# Bible verses about sexual purity, and what it is for > Bible verses about sexual purity from the World English Bible, read in context: a calling to holiness, a clean mind, honor in marriage, and a heart made new. Canonical: https://lucernel.com/guides/bible-verses/sexual-purity Last updated: 2026-10-04 Purity can sound like a list of things you are not allowed to do. The passages below, from the World English Bible, describe it as something God calls people into: honor for the body, for other people and for marriage, with a heart that he cleans. Read them slowly, then pray the short prayer at the end. **Psalm 119:9 asks the question most people are really asking.** How can a young man keep his way pure? The answer is by living according to God's word, and the next verses make it personal: seeking him with the whole heart and keeping his word close. Purity here is a path you walk with help, not a test you pass alone. (Psalm 119:9) ## Purity starts with a calling Paul tells the Thessalonians that God's will is their sanctification. That means being set apart for him, and it includes knowing how to control your own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust. He also says that God called them not for uncleanness but in holiness. The order is worth noticing: first the call, then the way of life that fits it. Titus 2 says the same thing from the side of grace. The grace of God has appeared and it teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously. It does not tell us to earn favor. It says Jesus gave himself to redeem and purify a people for himself. > For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own body in sanctification and honor, not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God, that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified. For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. Therefore he who rejects this doesn’t reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you. > (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8) > For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age; looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works. > (Titus 2:11-14) ## Purity of the eyes and the mouth Paul asks the Ephesians that sexual immorality and uncleanness not even be mentioned among them, as is fitting for saints. He lists crude talk and joking beside it and puts thanksgiving in their place. Verse 5 is a serious warning, and it is written to people he calls saints, so it reads as a call to live in line with who they are. Jesus goes to the root, as he does in the Sermon on the Mount, and speaks of looking at someone in order to lust. That is where he places the fault. Purity begins with what you let your attention rest on, and he blesses the pure in heart in the same sermon. > But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints; nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate, but rather giving of thanks. Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man (who is an idolater), has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God. > (Ephesians 5:3-5) > You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’ but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. > (Matthew 5:27-28) > Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. > (Matthew 5:8) ## Honor for marriage and for people Hebrews 13:4 says marriage is to be held in honor and the marriage bed kept undefiled. Whether you are single or married, that is a statement about how seriously God takes the bond between two people. Purity includes honoring that bond. Paul gives Timothy a very different picture in 1 Timothy 5:1-2. Treat older men as fathers, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers and younger women as sisters, in all purity. Purity is partly a way of seeing: people are family, not material. > Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers. > (Hebrews 13:4) > Don’t rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father; the younger men as brothers; the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, in all purity. > (1 Timothy 5:1-2) - Practice naming people as family when your mind wants to treat them as something else. - Ask what a brother or sister would be owed here. ## Kept by the word, restored by God The psalmist says he has hidden God's word in his heart so that he might not sin against him. Elsewhere in the same psalm he asks how to keep his way pure, and the answer is again the word. Purity here is kept by what you take in and treasure. David's prayer in Psalm 51 is for anyone who has not kept a clean heart. He does not ask to be left alone. He asks God to create a clean heart in him, renew a right spirit and not take his Holy Spirit away. Purity can be restored. > How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. With my whole heart I have sought you. Don’t let me wander from your commandments. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. > (Psalm 119:9-11) > Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit. > (Psalm 51:10-12) ## A prayer to say with these verses Lord, make me pure in heart. Teach me to honor my body, to see people as you see them, and to keep your word close. Where I have failed, create a clean heart in me and renew a right spirit. Thank you for calling me and not only forbidding me. Amen. ## Frequently asked questions ### What does the Bible mean by sexual purity? First Thessalonians 4:3-5 describes it as holiness: abstaining from sexual immorality and controlling your body in honor. Hebrews 13:4 adds honor for marriage, and 1 Timothy 5:2 adds treating others as family. ### How can a person keep their way pure? Psalm 119:9-11 answers by living according to God's word, seeking him wholeheartedly and keeping his word in the heart. ### Is purity only about actions? No. Jesus says lust is already adultery in the heart (Matthew 5:28), and Ephesians 5:3-4 includes speech. Purity covers eyes, words and thoughts as well as actions. ### Can purity be restored after a failure? Yes. David asks God to create a clean heart and renew a right spirit (Psalm 51:10-12), and 1 John 1:9 promises forgiveness and cleansing to those who confess. ### Does purity apply to single and married people? Yes. First Thessalonians 4 speaks to everyone in the church, and Hebrews 13:4 asks that marriage be honored and its bed undefiled. ## Sources (checked 2026-10-01) - [World English Bible (public domain), eBible.org](https://ebible.org/find/details.php?id=engwebp)