Our Hearts are Purified By the Faith

"8And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; 9And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." (Acts 15:8-9)

In James' Epistle, he calls on his readers to purify their hearts.

"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." (James 4:8)

Some Christians, including pastors, have read this passage, and they conclude that James is speaking to the Church, to the body of Christ.

Once again, we need to look at the outset of James' letter:

"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings." (James 1:1)

James, an apostle who received the commission to spread the Gospel to the Jews (cf. Galatians 2:9), is writing to "brethren", the Jews.  It does not mean that non-Jews cannot read his letter and draw revelation from it.

Quite the contrary, but it is essential that we rightly divide the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15), to know what falls under the Old Covenant, and what reveals the New Covenant, to recognize the difference audiences and the terms employed when addressing those audiences.

Our hearts are purified by faith, more accurately "the faith", i.e. that we believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for our sins, and that He was raised for our justification. "The faith" speaks of justification by faith.

By the way, belief in the Gospel is the obedience that Peter writes about in his First Letter:

"Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:" (1 Peter 1:22)

We do not have to strive at purifying our hearts through works, through efforts, through our fleshy attempts.

Our hearts are purified when we believed in Christ Jesus, that His blood has washed away all our sins and has granted us His righteousness.