8. NOT WHAT ONE EATS THAT DEFILES HIM,
BUT THE OF HIS OWN HEART
Mark 7:14-23
(Matthew 15:10-20)
14 And he called to him the multitude again,--This indicates that the preceding incident was to some degree private but not fully. Some think it was an examination of Jesus in the synagogue by the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem, while Christ was separated from the people. This may be true but not necessarily so.
and said unto them, Hear me all of you,--He had something of much importance he wished to give to each of them. Hence, he demanded the closest attention.
and understand:--Give diligent attention to the meaning of my words so that you may understand. The Pharisees and scribes teach you about an imaginary and traditional defilement, and yet have heard of a ceremonial defilement (Leviticus 11:8; Leviticus 11:26), but now hear and understand whence real defilement comes and in what it consists.
15 there is nothing from without the man, that going into him can defile him;--Nothing that goes into his mouth and stomach in the way of nourishment makes him common or unclean morally.
but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.--The things that come from the heart and out of the mouth--his words. What one eats does not render him defiled before God, but what he says. (Verses 18-23; Matthew 12:24.) The impure words that indicate an impure heart. What one eats cannot make him morally unclean, impure. It cannot affect his character. Jesus does not say that it was unimportant to keep the Mosaic law distinguishing between clean and unclean meats. The meat cannot affect his character, but disobedience can.
Nor does he refer at all to the fact that one may take disease into his system through eating and drinking; and that disobedience to the laws of health is a moral wrong, and deteriorates the character. Jesus lays down the principle that what is taken into the body does not affect the character. It is the moral act, and not what is eaten, that defiles the man. That which comes out of the man defiles him, because they come from the heart, and affect the character and the moral nature. They defile the soul, which is the man.
17 And when he was entered into the house from the multitude,--Jesus withdraws from the multitude and enters into the house. We take it that the teaching of the multitude was done out in the open air.
his disciples asked of him the parable.--The obscure and difficult remarks which he had made in verse 15. The word "parable," here, means obscure and difficult saying.
18 And he saith unto them,--Jesus now starts out to explain more fully his speech.
Are ye so without understanding also?--Are you, my disciples, who have been so highly favored with my teaching, so thus void of understanding?
Perceive ye not,--Do you not see and understand?
that whatsoever from without goeth into the man, it cannot defile him;--Cannot render his soul polluted; cannot make him a sinner, so as to need this purifying as a religious service;cannot make him morally unclean, or unholy.
19 because--He is now ready to give the reason why food cannot defile the man.
it goeth not into his heart, but into his belly,--Does not reach or affect the mind, the soul, and therefore cannot pollute it. Even if it should affect the body, yet it cannot the soul. The theories of the Pharisees, therefore, are not founded in reason, but are mere superstition. The heart is the seat of the emotions and the center of the inner man, the soul, and it cannot be reached through the stomach. Food in the digestive organs cannot affect the morals of men.
and goeth out into the draught? This he said, making all meats clean.--The process of digestion is a cleansing one. Whatever is impure is separated from the food and carried off, leaving whatever is nutritious to enter into the blood and become part of the body. What is thrown out of the body is the innutritious part of the food taken into the stomach, and leaving only that which is proper for the support of life, and cannot, therefore, defile the soul. All food is taken into the body to support life. The meaning is that the economy or process by which life is supported purifies or renders nutritious all kinds of food. The unwholesome parts are separated, and the wholesome only are taken into the system.
20 And he said, That which proceedeth out of the man,--Having stated what does not defile a man, Jesus now states what does defile him. It is that which comes out in a moral sense, from the mouth (Matthew 15:18), and from the heart or soul (verses 19, 21), such as he mentions in the two following verses.
that defileth the man.--"That" is what defiles the man, not food, which never enters into the soul. His words from an evil heart are really polluted, or offensive in the sight of God. They render the soul corrupt and abominable in the sight of God.
21 For from within,--The reason of the statement is given. Opposite "from without" of verse 15.
out of the heart of men,--The mind, the inner man--the seat of all moral intentions and actions.
evil thoughts proceed,--The spiritual heart, which includes the mind, thinks evil thoughts as well as good ones. It has both evil and good designs.
fornications,--Violations of chastity by unmarried people. thefts,--Of all sorts and degrees.
murders,--Taking of human life. Cruelty and hard dealings toward others.
adulteries,--Violations of the marriage vow.
22 covetings,--Desiring and wishing to have more--greediness of gain which leads to fraud and extortion. Craving that possessed by others.
wickednesses,--Evil dispositions, wicked counsels, and acts. deceit,--Fraud--concealed dishonesty. lasciviousness,--unbridled lust, lewdness.
an evil eye,--An envious, grudging, malicious spirit, which reveals the temper and evil within, and grieves at the happiness of others.
railing,--Reviling; abusive language against God or man. pride,--Arrogance, self-exaltation. foolishness:--Senselessness, folly.
23 all these evil things proceed from within,--Originate in, and come from the heart. They are evil things.
and defile the man.--The moral, the inner, the spiritual part of man. The best way to check the process of sin in the life is to mortify it in the heart, to crucify all inordinate motions, lusts, and corruptions in their root; for the heart is the first seat and subject of sin, whence it flows forth into the life and conversation. It is out of a wicked and sinful heart that all sin and wickedness proceed. Though the occasions of sin are from without, yet the source and origin of it are from within. The heart of man is as a cage full of unclean birds; hence proceed evil thoughts, either against God or our neighbor. Our Savior instructs the disciples in a very necessary and useful doctrine, touching the true and original cause of all spiritual pollution and uncleanness; namely, the filthiness and impurity of man's heart.
And that it is not the meat eaten with the mouth, but the wickedness of heart vented by the mouth, which pollutes a person in God's account, and which defileth the inward man. The heart of man is the sink and seed plot of all sin, the source and fountain of all pollution. All the impurity of the life proceeds from the impurity and filthiness of the heart.
It is not the coming out of the mouth that defiles, but the kind of things which come out. The uttering them not only shows what is in the heart, but also intensifies the evil qualities themselves. Every vile word a man speaks, every base, low story he tells for the joke he sees in it, every angry word, every oath one utters, and all the list Jesus mentions, these show the kind of soul a man has, and uttering them stirs up the dregs like the dregs in the bottom of a swamp.
The disciples had probably imbibed many of the popular notions of the Pharisees and they could not understand why a man was not defiled by external things. The saying of Jesus was dark to his disciples. They, therefore, styled it a parable, regarding it as containing or illustrating some truth which they did not fully comprehend. This question gives us a view of the spiritual dullness of the disciples and of the low attainments in spiritual knowledge. At this point, Matthew (Matthew 15:12-14) relates that the disciples inform Jesus that the Phari-sees had taken offense at what he had said to them, and the reply of Jesus to his disciples. This conversation, which is omitted by Mark, may have taken place as he was entering the house, or just after. Peter acted as spokesman of the disciples. (Matthew 15:15.)