that says a ritual or work will merit you a right standing before God. Even if they say it only works because of Jesus’s work on the cross, they are implying Christ’s work is not sufficient. You must add to it. They are destroying the work of God for the sake of a ritual, and it, therefore, is impure.

The second application we should consider from this information is that even though, as Christians, we do not destroy the work of God for the sake of our ritual, we regularly go through the motions with cold hearts. We do not offer him our hearts. Often, all we give our gracious Lord is external action.

Thinking about how often we have failed at this should cause our hearts to melt with contrition. How many heartless prayers have we offered at meals simply because that is what we do at meals? How many church services have we sat through following the motions perfectly but entirely unstirred in our hearts?

If realizing how short we have fallen moves our hearts to repentance, then we are headed in the right direction. Let that contrition burn within us and move us to heartfelt prayer and worship while trusting in the blood of Jesus to wash us clean. Possessing the cleansing we need, let us worship our Savior with gratitude. In that purity given to us by Jesus, and our hearts alive with faith, we will live in the truth that, to the pure, all things are pure.

-D. Eaton