James 4:8

‘Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you doubleminded.’

And now the way by which they can submit to God and draw near to him is explained. It is first of all by being cleansed. They are to cleanse their hands by letting go of all that has defiled them and walking in the will of the Father (compare Isaiah 1:16; Psalms 26:6), and purify their hearts by fixing them firmly on God (see 1 John 3:3) and obeying the truth (1 Peter 1:22), no longer being doubleminded. For a doubleminded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8).

‘Cleanse your hands.’ The hands were the means by which men performed their actions. They were thus to make them clean by doing good and eschewing evil (Isaiah 1:16-17). The cleansing of the hands therefore indicates the cleansing of their personal, practical behaviour.

‘Purify your hearts.’ This emphasises the need for them to be cleansed within, in the inner man, which is responsible for men’s thoughts (Mark 7:21-23). The time for ceremonies is past. What is required now is genuineness of action and heart.

Alternately it might be saying, ‘do not just wash your hands, make sure that you wash your hearts as well’, but that weakens the statement and does not really fit in with the pattern which is of continual positive action in response to God’s commands.