From rhyparos (G4508, filthy, dirty, wretched). Rhyparia means filth, moral impurity, squalor — the accumulated grime of sin and degraded living. Appears once in James 1:21 in a vivid call to spiritual cleansing.
James 1:21 delivers one of the NT's most earthy, practical calls to repentance: 'Therefore, get rid of all moral filth (rhyparian) and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.' The word rhyparia is the language of physical defilement applied to moral and spiritual condition. To 'get rid of' (apotithēmi) the rhyparia is to strip off something clinging to the skin — as one strips off filthy clothes. The Sermon on the Mount's Beatitude 'Blessed are the pure in heart' (Matt. 5:8) is the positive counterpart to James's negative: the pure heart is one that has been stripped of rhyparia and filled with God's implanted Word. This is not self-reformation through willpower but receptive submission to the transforming Word. The connection between hearing the Word and moral purity is explicit: Jesus declared the disciples 'clean (katharos) through the word I have spoken to you' (John 15:3).