Mark 7:14-23--What Defiles a Person

Mark 7:14-23
English Standard Version
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What Defiles a Person
14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

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We spoke a bit about this yesterday when I was saying that the Pharisees were obsessed with external cleanliness because they wanted to make sure to remain ceremonially clean so they could approach the altar and make their sacrifices, but Jesus was identifying that the issue was not external for them, but internal.  Just continued that teaching more directly in this section when He told them, "There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defiles him."  Was Jesus changing the Law here which clearly said that there were clean and unclean foods?  That is the way that many people take this passage, but in the context of the scenario, Jesus is talking about His disciples not losing their salvation because they ate with dirty hands because He's already changed their hearts.  No, this passage doesn't have to do with dietary laws (despite the editorial footnote that's in parentheses in verse 19 that we know are not part of Jesus' original words).  There are other passages in the New Testament that deal specifically on what the dietary restrictions should be for Gentile Christians who live among Jews and the question was answered with some finality by the apostles in the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.  I'd rather look to a passage where the topic of conversation is clear and precise than to what appears to be a note that someone jotted in the margin that got copied multiple times over for a reason why it is okay for Gentiles to eat shellfish, pork, and cheeseburgers.

Jesus is making the point here that when bad food goes into the body, it is eventually eliminated as waste, but when bad things take root in the heart and mind, they are not eliminated and start to produce fruit that we see through the words that come out of a person's mouth.  So it is that we know that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, and we get a good idea of what's in a person's heart by what they say (especially when they think they are alone or don't need to put on any "masks").  When someone tells you who they really are by their words and their actions, believe them.  You know a tree by its fruit and only God can change the heart.

What are these things that come out of a person (especially the person's mouth) that prove that the person is unclean?  Jesus lists them here:  "Evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness."  These things are consistent with the lists that we see in the Epistles in places like Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Corinthians 6.9-10, and Revelation 21:8.  Those who by nature identify with these sins and are a tree known by this kind of fruit are not going to enter the kingdom of God because these are not the attributes of kingdom citizens.  Jesus laid those attributes out in Matthew 5-7 in The Sermon on the Mount, and we see the Fruit of the Spriit in Galatians 5:22-24.  So then, Jesus has turned the conversation from something external (ceremonial hand washing) to something internal (the rebellion and filth that is in the hearts of the Pharisees that corrupts everything that they think is good that they do so that "All of our good deeds are as filthy rags" in the eyes of the LORD--see Isaiah 64:6).  Even the "good" things that we do can never please Him if we are not born again (see John 3 and the "I Never Knew You" portion of Matthew 7).