“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
It is not enough to “cleanse” our hands; we must “purify” our “hearts.”
and purify your hearts,
“Purify” is a different word than “cleanse” of the previous clause. The idea is to cleanse from defilement, to make pure. Both “cleanse” and “purify” are terms that allude to ceremonial cleansing. The word “purify” here refers to sanctification. Sanctification has to do with wholehearted separation unto God. We must keep our hearts separate for God.
you double-minded
“Double-minded” means two-souled coming from two words: twice and soul. A two-souled person wavers in his convictions and conduct. He doubts God’s principles and is uncertain about his own values. He divides his values between the world’s values and God’s values. This believer is uncertain about where he wants to go spiritually. A double-souled person has a problem with integrity, unity, and harmony of the soul because he wants to have a soul devoted to God and a soul devoted to the devil at the same time.
Jas 1:6-7, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
PRINCIPLE:
God demands our mutually exclusive devotion.
APPLICATION:
It is one thing to resist the devil (4:7), but we need to go a step further — draw near to God in fellowship. To do this, we must deal with any sin in our lives by recognition and confession of those sins.
1 Jn 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
God demands mutually exclusive devotion. He will not accept half-hearted love. He wants a whole soul for those who wish to walk with Him day-by-day.
Hi Dr. Grant,
Question. I came across this post by trying to find out more information about “double minded” and I really appreciate the “two souled” clarification. (I’m assuming that is the literal translation) So when the Bible talks about double minded in other places like James 1:8, and Psalms 119:113, is it this same, “two soul” concept?
And this may be stretching it too far, but do you have a thought on how double minded relates to Revelations 3:16 “So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
As I just wrote this out, it seems lukewarm is more convictionless, whereas double minded is more opposing motivations, possibly resulting is lukewarm behavior. But I suppose God is more interested in our motivations first and that will drive our actions.
Well, I’m rambling and confusing myself even more.
So the final part of my actual question. “Double minded,” or “two souled,” doesn’t this describe all of us, our fleshly desires, and our desire to become more Christlike? So wouldn’t our double mindedness be more of a sliding scale as we daily need to die to ourselves (reduce or not act on our fleshly desires) and allow Christ to increase. And as long as we do this, over time that scale continues to move toward the Christlikeness end, and away from our fleshly desire end. Rather than an all-or-nothing, single mind vs. double mind? Which would mean that a single minded individual is simply a mature Christian.
You are the Dr. here. I’m just laying down some thought’s I’ve had while I’m studying. 🙂 But would love your thoughts.
Thanks for the commentary! I love the blog format so there can be discussion.
Have a fantastic day!
Jeremy, yes the Greek word is the same as 1:8 cf. http://versebyversecommentary.com/2000/07/15/james-18/?dropdown_book=46
The literal translation is two-souled but the metaphorical idea is uncertainty; this is a person who cannot come to a conclusion about what he believes. This issue relates more to our faith. It is an issue of not being sure about what we believe. This will result in a very weak Christian life.
The idea of lukewarm in Revelation is different. See my commentary there: http://versebyversecommentary.com/1998/11/22/revelation-315/ The passage there has to do with passion for fellowship with the Lord versus seeking our own desires.
Grant, thanks for the clarification. I appreciate it. Now I see I really should have read the commentary on James 1:8 first. oops 🙂
It is good to get a deeper understanding of the idea of “double minded”. Simple on the surface, but when looked at more thoroughly, becomes not so simple.
Thanks again!
Jeremy