How did conceptions of purity and pollution influence first-century Christians’ beliefs about God and the world?

[Austin]

“For an ancient Jew, purity concerns were not about catching disease, but about what would render them as unfit for interaction with the Holy God.” All of these laws listed in Leviticus were in order to keep pure so that God would live amongst them. These regulations and practices were outward expressions of their core convictions to be holy as God is holy and living as a reflection of God’s holiness in an unclean world.

[Austin]

First-century Christians held to a very strict protocol regarding purity, pollution, and holiness. They observed a rigid set of rules and regulations as to what is and is not pure and what pollutes not only the body but the spirit as well. There was a cultural understanding that holiness was necessary to keep God in their midst. They were to be holy as God is holy. Anything that defiled and made impure was considered pollution. Sacrifices, ritual cleansing, and atonements were needed to become pure again, in the eyes of the people and God as well. God will accept nothing less. So, Christians could not be like the world but had to live a “set apart” life, that was different that the other peoples around them.