Spiritual Defilement
TRANSLATION
(14) And Jesus again called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. (15) Nothing outside a person can defile him by entering him, but the things which come out of a person are what defile him.” (16) (Some manuscripts add the words, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” cf. Mk. 4:23)
(17) And when he had entered the house (to get) away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable. (18) And he said to them, “Are you also lacking in understanding? Do you not see that whatever enters a person from the outside cannot defile him (19) because it goes not into the heart but into the stomach and is then eliminated?” (In saying this Jesus declared all foods clean.) (20) Then he said, “Whatever comes out of a person defiles him, (21) for from within, out of the human heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, (22) coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. (23) All these evil things proceed from within, and they defile a person.”
OBSERVATIONS
In this brief follow-up to his teaching on Pharisaic legalism, Jesus used five repeated terms to make his message clear. We find “defile(s)” five times (twice in vs. 15 and once each in vss. 18, 20, & 23), “outside” twice (vss. 15 & 18), “come(s) out” twice (vss. 15 & 20), “entering/entered/enters” (three times in vss. 15, 17, & 18), and “heart” also twice (vss. 19 & 21). After answering the charge regarding his disciples eating with unwashed hands (vss. 1-13), he broadened the focus to the important issue of spiritual defilement, detailing for those listening how a person actually becomes unclean in God’s sight.
OUTLINE
I. Principle: not what enters us but what comes out of us defiles us. (14-16)
II. Explanation by contrast... (17-23)
– Externals do not defile us since they do not enter our hearts. (17-19)
– Internals, the thoughts and intents of our hearts, are what defile us. (20-23)
IDEA STATEMENT
Spiritual defilement comes from within, not from outside contaminants.
APPLICATION
The legalist reasons, “If I could build a wall high enough, I could keep the enemy at bay.” Jesus responds, “Don’t bother with walls. The real enemy is not outside the gates but rather within our hearts.” What we need are new hearts, not taller walls. That is why Ezekiel, in setting forth the terms of the New Covenant, declared this message from God: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ez. 36:26).
We should not be surprised that Jesus, the creator of the universe, should have displayed a thorough understanding of the human digestive system. What should surprise us is Mark’s brief comment in the same verse, almost an aside, explaining that with these words Jesus “declared all foods clean” (vs. 19). The dietary laws set forth in the Torah were, and continue to be, matters of great concern for observant Jews. It is unthinkable to consider eating pork, shellfish, or any other prohibited food as evidenced by the Apostle Peter’s responses to God’s command in Acts 10. When God in a vision told him to “kill and eat,” Peter self-righteously exclaimed, “Surely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean” (Acts 10:14). It took the Lord’s repeated rebuke, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean,” to convince Peter that the inauguration of the New Covenant had rendered the Mosaic dietary laws obsolete (vs. 16). Jesus’ brief statement in Mark 7:19 anticipated this change and prepared the way for Jewish legalistic traditions to be superseded by grace. What matters now under the New Covenant is the spiritual condition of our hearts, not the external observances which had previously seemed so inviolable.