Mark 7:14-23
14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them. 16 If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”
17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them?19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
- Listen to me… and understand: “Wisdom cries out.” Jesus wants the crowd of common people to understand Him. He is making an object lesson out of the Pharisees and their fixation on manmade traditions and superficial customs (i.e. washing hands, plates, cups, etc.). Jesus wants them to see that external displays of piety are worthless if one’s heart is not right with God.
- Are you so dull?: As in times past, the disciples approached Jesus privately to gain understanding about His public teaching. However, the Lord rebuked them because His public teaching was plain enough, not spoken in a parable as they seemed to think.
- Jesus declared all foods clean: Food in and of itself is not good or evil, and cannot defile a person. Eating and drinking can be sinful or defiling to the degree it disturbs one’s conscience, disturbs another Christian’s conscience, or is associated with sinful behavior. Generally, what a person eats should not be a point of controversy given that we do it with thanksgiving and for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31; 1 Timothy 4:3).
- Evil thoughts: Sinful, defiling thoughts may live only where God can see them. (1) sexual immorality, (2) theft, (3) murder, (4) adultery, (5) greed, (6) malice, (7) deceit, (8) lewdness, (9) envy, (10) slander, (11) arrogance, and (12) folly.
Romans 11:28-32
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
James 1:13-15
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin;and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Luke 11:39-41
Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.
Matthew 23:27-28
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.