Innocence derives from the purity of Soul. It is positive, dynamic. Eliphaz reminded Job that none ever perished being innocent. Daniel was preserved in the lions' den because innocency was found in him. And it was Jesus' innocency that enabled him to rebuke the devil in the wilderness.
Paul exhorted his colleagues in Philippi to be "harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world" (Phil. 2:15). The Greek word translated "harmless" in this verse means literally "unmixed, pure" and was used in relation to wine and metals. Its figurative meaning is "without admixture of evil, free from guile, innocent, simple."
Pure gold has no admixture of alloys. Perhaps for this reason it is used in the Bible as a suitable symbol of innocence. We read in Malachi (3:1-3): "Behold, I will send my messenger. . . . And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." Human thought that is tending Spiritward will be purged of its belief in evil until men become truly innocent, pure, harmless.
