Clean, Cleanness, Cleanse, Cleansing

New Testament

Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words

Definition

A-1katharosAdjectiveG2513

"free from impure admixture, without blemish, spotless," is used (a) physically, e.g., Mat 23:26, Mat 27:59, Joh 13:10 (where the Lord, speaking figuratively, teaches that one who has been entirely "cleansed," needs not radical renewal, but only to be "cleansed" from every sin into which he may fall); Joh 15:3, Heb 10:22, Rev 15:6, Rev 19:8, Rev 19:14, Rev 21:18, Rev 21:21; (b) in a Levitical sense, Rom 14:20, Tit 1:15, "pure;" (c) ethically, with the significance free from corrupt desire, from guilt, Mat 5:8, Joh 1:13-11, Act 20:26, 1Ti 1:5, 1Ti 3:9, 2Ti 1:3, 2Ti 2:22, Tit 1:15, Jam 1:27; blameless, innocent (a rare meaning for this word), Act 18:6; (d) in a combined Levitical and ethical sense ceremonially, Luk 11:41, "all things are clean unto you." See CLEAR, C, Note (2), PURE.

B-1katharizoVerbG2511

akin to A, signifies (1) "to make clean, to cleanse" (a) from physical stains and dirt, as in the case of utensils, Mat 23:25 (figuratively in Mat 23:26); from disease, as of leprosy, Mat 8:2; (b) in a moral sense, from the defilement of sin, Act 15:9, 2Co 7:1, Heb 9:14, Jam 4:8, "cleanse" from the guilt of sin, Eph 5:26, 1Jo 1:7; (2) "to pronounce clean in a Levitical sense," Mar 7:19, RV; Act 10:15, Act 11:9; "to consecrate by cleansings," Heb 1:9-23, Heb 10:2. See PURGE, PURIFY.

B-2diakatharizoVerbG1245

"to cleanse thoroughly," is used in Mat 3:12, RV.

Note: For kathairo, Joh 15:2, RV, See PURGE, No. 1. For diakathairo, Luk 3:17, RV, see PURGE, No. 3.

C-1katharismosNounG2512

akin to A, denotes "cleansing," (a) both the action and its results, in the Levitical sense, Mar 1:44, Luk 2:22, "purification;" Luk 5:14, "cleansing;" Joh 2:6, Joh 3:25, "purifying;" (b) in the moral sense, from sins, Heb 1:3, 2Pe 1:9, RV, "cleansing." See PURGE, PURIFICATION, PURIFYING.

C-2katharotesNounG2514

akin to B, "cleannes, purity," is used in the Levitical sense in Heb 9:13, RV, "cleanness." See PURIFY.

Note: In 2Pe 2:18, some inferior mss. have ontos, "certainly" (AV, "clean"), for oligos, "scarcely" (RV, "just").